Hey AI LA Community,

April is packed with opportunities to connect, learn, and create real-world impact—starting with our sixth annual Earth Summit, where we’ll tackle urgent issues like wildfire management, climate resilience, and sustainability. We’re also thrilled to host a range of mixers, workshops, and hackathons designed to deepen your AI journey and expand your professional network. Scroll on for details and don’t miss your chance to join these exciting conversations and events!

Sincerely,
Team AI LA

Earth Summit 2025 – April 17th

Join AI LA for our landmark 6th annual Earth Summit, dedicated this year to building resilient communities in the wake of Los Angeles's devastating fires. This year, we are grateful to have the support of the Annenberg Foundation and Annenberg Tech!

​We envision a Los Angeles that rebuilds faster, stronger, and more sustainably in the face of disaster—where foundations, NGOs, tech innovators, investors, and government agencies collaborate to implement innovative solutions.

​The Earth Summit is a vibrant gathering point for LA’s leading sustainability champions, technologists, startups, policy makers, and investors, all committed to forging pathways toward resilient urban futures. Participants will experience a day rich with education, inspiration, and opportunities for meaningful connection.

​This year's program includes an insightful keynote, an interactive workshop, and expert panels that explore how we can leverage AI, technology, policy innovation, and strategic investment to create adaptive and equitable communities.

​Highlights:

• ​Rising from the Ashes: Learn critical lessons from the recent LA wildfires and explore blueprints for urban resilience.

• ​Smart Cities in the Age of Climate Change: Discover how AI and technology can support adaptation, emergency response, and sustainable growth.

• ​Policy, People, and Partnerships: Discuss actionable strategies for building equitable and resilient urban futures through effective collaboration.

• ​Financing Resilience: Understand investment strategies designed to future-proof our cities and mitigate risks associated with climate change.

​Interactive Facilitated Workshop: a dynamic 90-minute World Café workshop, designed to foster deep engagement among stakeholders:

• ​Participants rotate through three rounds of focused small-group discussions (4-6 people per table).

• ​Each table addresses specific challenges related to LA wildfires, guided by a knowledgeable "host."

• ​Key insights from discussions are visually mapped into a comprehensive synthesis, directly informing future engagements and laying the groundwork for our LA Strong Hackathon later this year.

What we’ve been up to:

AI LA+ Mixer – March 22nd

We hosted our first-ever AI LA+ mixer on Saturday. It was great meeting so many of our community members and getting feedback on how to improve our offerings. Want to join in next time? Become an AI LA+ member!

AI x Fintech Mixer – March 18th

Yet another awesome fintech meetup at Nalu Vida in Venice! After the recent timezone change, we were finally able to enjoy the sunset during our event. Thanks to everyone who came out. We hope to see you at the next one on April 15th.

These incredible events are made possible thanks to our AI LA+ members, whose support has fueled our growth over the past two months. Want to help shape the future of AI LA while enjoying exclusive perks? Consider joining AI LA+ and growing with us!

We are hosting our first AI LA+ members-only event this Saturday. At this event, all members will get professional headshots taken, and we’ll discuss how we can continue to provide more value as a community.

AI LA IDEAS Cohort 5

AI LA’s IDEAS is a competitive and transformative program for LA community college students eager to acquire cutting-edge AI skills and explore its applications in diverse fields.

This is a hybrid 10 week long self-paced program for LA County community college students. It is delivered asynchronously through Coursera, focusing on the latest advancements in AI and machine learning. Students will complete courses remotely, attend synchronous virtual study sessions, hear from guest speakers, and culminate their learning with a final hands-on project.

Program Dates: April 28th, 2025 to June 30th, 2025

Requirements: Applicants should be LA County community college students who have intermediate programming knowledge in Python. There is no cost to participants, if selected.

Join us for a virtual info session on April 4th.

Upcoming Events

LA Founders & Investors: Responsible AI Investing (3/27) – Venice

Today's venture capital landscape has dramatically evolved regarding AI expectations from startups. Investors now demand sophisticated AI adoption strategies that go beyond marketing hype, or “AI Washing,” requiring founders to articulate precisely how AI will further enhance their product or service’s customer retention, reduce churn, and enable teams to do more with less headcount to reduce their burn rate.

According to Y Combinator’s managing partner, Jared Friedman, a quarter of their W25 startups have 95% of their codebases generated by AI. But as TechCrunch points out, “Code generated from AI is far from perfect, though. Studies and reports have observed that some AI-generated code can insert security flaws in applications, cause outages, or make mistakes, forcing devs to change the code or debug heavily.”

We invite you to join us for a special LA Founders & Investors Mixer & Panel Discussion in Venice featuring both the investor and startup/founder viewpoints: Nuzi Barkatally, Silicon Valley Bank; Brandon Goldman, Partner at Lionheart Ventures, Tina Djenge, COO & Co-Founder of Alpha Trend, and Claire Wright, CEO and Founder of BUDDY. This intimate mixer and discussion will dive into the shifts for both investors and startups, and provide an opportunity to network with like-minded folks.

LA GenAI Meetup (4/14) – Pasadena

​Join us for a casual evening AI meetup in the heart of Pasadena! This friendly get-together is the perfect opportunity for GenAI enthusiasts, hobbyists, experts, and newcomers alike to connect, share insights, and learn from each other in an informal setting.

Responsible AI (Made in LA) Hackathon (4/12) – Remote

Join us for a Responsible AI Hackathon with Bruin AI and the AI LA Responsible AI Collective! Use AI tools to explore themes like privacy, sustainability, and the future of work.

Whether you are a student, professional, experienced coder or just a beginner, there is something for everyone! With over $6k in prizes and a week of workshops, this is not an opportunity to pass up.

This is a week long hybrid event taking place April 12th through April 19th. The deadline for registration is: Wed. April 6th

Cerebral Beach Café w/ EDNA Coffee (4/12 & 4/26) – Venice

Welcome to Cerebral Beach Café, a morning meetup where coffee fuels ideas and community. Hosted in AI LA's event space in Venice, this gathering is designed for those in tech, AI, and beyond to sip, connect, and get things done.

ComfyUI Official AI LA March Meet-Up (4/3) – Venice

Join us for the official ComfyUI Meetup in LA, hosted at AI LA’s HQ in the former Snapchat Office in Venice Beach. ​Connect with fellow enthusiasts and dive deeper into the creators, models, and startups building on top of ComfyUI.

AI Policy Happy Hour (4/3) – Central LA

Join us for an AI Policy happy hour! This unique event brings together curious minds in artificial intelligence, policy-making, and tech innovation to exchange ideas and insights.

RenderCon (4/15) – Hollywood

The Render Network, the leading decentralized GPU computing platform for 3D rendering, AI, and spatial media, is thrilled to invite the AI LA community to RenderCon – April 15th at Nya Studios in Hollywood. 

The conference will feature leaders in AI, GPU computing, Hollywood, and web3 to explore how art, media, and exa-scale computing are shaping the decade ahead including: 

• Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann , Beeple Studios

• Richard Kerris, VP and GM Media & Entertainment at NVIDIA

• Ariel Emanuel, CEO of Endeavor and TKO

• Emad Mostaque, Founder of Intelligent Internet 

• Rod Roddenberry, Executive Producer of Star Trek (Paramount+)

For free admission to RenderCon, please RSVP with the AI LA invite code below: 

Invite: https://lu.ma/rendercon

Free Coupon Code: AILAGUEST