Applied AI
Talks from teams running models in production. How they test them, what they cost, where they fail and how the product around them changes once the demo is over and real users arrive.
Applied AI is for the work that starts after the prototype. Every talk on this track comes from a team that has put a model in front of paying customers and lived with the consequences: the evaluation suite that caught a regression, the feature that was quietly switched off, the pricing change that followed the first real invoice.
It suits engineers, product managers and designers who already have something in production, or are about to, and want specifics rather than predictions. Expect numbers, failure stories and code on slides, and very little about what might happen in five years.
Zara Haddad curated the track by asking every shortlisted speaker the same question: what would you do differently if you started again tomorrow?
craft-is-a-decision
Craft is a decision, not a department
1
09:30
10:15
Main Stage
Keynote
All levels
Design
design
2
Anika Sharma
Corvid's design team grew twentyfold in five years and the work got better. Anika Sharma opens Summit with the decisions that kept quality alive, and the ones that nearly didn't.
0
craft, critique, quality, design leadership

Anika Sharma
Corvid
anika-sharma
Chief Design Officer
1
agent-failures-we-did-not-test-for
Two million users, one agent: the failures we did not test for
1
10:30
11:10
Main Stage
Talk
Advanced
Applied AI
ai
1
Kenji Arai
Corvid's research agent passed every evaluation, then met two million real people. Kenji Arai on the failures no test suite caught, and the rollout system built in response.
0
agents, evaluation, rollout, incidents

Kenji Arai
Corvid
kenji-arai
Staff ML Engineer
8
three-migrations-we-regret
One database, four years, three migrations we regret
1
10:30
11:10
Studio
Talk
Intermediate
Engineering
engineering
3
Lucas Moreau
Halden moved from one large database to several smaller ones without downtime. Lucas Moreau on the three steps he would do differently, and the one he would repeat exactly.
0
databases, migrations, reliability, architecture

Lucas Moreau
Halden
lucas-moreau
Principal Engineer
11
prototype-with-real-data
Prototype with real data, not lorem ipsum
1
10:30
12:30
Lab
Workshop
Intermediate
Design
design
2
Hannah Berg
A hands-on workshop in building prototypes from real, messy data, so your designs meet long names, empty states and awkward numbers before your engineers do.
40
prototyping, real data, edge cases, accessibility

Hannah Berg
Kitebird
hannah-berg
Principal Product Designer
9
roadmaps-are-promises
Roadmaps are promises: how Orbital stopped breaking them
1
11:40
12:20
Main Stage
Talk
Intermediate
Product
product
4
Grace Liu
Orbital used to publish a quarterly roadmap and deliver half of it. Grace Liu on replacing it with a short list of commitments the company keeps, and what that did for trust.
0
roadmaps, planning, commitments, stakeholders

Grace Liu
Orbital
grace-liu
VP Product
3
research-that-changes-the-roadmap
Research that changes the roadmap, not just the deck
1
11:40
12:20
Studio
Talk
Intermediate
Design
design
2
Inês Carvalho
Plenty of research is presented and forgotten. Inês Carvalho on how Quill's research team made its findings hard to ignore, starting with a study of why learners quit in week three.
0
user research, retention, insights, research ops

Inês Carvalho
Quill
ines-carvalho
Head of Research
18
how-big-should-a-team-be
How big should a product team be now?
1
12:30
13:15
Main Stage
Panel
All levels
Leadership
leadership
5
Wei Chen
AI tools have changed what one person can build. A founder, an investor, an engineering director and a product leader on what that means for hiring, team shape and ambition.
0
team size, hiring, org design, ai tools

Grace Liu
Orbital
grace-liu
VP Product
3

Amara Boateng
Fernway
amara-boateng
Founder and CEO
6

Wei Chen
Halcyon Ventures
wei-chen
General Partner
7

Noah Whitaker
Monogram
noah-whitaker
Director of Engineering
13
lightning-small-bets
Lightning talks: small bets that paid off
1
12:30
13:10
Studio
Lightning
Intermediate
Product
product
4
Tomás Ferreira
Three quick talks on small product changes with outsized results: a changed default, a five-person test and a changelog people actually read.
0
experiments, quick wins, onboarding, changelog

Jonah Adeyemi
Stackwell
jonah-adeyemi
Developer Advocate
10

Tomás Ferreira
Arbor
tomas-ferreira
Product Engineer
14

Inês Carvalho
Quill
ines-carvalho
Head of Research
18
case-for-boring-architecture
Eight engineers, forty million requests: a case for boring architecture
1
14:30
15:10
Main Stage
Talk
Intermediate
Engineering
engineering
3
Daniel Reis
Stackwell serves forty million requests a day on a stack most teams would call dull. Daniel Reis on why that is a deliberate choice, and the three times it nearly wasn't.
0
architecture, monolith, reliability, small teams

Daniel Reis
Stackwell
daniel-reis
CTO
2
retire-the-feature
Retire the feature: what we learned removing a third of our product
1
14:30
15:10
Studio
Talk
Intermediate
Product
product
4
Elena Petrova
In one year Tidewater's collaboration products removed more features than they added. Elena Petrova on how they chose, how customers reacted, and what it did to support and speed.
0
deprecation, product strategy, simplicity, customer communication

Elena Petrova
Tidewater
elena-petrova
Group Product Manager
15
build-an-eval-suite
Build an evaluation suite for an LLM feature in two hours
1
14:30
16:30
Lab
Workshop
Advanced
Applied AI
ai
1
Elif Demir
Bring a feature that uses a language model and leave with an evaluation suite for it: real test cases, graded outputs and a score you can track from one model change to the next.
36
evaluation, llm, testing, python

Kenji Arai
Corvid
kenji-arai
Staff ML Engineer
8

Elif Demir
Tidewater Labs
elif-demir
Research Scientist
17
latency-is-a-design-material
Latency is a design material: interfaces for streaming models
1
15:20
16:00
Main Stage
Talk
Intermediate
Applied AI
ai
1
Omar Saleh
A model that takes eight seconds to answer is a design problem as much as an engineering one. Omar Saleh on AI interfaces that feel fast on slow phones and slower networks.
0
streaming, latency, performance, mobile

Omar Saleh
Lumio
omar-saleh
Frontend Architect
16
org-chart-decisions
The org chart decisions you cannot take back
1
15:20
16:00
Studio
Talk
Intermediate
Leadership
leadership
5
Noah Whitaker
Monogram's engineering team grew from twelve people to two hundred in four years. Noah Whitaker on the structural choices that were easy to change, and the few that were not.
0
org design, engineering management, career frameworks, on-call

Noah Whitaker
Monogram
noah-whitaker
Director of Engineering
13
trust-is-the-product
Trust is the product: two years of shipping AI to people who did not ask for it
1
16:30
17:20
Main Stage
Keynote
All levels
Applied AI
ai
1
Zara Haddad
Halden's AI assistant drafts replies for support agents at twelve thousand companies. Zara Haddad closes day one with what two years, two model changes and a public apology taught her about trust.
0
ai products, trust, human in the loop, customer support

Zara Haddad
Halden
zara-haddad
Head of AI Product
5
minutes-to-first-deploy
Developer experience is measured in minutes to first deploy
1
16:30
17:10
Studio
Talk
Intermediate
Engineering
engineering
3
Jonah Adeyemi
Stackwell cut the median time from sign-up to a working deploy from twenty-six minutes to four. Jonah Adeyemi on the measurement, eleven rewrites and the fixes that were not in the docs.
0
developer experience, documentation, onboarding, cli

Jonah Adeyemi
Stackwell
jonah-adeyemi
Developer Advocate
10
every-kilobyte-is-a-cost
Every kilobyte is a cost: designing for the next hundred million customers
2
09:30
10:15
Main Stage
Keynote
All levels
Product
product
4
Maya Okafor
Lumio serves three million small traders on low-cost phones and patchy networks. Maya Okafor opens day two with what designing under real constraints can teach every product team.
0
constraints, mobile, inclusive design, performance budgets

Maya Okafor
Lumio
maya-okafor
VP Design
4
we-deleted-our-spa
We deleted our single-page app and nobody noticed
2
10:30
11:10
Main Stage
Talk
Advanced
Engineering
engineering
3
Omar Saleh
Lumio replaced its dashboard's single-page app with server-rendered pages and small interactive islands. Omar Saleh on the migration, the numbers and the parts that were harder than expected.
0
performance, server rendering, javascript, migration

Omar Saleh
Lumio
omar-saleh
Frontend Architect
16
accessibility-debt-compounds
Accessibility debt compounds faster than technical debt
2
10:30
11:10
Studio
Talk
Intermediate
Design
design
2
Hannah Berg
Kitebird became the first Nordic ticketing app to pass a full accessibility audit. Hannah Berg on why fixing it late cost four times as much, and how to stop the debt building up again.
0
accessibility, audits, inclusive design, wcag

Hannah Berg
Kitebird
hannah-berg
Principal Product Designer
9
observability-from-zero
Trace a real request end to end: observability from zero
2
10:30
12:30
Lab
Workshop
Intermediate
Engineering
engineering
3
Lucas Moreau
A hands-on workshop in adding tracing, structured logs and useful metrics to a small but realistic app, then using them to find three bugs planted in it.
40
observability, tracing, opentelemetry, debugging

Lucas Moreau
Halden
lucas-moreau
Principal Engineer
11
design-systems-are-a-product
Design systems are a product, staff them like one
2
11:40
12:20
Main Stage
Talk
Intermediate
Design
design
2
Priya Nair
Northbeam's design system serves fourteen product teams with a team of nine. Priya Nair on running it with a roadmap, a support rota and adoption figures leadership actually reads.
0
design systems, adoption, components, staffing

Priya Nair
Northbeam
priya-nair
Design Systems Lead
12
your-evals-are-lying
Your evals are lying to you: measuring models on real work
2
11:40
12:20
Studio
Talk
Advanced
Applied AI
ai
1
Elif Demir
Public benchmarks say models are nearly perfect at analysis. A benchmark built from real company data says otherwise. Elif Demir on what it takes to measure models honestly.
0
evaluation, benchmarks, data analysis, measurement

Elif Demir
Tidewater Labs
elif-demir
Research Scientist
17
who-is-accountable
Who is accountable when the agent gets it wrong?
2
12:30
13:15
Main Stage
Panel
All levels
Applied AI
ai
1
Elena Petrova
AI agents now take actions, not just make suggestions. A product manager, an AI product lead, an ML engineer and a CTO on who owns the outcome when one of them makes a mistake.
0
agents, accountability, incidents, ai policy

Daniel Reis
Stackwell
daniel-reis
CTO
2

Zara Haddad
Halden
zara-haddad
Head of AI Product
5

Kenji Arai
Corvid
kenji-arai
Staff ML Engineer
8

Elena Petrova
Tidewater
elena-petrova
Group Product Manager
15
lightning-details
Lightning talks: the details that do the work
2
12:30
13:10
Studio
Lightning
Intermediate
Design
design
2
Hannah Berg
Four short talks on small interface details that carried more weight than anyone expected, from a loading state to a single line of microcopy.
0
microcopy, loading states, components, interface design

Hannah Berg
Kitebird
hannah-berg
Principal Product Designer
9

Priya Nair
Northbeam
priya-nair
Design Systems Lead
12

Tomás Ferreira
Arbor
tomas-ferreira
Product Engineer
14

Omar Saleh
Lumio
omar-saleh
Frontend Architect
16
what-investors-read
What investors actually read in your product metrics
2
14:30
15:10
Main Stage
Talk
Intermediate
Leadership
leadership
5
Wei Chen
Wei Chen has read hundreds of board decks. He explains which product numbers change an investor's mind, which get ignored, and why retention curves come before revenue.
0
fundraising, metrics, retention, boards

Wei Chen
Halcyon Ventures
wei-chen
General Partner
7
api-reference-is-onboarding
Your API reference is your onboarding: rewriting ours from scratch
2
14:30
15:10
Studio
Talk
Intermediate
Engineering
engineering
3
Jonah Adeyemi
Most developers meet your product through its API reference, not its homepage. Jonah Adeyemi on how Stackwell rebuilt its reference around tasks, examples and errors.
0
api design, documentation, developer experience, openapi

Jonah Adeyemi
Stackwell
jonah-adeyemi
Developer Advocate
10
discovery-sprint-in-an-afternoon
Run a discovery sprint in an afternoon
2
14:30
16:30
Lab
Workshop
Intermediate
Product
product
4
Inês Carvalho
A hands-on workshop that compresses product discovery into two hours: frame the problem, talk to real people, test a rough prototype and decide what to build next.
36
discovery, user interviews, prototyping, research

Elena Petrova
Tidewater
elena-petrova
Group Product Manager
15

Inês Carvalho
Quill
ines-carvalho
Head of Research
18
own-the-metric
Own the metric, not the ticket: notes from a product engineer
2
15:20
16:00
Main Stage
Talk
Intermediate
Product
product
4
Tomás Ferreira
At Arbor, engineers own outcomes rather than tasks. Tomás Ferreira on what that changes day to day, from talking to restaurant owners to deciding not to build what the ticket asks for.
0
product engineering, ownership, outcomes, small teams

Tomás Ferreira
Arbor
tomas-ferreira
Product Engineer
14
small-models-next-to-the-data
Small models next to the data: running inference in every customer's region
2
15:20
16:00
Studio
Talk
Advanced
Applied AI
ai
1
Lucas Moreau
Halden's European customers asked for their data to stay in-region. Lucas Moreau on swapping one large hosted model for small ones in six regions, and what it did to cost and quality.
0
inference, small models, data residency, infrastructure

Lucas Moreau
Halden
lucas-moreau
Principal Engineer
11
the-company-is-the-product
The company is the product too
2
16:30
17:25
Main Stage
Keynote
All levels
Leadership
leadership
5
Amara Boateng
Amara Boateng closes Summit 2027 with what building Fernway taught her: the way a company works is something you design, ship and maintain, just like its software.
0
leadership, culture, company building, founders

Amara Boateng
Fernway
amara-boateng
Founder and CEO
6
pricing-is-a-product-decision
Pricing is a product decision, so stop leaving it to finance
2
16:30
17:10
Studio
Talk
Intermediate
Product
product
4
Grace Liu
Orbital's prices used to be set in a spreadsheet once a year. Grace Liu on bringing pricing into the product team, and how a new model changed what customers used and what got built.
0
pricing, packaging, monetisation, product strategy

Grace Liu
Orbital
grace-liu
VP Product
3
Doors, badges and breakfast
1
08:30
09:30
Doors
Foyer
Coffee
1
11:10
11:40
Coffee
Foyer and terrace
Lunch on the river terrace
1
13:15
14:30
Meal
River terrace
Coffee
1
16:00
16:30
Coffee
Foyer and terrace
Riverside reception
1
18:30
22:00
Social
River terrace
Coffee and pastéis de nata
2
08:30
09:30
Doors
Foyer
Coffee
2
11:10
11:40
Coffee
Foyer and terrace
Lunch on the river terrace
2
13:15
14:30
Meal
River terrace
Coffee
2
16:00
16:30
Coffee
Foyer and terrace
Closing drinks
2
17:30
18:00
Social
Foyer