Neural Networks

Are you ready to enjoy warmer spring evenings together again? We are, and that’s why we’re inviting you to our next Data & AI Engineering [applydata](https://applydata.io) Meetup, taking place at our Bucharest office on the 14th May. **Bogdan Beda:** ***"Beyond Syntax: The Evolving Role of the Software Engineer in the AI Era"*** [Bogdan Beda](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bogdan-beda/) is a Principal Software Engineer at [Microsoft](https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft/), working on \*Copilot for Work\* backend, on a non-deterministic product using a codebase that is increasingly being generated by AI. In his presentation, Bogdan will explore the new essential toolkit for the AI era – moving beyond basic prompt engineering to mastering product development, from system design decisions to validating outputs. **Costin Vilcu: *"SOC Transformation in the AI Era"*** [Costin Vilcu](https://www.linkedin.com/in/costin-vilcu-oscp-pentester/) is an Information and Network Security Professional with 20+ years of experience, passionate about Penetration Testing, Security Consulting, Teaching and Social Communication. Costin's presentation explores how Security Operations Centers (SOCs) must evolve in the age of AI, from reactive monitoring to intelligent, autonomous threat detection and response. **Dana Juncu: *"The Invisible Threat: How a Sticker on a Traffic Sign Could Compromise Autonomous Vehicles"*** [Dana Juncu](https://www.linkedin.com/in/danajuncu/) is a Senior Product Manager at [Diconium](https://www.linkedin.com/company/diconium/posts/?feedView=all), working at the intersection of data, engineering, and product, owning end-to-end delivery of labeled datasets for ADAS & autonomous driving systems. In her presentation, Dana will cover why AI security is fundamentally different from traditional software security and what it actually takes to build robust, trustworthy AI in safety-critical domains. If you're curious, you can read more about the importance of Data Labeling in her previous blog articles: [Data Labeling as Continuous Service](https://applydata.io/data-labeling-as-a-continuous-service/) & [Traffic Sign Recognition at Scale](https://applydata.io/traffic-sign-recognition-at-scale-why-the-dataset-is-the-hard-part/) **What to expect:** * Three expert talks * Networking opportunities in our historical villa office * Some snacks & drinks **Timetable:** * 18:30 - Event admission * 19:00 - Welcome & introduction * 19:05 - First speaker * 19:30 - Second speaker * 20:00 - Third speaker * 20:30 - Connect & chat ✧ ✧ ✧ **Our goal is to form a local data-loving community, so join us and let's talk data together!** ✧ ✧ ✧ *At the event, sound, image and video recordings are created and published for documentation purposes as well as for the presentation of the event in publicly accessible media, on websites and blogs and for presentation on social media. By participating the event, the participant implicitly consents to the aforementioned photo and/or video recordings. Find [more information on data protection here](https://applydata.io/events/information-on-data-protection/).*

[ENGLISH BELOW ] 16\. maja '26 v Ljubljani 👉 prvi WordCamp Slovenia ♥️ En dan, v celoti posvečen WordPressu, en dan različnih talkov in delavnic, en dan druženja s somišljeniki, poslovnimi partnerji, potencialnimi delodajalci, en da spoznavanja ljudi, ki počnejo iste stvari kot ti! In še kaj se bo našlo za ta en dan. Kako se to sliši? 🤩 Dogodek bo potekal na čudovitem gradu Fužine, kjer bo poskrbljeno za vse: od prve jutranje kavice, kosila in seveda after-partya 🙌 **VABLJENI!** Kot obiskovalci, kot prostovoljci, sponzorji, govorci. 🫶 Več info o dogodku&vstopnice: https://slovenia.wordcamp.org/2026/ 📆16. maj 2026, ob 10. uri 📍Grad Fužine, Ljubljana Program je objavljen spodaj. ENGLISH: 16 May 2026 in Ljubljana 👉 the very first WordCamp Slovenia ♥️ One day entirely dedicated to WordPress, one day filled with talks and workshops, one day of connecting with like-minded people, business partners, and potential employers, one day of meeting people who do the same kind of work you do! And there’ll be plenty more packed into that one day. How does that sound? 🤩 The event will take place at the beautiful Fužine Castle, where everything will be taken care of: from your first morning coffee and lunch to, of course, the after-party 🙌 YOU’RE INVITED! As attendees, volunteers, sponsors, or speakers. 🫶 More info about the event & tickets: [https://slovenia.wordcamp.org/2026/](https://slovenia.wordcamp.org/2026/) 📆 16 May 2026 at 10:00 AM 📍 Fužine Castle, Ljubljana 10:00 – 10:10 Main hall Opening remarks **10:10 – 11:00** Main hall **Davor Jovanović:** *From Constraints to Potential: Engineering Creative Freedom in WordPress* Workshop (Tower) **Dario Jazbec Hrvatin:** *Stop Pasting Translations from ChatGPT* **11:00 – 11:50** Main hall **Bor Jemec:** *WordPress in Slovenia: Current state and security from a hosting provider’s perspective* **11:00 - 11:50** Tower **Haim Michael:** S*oftware Developers’ Evolution in the Era of Artificial Intelligence* **11:50 – 12:40** Main hall **Aleksandar Pasku:** *Storytelling: From Blah-Blah to A-ha!* Workshop (Tower) **Berislav Grgičak:** *Discover How WordPress Playground is Transforming the WordPress Ecosystem* 12:40 – 13:30 Main hall **Bruno Zagorščak:** *Podcast to hire: Turn your show into talent magnet* Workshop (Tower) **Isotta Peira:** *From Classroom to Core: Bridging the Gap Between Education and Open Source* 13:30 – 14:25 Lunch 14:25 – 15:20 Main hal **Remkus de Vries:** *WordPress Performance: What You’re Still Getting Wrong* 15:20 – 16:10 Main hall **Ivana Čirkovič:** *Human first: Content in the age of AI* Workshop (Tower) **Gregor Grešak:** *Fixing Accessibility: From Broken UI to WCAG compliant* 16:10 – 17:00 Main hall **Rade Jekić:** *Scaling Intelligence: Applying AI in WordPress Multisite Environments* Workshop (Tower) **Neven Jevtić:** *How to optimize WordPress: tips and tricks from practice* 17:00 – 17:50 Main hall TBA **Tomaž Zaman** 17:50 – 18:40 Main hall Round table 18:40 – 19:00 Main hall Closing remarks **19:00 – 00:00** After party **SPONSORS** **Global sponsors** [WooCommerce](https://woocommerce.com/) **Golden sponsors** [Bunny.net](https://slovenia.wordcamp.org/2026/sponsor/bunny-net/) **Bronze sponsor** [Domenca](https://www.domenca.com/) **Bronze sponsor** [Metakocka](https://metakocka.si/)

Join the Columbus AI community for our quarterly gathering — a casual, community-focused evening where everyone has a chance to share, learn, and connect. These open mic–style events give anyone in the community up to **5 minutes** to present a project, share a tool, pose a question, or offer a perspective on the evolving AI space. No slides required — just a welcoming space to exchange ideas and keep the local AI conversation moving. If you’d like to take the stage, message \*\*Chris (the organizer)\*\*with a **title and short description** of what you’d like to share. Whether you’re deep in the field or just getting curious, come connect with others building and exploring AI in Columbus. Sponsored by [Transform Labs](https://www.linkedin.com/company/transformlabs/) Sign up also accessible via [Transform Labs Luma](https://luma.com/transformlabshq)

Join us for a practical, beginner-friendly guide to choosing the right large language model. We’ll compare major models like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Llama, talk about when to use hosted APIs versus local models, and break down the tradeoffs around cost, speed, quality, privacy, context windows, coding ability, and reliability. You’ll leave with a clearer mental model for picking an LLM based on your actual use case instead of hype, benchmarks, or brand names. No deep AI background required. LOGISTICS AND PARKING: The talk starts at 7:00 PM. The first half hour is reserved for everyone to get set up and mingle. Free pizza and drinks! The cheapest parking option is to find street parking, which will only cost you a few bucks. Otherwise, park in the nearby veteran's museum lot for $8. It's highly recommended you avoid the nearby $15 garage parking.

**Important time note:** Please plan on arriving between 5:30 and 6:00 as the elevators lock after 6 and you'll need to message us and we'll need to come get you. The building address is 4450 Bridge Park The entrance is 6620 Mooney St, Suite 400 You will need to scan your ID at the door to get a visitor badge. **Abstract** TBD **YouTube Link** TBD

**PLEASE BUY TICKETS THROUGH EVENTBRITE. RSVP THROUGH MEETUP IS NOT A TICKET PURCHASE CONFIRMATION.** Strive welcomes you to 'General Business Networking', Columbus' hottest networking event! We are set in the perfect central location in Downtown for all to join. Are you interested in business? Want to elevate your career? Meet Consultants, Analysts of all types, Bankers, Software Engineers, Entrepreneurs, and more who are active in the space or are eager to get started. **\*\*This will be a multi-vertical event\*\*** **There will be professionals with backgrounds in the arts, finance, tech, real estate, healthcare, and more. Come with an open mind, and leave with connections that wouldn't be possible otherwise!** Pack some business cards and come with an open mind! Meet your future business partners, employers, coworkers, investors, and friends. You don't want to miss this opportunity to expand your network and create a brighter future. We will have a space for our event to check-in. The event will go from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (feel free to come at any point in this timeframe). Name tags will be provided. Business casual dress code. Job fair attire. **Remember, it's not who you know, it's who you meet tomorrow!** We look forward to meeting you at the event! Sincerely, Strive Networking Team *Refund requests are permitted up to 24 hours after purchase, so long as we are not within 48 hours before the event start time. Refunds will be made in full and repaid to your method of payment. Note that we are unable to reimburse PayPal fees.* *Disclaimer: By attending Strive Networking events you agree to photos/videos taken during the event being used to promote future events.*

Customer identity resolution becomes increasingly complex as organizations scale across multiple systems, regions, and data formats. Traditional rule-based approaches often fail to keep up with data variability, require constant manual tuning, and struggle with real-time processing needs. This session presents a practical approach to building a scalable identity resolution pipeline using AWS services and modern AI techniques. The architecture combines data ingestion through Amazon S3 and AWS Glue, transformation pipelines using Spark on EMR, and machine learning models deployed via SageMaker for entity matching and standardization. Graph-based relationship modeling is implemented using Amazon Neptune to improve resolution accuracy by incorporating household and shared attribute context. We will walk through how machine learning models can be used for name and address normalization, how intelligent blocking strategies improve matching efficiency, and how feedback loops can be introduced to continuously improve accuracy. The session also highlights how serverless components such as AWS Lambda can be used for orchestration and real-time processing. **SPEAKER BIO** Mosaic Syed is a Senior Data Engineering and Cloud Solutions Architect with over 20 years of experience designing and delivering scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions across global enterprise environments. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mosaic-basha-syed-92300856 **CALL FOR SPEAKERS** Learn more: [https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/](https://www.awscolumbus.com/get-involved/) **THANK YOU** *VEEAM* for hosting our meetup! To learn more about *Veeam*, please visit their website: [https://www.veeam.com/](https://www.veeam.com/) **DIRECTIONS** 8800 Lyra Dr #450 · Columbus, OH go to 4th floor. **Want to sponsor the pizza and/or bar tab?** Please contact me if you would like to sponsor this meetup's pizza and/or bar tab: angelo@mandato.com