Making AI Real: From Building Your Own Tools to Keeping Models in Check

Making AI Real: From Building Your Own Tools to Keeping Models in Check

Can you please register here -

AI moves fast. New frameworks and flashy models appear every week, but jumping on every trend won’t help you build products that last. At this event, we’re bringing two voices with very different perspectives - but the same mission: making AI practical, reliable, and trusted.

Shannon McKechnie, Managing Director at MBN will be the chair for the evening.

Talk 1
Richard Bownes, Head of AI Solutions @ vector8
In a World of Platforms, Bring Your Own Tooling: Eating Your Own (AI) Dogfood

Richard (Head of AI Solutions at Vector8) shares why his team ditched the hype cycle and built their own AI stack. He’ll show how knowing your tools inside out lets you move faster, build stronger, and outpace the competition.

Talk 2
Maria Kalantzak, Senior Validation Manager, AI @ Virgin Money

Validating AI in Finance: Compliance, Trust, and What’s Next. Maria will take us inside the world of AI model validation. From fraud detection to GenAI, she’ll break down how banks make sure models stay compliant, fair, and fit for purpose - while keeping up with the latest AI trends.
Expect real stories, sharp lessons, and plenty of takeaways on how to build AI that actually works in the wild.

Speakers bios.

Richard Bownes, Head of AI Solutions @ vector8
Richard is Head of AI Solutions at Vector8 where he looks after solutions architecture, delivery, internal product development and developer advocacy. From an academic background in machine learning to internet scale public sector recommendations, NLP start ups and Data and AI consultancy Richard brings interdisciplinary and industry experience to solve meaningful and challenging problems for clients of all sizes.

Maria Kalantzak, Senior Validation Manager, AI @ Virgin Money
Currently leading the Model Validation of AL/GenAI and fraud models in Virgin Money. Previous I worked in the innovation team of Virgin Money and Experian as model developer leading the development of fraud models. Her work in finance comes after a switch in careers in drug discovery and genetic engineering , where she acquired key skills around data science.