AI Engineering: Under the Hood

AI Engineering: Under the Hood is a technical meetup hosted by Indian Data Club in Bengaluru, focused on how modern AI systems are actually built, evaluated, and scaled.

Who it's for The session is designed for AI Engineers, Software Engineers, ML Engineers, Data Engineers, MLOps/LLMOps Engineers, and developers working with or exploring AI engineering. It is equally relevant for founders and CTOs building AI-powered products who want to understand what sits beneath the demo layer.

What to expect The meetup goes beyond AI demos and explores the engineering layers behind modern AI applications - from models, context, tools, and agents to data, infrastructure, evaluation, reliability, and scale.

Agenda

• Welcome & Introduction to Indian Data Club (10 min) - a brief introduction to the community, the Bengaluru chapter, and the focus of the meetup.
• Icebreaker (10 min) - a short networking activity to connect with fellow AI, data, software, and engineering professionals.
• Speaker Session (40 min): Building AI Systems: Models, Context, Tools & Agents - a practical deep dive into how modern AI applications are designed and assembled. Topics include model selection and LLMs, context engineering, RAG and retrieval, connecting models with data and tools, tool calling and agentic workflows, AI application architecture, and building reliable AI systems.
• AI Engineering Quiz - a fun knowledge test covering AI, LLMs, RAG, AI agents, and real-world AI systems.
• Introduction of the Ecosystem Partner, Paytm.
• Tea Break - refreshments and informal networking.
• Panel Discussion (40 min): Engineering the AI Stack: Data, Infrastructure & Evaluation - a technical discussion on the challenges of taking AI systems from prototype to reliable production applications.
• Closing Remarks & Open Networking (30-40 min) - networking with speakers, panelists, founders, engineers, and the wider Bengaluru technology community.

Key takeaways Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how modern AI applications are engineered, what sits beyond the LLM, how models, context, tools, agents, and data work together, the infrastructure required to run AI systems, how AI systems are evaluated and monitored, the trade-offs between cost, latency, reliability, and performance, and what changes when moving from an AI prototype to production.

About the organiser Indian Data Club is a community for data and AI professionals across India, running offline community connects and speaker sessions in cities including Bengaluru. The meetup is supported by ecosystem partner Paytm. For collaboration or partnership enquiries, contact Sahib Musharraf (sahib@indiandataclub.com). Community members interested in speaking at future sessions can apply through the organiser's speaker form.