AI in Practice: Search Innovation & Building Analyst Agents

AI in Practice: Search Innovation & Building Analyst Agents
AI innovation is moving faster than ever: it’s reshaping how we search, analyze and make sense of data. In this meetup, we will bring together two experts that will share practical stored and hands-on lessons that cut through the buzz and show how AI is being applied in the real world.

This event is a special collaboration between the AI Native Amsterdam meetup and the Xebia Data Engineering meetup.

Speaker 1: Arno van de Velde (Principal Solution Architect, Elasticsearch B.V)
Arno van de Velde is a Principal Solution Architect at Elastic. He helps customers turn Elastic’s Search, Observability, and Security capabilities into real use cases. With a background in software testing, QA, CI/CD, and DevOps, Arno works with major financial services and large enterprises. He speaks candidly about where AI adds value, and where its limits and trade-offs show up in practice.
Talk: Arno will explore the evolution of search technology in the age of AI. From large language models and “LLM Wars” to enterprise-scale challenges in observability and security, he’ll share practical insights on how Elastic customers are experimenting with AI, what works today, and why the answer often depends on context.

Speaker 2: Daniel Herrera (Analytics Engineer & Developer Advocate, Teradata)
Daniel Herrera is a Principal Developer Advocate at Teradata, where he helps developers and data teams connect modern data engineering with AI innovation. He works across open-source tools like dbt, Airbyte, and Airflow, and explores how generative AI and data lifecycle automation can create real business impact. With a background in software and blockchain development, Daniel is passionate about open collaboration and making complex technology accessible through practical examples.
Talk: Daniel will take a hands-on journey into building AI analyst agents from scratch. Using dbt metadata to provide large language models with the right context, he’ll show how to connect LLMs to your data effectively. Expect a deep dive into the challenges of query generation, practical frameworks for success, and lessons learned from real-world implementations.
Together, the event will cover:

• How search innovation is evolving with AI
• What it really takes to build functional data agents
• Practical examples, pitfalls, and geeky fun along the way

Agenda:
18:00 — Arrival, pizza & beer
18:15 — Talk #1 | Arno van de Velde
18:45 — Short break
19:00 — Talk #2 | Daniel Herrera
19:30 — Open conversation, networking & more drinks
20:00 — Wrapping up
Join us for an evening of practical AI in action, connecting search, agents, and the future of data-driven work with the Analytics Engineering meetup community.