Local AI at the End of the Tunnel, by Mike Irving

Agenda:
17:30 – 17:59 – Arrival and networking over hot coffee, tea, etc.;
18:00 – 19:00 – Mike's talk;
19:00 – 20:00 – Q&A with Mike, sharing experiences and knowledge, and continued networking.

Abstract
In this session we will combine Local AI, .NET and Dev Tunnels!
To begin we will look at how easy it is to install Ollama, and download a suitable model to run locally, on our own computers.
Turning to code, we will then discover how quick it is to connect to Ollama via our own C# Code, using the Microsoft.Extensions.AI library. Initially interacting via our own Console App.
Sidestepping, we will look at an often overlooked feature: Visual Studio Dev Tunnels. We will look at the benefits for Web Applications and Web API.
Bringing everything together, we will take our (minimal) Console App code, bake it into a Blazor Web Application, and expose this via a Web Tunnel. Creating a route through to our Local AI installation from any web modern browser.

Speaker Bio
Mike is a Microsoft MVP, and the Co-organiser of both Dot Net North and Macc Tech. He started programming as a young child on the Dragon 32 micro computer, and later on a ZX Spectrum. Professionally, Mike started out in web development on the Microsoft Stack. However, and in more recent times he has been heavily involved in mobile development, both native and cross-platform. Though regularly coding Swift, Kotlin and JavaScript, C# / .NET has remained a constant through his career.