GenAI Unboxed: From Applied ML to Agentic AI - Series - The Catch-Up Chronicles

This will be a series
A hands-on, no-fluff meetup series designed for those who missed the early wave of Generative AI. Whether you're a student, a working professional, or someone simply curious, this series walks you through where it all began, how it evolved, and what you can practically do today — even if you're starting from scratch.

WiMLDS Pune is a community-driven initiative led by Sucheta Dhere since 2018, dedicated to upskilling, reskilling, and empowering women (and men) in emerging technologies like AI, ML, and Data Science.
We support career restarters — especially the 3 million+ educated Indian women on job breaks — by bridging the skill gap, restoring confidence, and connecting them with real industry opportunities. Through flagship conferences - career fair, meetups, hands-on capstone projects, study groups, focussed groups and internship & mentorship, we've created a thriving ecosystem of growth, leadership, and reinvention.

With backing from 50+ corporates and 100+ high-impact workshops, WiMLDS Pune is more than a tech community — it’s a movement to make data science a way of life.

### Target Audience:

• Professionals who didn’t get time to explore GenAI
• Non-technical stakeholders (educators, marketers, HR, etc.)
• Students who are overwhelmed by the speed of developments
• Entrepreneurs and startup teams wanting to integrate AI

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### Key Objectives:

• Demystify Generative AI and its evolution
• Equip attendees with practical, hands-on skills
• Bridge the knowledge gap in a fast, friendly, and accessible format
• Build a supportive learning community

### Pre requisites:

Prior experience in core software development and programming
Knowledge of AI-ML-DS

Broad Topics that will be covered in the series and explain using use cases, real life examples and case studies and hands-on workshops. Credits will be provided for the workshop
1. Introduction to GenAI
2. Applied ML (quiz) Vs GenAI (differences and examples)
3. Introduction to Foundational Models (history, evolution), LLMs (NLP and text processing), Use cases
4. The OpenAI story (Sam Altman), how big players followed suit (Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic), basic parameters to compare FMs
5. Foundational Models vs LLMs (subset of FM and GenAI), other models and types of GenAI
6. RAGs (Retrieval Augmented Generation)
7. Vector embeddings and vector databases
8. Transfer Learning
9. Multimodal models, Multimodel models
10. Agentic AIs vs AI Agents
11. Model Names and GenAI Products -> Open AI ChatGPT, AWS Bedrock, 12. Microsoft CoPilot, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Perplexity, DeepSeek, Grok, Google Flow (video)
13. Hands On workshops to understand and implement all above concepts one at a time

### Already Ahead in the GenAI Race? Here’s How You Can Make a Difference:

1. 🎤 Be a Speaker – Inspire by Sharing Your Journey

• Tell your story — how you got started, your learnings, your pivots.
• Demystify concepts through real-world case studies.
• Share the business impact of GenAI in your domain.

2. 🧭 Be a Mentor – Guide Someone Just a Few Steps Behind

• Offer 1:1 or group mentoring to early learners.
• Help someone choose the right project, learning path, or tools.
• Provide career advice, code reviews, or just encouragement.

3. 💡 Be a Thought Leader – Bring Insight to the Movement

• Lead lightning talks, fireside chats, or panel discussions.
• Write blog posts, record short videos, or curate resources.
• Help us decode trends like Agentic AI, RAG, and Multimodal tools.

4. 🛠️ Contribute Technically – Build With the Community

• Co-lead a hands-on workshop, mini-hackathon, or demo session.
• Open source a GenAI project and let beginners contribute.
• Help participants create real-world portfolio projects.

5. 🚀 Be a Career Ally – Open Doors

• Refer skilled returners to opportunities in your organization.
• Offer short-term remote gigs or freelance projects.
• Help them practice interviews, resume reviews, or mock assessments.

6. 🌱 Pay It Forward – Shape the Future of Inclusion

• Your time, even 1 hour a month, can change someone’s life.
• Help balance India’s workforce, one confident returner at a time.
• Be remembered not just as an expert, but as a changemaker.

***BYOL - Bring your own laptops