BRAIN - AI Applications and Tooling Meetup

Come share and learn how people are actually using AI in their day-to-day work - whether that's coding, engineering, creative projects, or solving business problems.

We'll skip the "what is AI" basics and focus on practical stuff: real workflows, useful tools, and honest experiences. You don't need to be an AI expert - just curious about doing more than asking ChatGPT questions.

This month we have Rob Wise presenting "Build Your Own AI Coding Agent From Scratch".

Tools like Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor often feel like magic the way they can build entire apps from a simple prompt. In this session Rob will show you the magic is just an illusion: under the hood, every coding agent is just an LLM, a loop, and a little bit of code that anyone can understand — even if you've never coded before.

During this live coding session you'll see how simple it is to build a fully functioning, code-editing agent from scratch, and you'll leave with code samples and everything you need to build your own that same night.

Rob Wise is VP of AI Engineering at a US healthtech startup and has been building software for startups in the US and Australia for over a decade — working on everything from websites with 50 million monthly visitors to AI systems used in the medical industry. After years leading engineering teams, he now spends much of his time managing teams of AI agents, building custom coding agents, voice agents, and multi-agent orchestration systems here in Ballarat.

We will also have the big screen up, and anyone can present anything cool they've found or project they have been working on. All tickets are free for this month, but you stil need to get a ticket.

What to expect:

• Main Talk: A chosen presenter will give a 15-30 minute feature talk on an emerging AI technology or a unique use-case in their industry.

• Lightning Talks: Any participants are welcome to stand up for 5 minutes and talk/show how they use AI day to day, or a project they're excited about. Feel free to bring your own talk!

• Info about BRAIN (Ballarat Regional AI Network) and future meetups

Who should come: Anyone already tinkering with AI or ready to move beyond the basics. Developers, engineers, creators, business folks - all welcome. Bring your laptop if you want to try things out.

This is a collaboration between BRAIN (www.brain.net.au) and Ballarat Hackerspace. We're planning more sessions, so let us know if you'd like to present your own AI workflow at a future meetup.

Topic's covered: Text, image and audio generation. Software used. System architecture breakdown. Live demos.

If you’re a developer, engineer, or curious technologist, this session is a hands-on look at running and integrating local LLMs into real-world environments

Tickets required - see you there!