Global Nerdy

Three days ago, I asked: Would you be interested in a hands-on A.I. coding meetup?

Two days ago, I asked ChatGPT for suggestions for names for that meetup.

Yesterday, we got that meetup group. Its name: Tampa Bay AI/Python Hands-On Coding Group 2 be Renamed Later.

What’s the group about?

Sure, the name’s unwieldy, but it does explain exactly what the group is all about:

• Tampa Bay: It’s based in Tampa Bay. Sometime we’ll convene in Tampa, sometimes we’ll convene in St. Pete. We’re trying to serve “The Other Bay Area!”
• AI: It’s going to be about artificial intelligence in all its forms. The “classical” or “symbolic” AI from the 60s and 70s to neural networks and backpropagation from the 80s and 90s to deep learning and statistical modeling from the 2000s and 2010s to the present day.
• Python: It’s also going to be about the Python programming language, which combines simplicity and power. We’ll mostly focus on AI, but we’ll also delve into using Python to solve problems and get things done.
• Hands-On Coding: It’s nice to talk about AI and Python, but more fun (and educational) to do something with it. Each meetup will be a “code-along” exercise we’re you’ll actually write code to sharpen your Python skills or do something AI-related!
• Group 2 be Renamed Later: The name’s clunky, but the point is to get the group launched. We’ll eventually come up with a better one. As for using “2” instead of “to”: that’s so the group’s name fits within Meetup’s limit for group name length.

What will happen at our meetups?

They’ll be coding workshops, mostly in Python, one of the preferred languages for implementing artificial intelligence / machine learning / data science-driven applications.

We’ll follow the model I use for the Tampa Bay Apple Coding Meetup, the “code along with me” exercise. We’ll start each meetup with some kind of goal in mind and write code towards achieving that goal. The idea is for you to leave each meetup with at least a partially working application, if not a complete one, and with the understanding gained from having worked on that application.

What will you need at our meetups?

The technical requirements for this meetup are relatively simple:

1. A laptop that was made sometime in the past 10 – 12 years and has 4GB or more of RAM. This meetup is all about being hands-on and coding in a group setting, so you’ll need a computer that you can bring with you that can also run Python 3.9 or later.
2. Python 3.9. The current version is Python 3.11.something, but 3.9 will do. At the time of writing, Python 3.9 is the version that comes with Anaconda, a Python distribution that comes with a lot of utlities and libraries. It’s a great choice if you’re new to Python.

Just for kicks, I might lead a session using my Raspberry Pi as my demo machine.

What will we build?

I’ve already got the first few sessions planned out. I thought we’d start with a bang and code ELIZA, the very first chatbot, developed between 1964 and 1966 at MIT by Dr. Joseph Weizenbaum. It simulates a Rogerian therapist, using pattern matching to reflect what the patient says back at them or gets the patient to talk about what they just said.

The first few sessions will cover “classical” AI applications, such as ELIZA, tic-tac-toe, and simple sentiment analysis. We’ll work our way up to data science-style applications such as the “recommended if you like” system that a lot of ecommerce sites use. And then, neural networks. The goal is to try to work our way up to a scaled-down version of ChatGPT.

Along the way, we’ll cover Python, and the useful algorithms, data structures, and libraries that you can use. We’ll also cover the onerous task of cleaning up data, which is important to AI, and a topic that needs more coverage.

Where will the meetups take place?

I’m looking for a venue for the first meetup, and will announce it as soon as I’ve secured it. I want to hold meetups on both the Tampa and St. Pete sides of the bay, perhaps alternating. If you have suggestions, connections, or better still, a meetup venue, drop me a line!

In the meantime, sign up to join the meetup group so that you’ll be notified when the first meetup is announced!

Each era had its tech opportunity, and I have a meetup idea to capitalize on the opportunity we have right now.

ChatGPT has been around for a little less than a quarter (remember, it came out at the end of November), and in that time, a lot of people are already adapting to the change. Even the stand-up comic puppet “Chad the Bird” has already created an epic routine about it:

One way to look at the opportunity it presents is through the lens of paradigm shifts over the past couple of decades:

• When the PC exploded onto the scene in 1981 and into the 1990s, you could do well if you picked up BASICA, then later, Turbo Pascal, and finally, Visual Basic, Delphi, or Visual C++.
• When Netscape Navigator became available in 1994, you were in demand if you knew HTML and as a bonus, a scripting language.
• When Web 2.0 happened in the early 2000s, having JavaScript skill and knowing what to do with XMLHttpRequest opened doors for you.
• With the introduction of app stores in 2008, you’d be set if you knew how to write mobile apps.
• When data science became “the sexiest job of the 21st century” in the 2010s, you were sexy if you could code in R or Python.

It may be 2023, but it’s also 1981, 1994, the early 2000s, 2008, and the 2010s all over again. What would you need to know to get ahead in this new age of AI?

Here’s a better question: What if there was a meetup where you could get hands-on practice on building AI?

There’s no way you could build ChatGPT in a couple of hours at a meetup. But what if you worked up to it, a little at a time?

This meetup would start at the very beginning — and by “beginning,” I mean the original chatbot from the 1960s, ELIZA…

Unlike ChatGPT, it is possible to build ELIZA in a couple of hours. It’s also a great way to sharpen your skills in Python (which is very popular in AI circles) at the same time!

You can try out ELIZA online!

Eliza was created by computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab over a two-year period from 1964 to 1966:

It simulated a psychotherapist that reflects what the patient says back at them or gets the patient to talk about what they just said. Although it was written for the IBM 7094, a room-sized computer whose operator console is pictured below…

…it later became a popular program on home computers in the 1980s under the name “Eliza” or “Doctor”:

We’d start by building Eliza — in Python. I’d give you a “starter” project, and you’d code along with me until you had a working Eliza version that you could tweak into your own chatbot.

You wouldn’t need the latest and greatest computer to do it, either! A laptop from 2010 (and remember, that’s 13 years ago now!) or later would be all you’d need.

We’d then play around a little with old-school AI and work our way towards the APIs, algorithms and data structures that make up what we consider to be AI today. The goal is to eventually gain the skills necessary to write AI applications or use AI-powered APIs to give our applications human-like smarts.

Would you go to this kind of meetup? Let me know!