Columbus Ruby Brigade Monthly Meetup**\*\*\* We've Moved! Bold Penguin - 6555 Longshore St, Dublin, OH 43017 \*\*\***
Ryan Carroll
**Local AI in Rails: Fast, Cheap, and Predictable**
Rails apps usually reach for external AI services when they need “intelligence,” but that approach can bring latency, cost, and unpredictability along for the ride. This talk shows a different path: running a Japanese sentiment model directly inside a Rails app, using ONNX Runtime, background jobs, and real-time updates to keep the user experience fast and responsive.
Using a small app called **Sentiment Omikuji** as the case study, the talk walks through how the model was trained in Python, exported to ONNX, and loaded into Ruby for local inference. It also covers how Japanese text is tokenized, how the sentiment output drives a fortune generator, and why the app uses Solid Queue to keep model work off the request path. Along the way, the talk explores the tradeoffs of local inference versus API-based LLMs, and why classic machine learning can still be the right tool for focused problems.
Attendees will leave with a practical architecture they can adapt in their own Rails applications, plus a clearer picture of when local AI makes sense, how to keep it predictable, and what it takes to make it feel good in a real app.
**AGENDA:**
* See updates to parking below
* Doors open at 5:30, feel free to come and hang out before!
* Official start of the meeting is at 6:30pm
* After the meeting is done, we will go hang out at a nearby space in Bridge Park!
If you can, please sign up via meetup by noon the day of the meeting so we can have an estimate headcount for food :) We always order extra, so feel free to join us even if you don't get signed up!
Thank you to Bold Penguin for providing the food and location!
**Parking & Arrival:**
**Parking:** Parking in Bridge Park is free. The closest lots are the Mooney Garage and the Hotel/Endres Garage.
**Entry:** The doors to the office are to the right of PINS. The street level door and elevators lock at 6pm. If you arrive after that, someone should be there to let you in, else call the number posted. Take the elevator to the 2nd floor. Once you exit the elevator, turn right.
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We are a bunch of professionals, students, and geeks who are excited about Ruby programming language ([http://ruby-lang.org/](http://ruby-lang.org/)) and Rails framework ([http://rubyonrails.com/](http://rubyonrails.com/)) and the joy they have brought back to web development. Our main goal is to share the love of the Ruby and Rails ecosystems with anyone that is interested. We cater to everyone, whether a non-programmer through advanced Rubyists.
* We give lectures on programming topics
* We freely provide decades worth of experience
* For full details of this month's meeting please visit [http://columbusrb.com](http://columbusrb.com)