November Meetup: Programming with LLMs in R & Python

We're delighted to welcome you to our November Meetup, featuring Myles Mitchell with his hands-on workshop "Programming with LLMs in R & Python".

Pizza and soft drinks will be provided on a first-come-first-served basis from 6pm as usual. There will be no pre-event workshop this time, so please do not arrive before 6pm!

Schedule

1800--1830h: Refreshments

1830--1835h: Welcome

1835--1905h: Programming with LLMs in R & Python - Part 1

1905--1915h: Intermission

1915--1945h: Programming with LLMs in R & Python - Part 2

1945--1950h: News & Announcements

Workshop overview

Myles Mitchell, Principal Data Scientist @ Jumping Rivers Ltd
Programming with LLMs in R & Python

This workshop will provide a hands-on introduction to working with Large Language Models (LLMs) in R and Python. We will explore the {ellmer} and chatlas packages which provide access to some of the most popular model providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc). Using these tools we will cover good practices when writing and formatting your prompts as well as some use cases for LLMs in Data Science.

The demo will be split into two parts:

Part 1

• Brief overview of LLMs
• Strengths, weaknesses & common pitfalls
• Running basic prompts from R & Python

Part 2

• Formatting prompts to retrieve a structured (programmatic) output
• Use cases of LLMs for Data Science
• Security, privacy & responsible use of AI

Code examples will be provided in R and Python. Just remember to bring along a laptop if you'd like to take part. If you prefer to just come and watch while enjoying some pizza, that's fine too :)

News and Announcements

Have a news item or announcement you'd like to make about upcoming data events or job opportunities in the North East? Comment below or email us at neds@jumpingrivers.com and we'll do our best to circulate this information during the session.

Please also get in touch if you'd like to volunteer yourself for a talk at a future meetup!