Steel City AI, a in person meetup

Hands-on AI for real-world problems where Sheffield forges the future of AI

Welcome to Steel City AI meetup

Build something useful with AI. No pitches. Just builds, demos, and takeaways.

We’re running currently monthly hands-on events where you’ll tackle real challenges, discover which AI tools actually help with day-to-day work, and build alongside others.

Event list

4th November 2025 - The 1-Hour AI Challenge (Sheffield) — In-Person

Any future events will be posted here, watch this space.

What to bring

  • Laptop + charger (headphones recommended)
  • Optional: a small, sanitised dataset (we’ll provide samples too)
  • Water bottle

Why attend?

Learn by doing, not watching

Forget passive tutorials. You’ll tackle a real challenge and ship something tangible in 60 minutes. This is how you discover what AI can actually do for you—not in theory, but in practice.

Discover which tools are worth your time

The AI landscape is noisy. ChatGPT? n8n? Azure? Cursor? Ollama? LangChain? Instead of drowning in blog posts, you’ll test these tools against real problems and see what actually delivers. From building with ChatGPT and Copilot, to running open models like Llama 3 in Ollama, to connecting data through LangChain, Pinecone, and Polars — you’ll explore what works in practice and what’s just hype.

Meet Sheffield’s AI-curious community

You’re not alone in trying to figure this out. Connect with local developers, designers, entrepreneurs, and curious minds who are exploring the same questions. Swap strategies, share wins, and maybe find your next collaborator.

Ship something people will ask about

Walk away with a working prototype—a screenshot search tool, an audio-to-slides generator, or a document Q&A system. These aren’t toy projects. They’re the kind of tools that make colleagues say, “Wait, you built that in an hour?”

Build your AI instincts

Beyond the tool you make, you’ll develop intuition for when to use AI and when not to. You’ll learn to spot good use cases, work around limitations, and validate ideas fast. These instincts compound over time.

It’s 90 minutes, not 9 months

You don’t need to commit to a course or bootcamp. Give us one evening. If it clicks, you’ll leave with momentum. If it doesn’t, at least you’ll have a clear sense of where AI can (and can’t) help you.

Still hesitating? Invite your AI-curious friends—you don’t want them saying, “I wish I’d known about this.”

Questions?

Reach out and connect to our Discord channel and join our community discussions.

Housekeeping

  • Wi-Fi & power: Provided
  • Accessibility: Let us know any requirements—happy to help
  • Photos/recording: We may take a few; tell us if you’d prefer not