Kickstart AI

Meet Sophia Zitman: AI Project Lead Ever wondered who the great minds behind Kickstart AI are? Well we have exciting news for you! Starting this month, we're launching our Employee Spotlight series, introducing you to the individuals who make up our organization. This series will provide insights into their personalities, motivations, and contributions to our mission of accelerating AI adoption in the Netherlands. We're thrilled to begin with Sophia Claire Zitman, our AI Project Lead, who is passionate about efficiency and AI implementation. In her own words: "There's a lot of talk, hype, and proof of concepts in AI right now. The potential is enormous, but potential alone doesn't create efficiency. That's why I'm focused on the practical implementation of AI." Are you curious about Sophia's career journey and how she's leveraging her skills and experience at Kickstart AI to collaborate with companies and societal organizations in developing practical AI solutions? Don't miss out on this insightful read! Find the full article in the link provided in the comments below.

In our community, Cursor (acquired by DataRobot) popped up after Andrej Karpathy praised it on X. It’s gaining attention for offering a peek into the future of AI-assisted coding. Cursor is: ✔Able to talk to an LLM that has acces to your entire codebase ✔Able to ask an AI for precise edits in your code ✔And, as the name suggests, Cursor not only completes your code but also predicts what you’ll want to type next. Why is this such a big step forward? Cursor represents the next step in the assisted coding journey, where AI becomes a collaborator in the development process. The fact that LLMs excel in (assisting with) coding is thanks to a lot of quality training data being available: well documented code like on GitHub, which gives AI plenty of examples to learn from. It also shows that current LLM models can already feel more useful if the interface is better due to lower friction. Read more about Cursor here: https://lnkd.in/eAQ5yqVp

Reminder for our next meetup! On the 10th of September, we are organizing the meetup “Cutting-Edge AI and Machine Learning Innovations”, in partnership with PyData Eindhoven. Emilio Oldenziel, Machine Learning Engineer at Eraneos will join us to explain how combining scientific and practical Reinforcement Learning knowledge reduced train delays by over 58,000 minutes annually. In addition, Merel Theisen, Principal Software Engineer at QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, will do a talk on the Kedro framework, where she’ll uncover how applying software engineering best practices into data workflows makes complex projects more manageable and scalable. It’s going to be an evening filled with trains and Kedro (https://kedro.org/). Want to join us? Then sign up here https: https://lnkd.in/eGstmiqr

What’s your view? Is Polars the new Pandas? Pandas, one of the first Data Science libraries, has long been developers' go-to library. However, Polars is gaining traction as a formidable alternative. A recent article outlines the advantages that Polars provides: ✔ Performance boost: Polars is designed for speed and efficiency, outperforming Pandas in various data manipulation tasks. This could lead to faster insights and quicker decision-making for companies ✔ Memory efficiency: By utilizing Apache Arrow’s memory format, Polars optimizes resource usage, which can result in cost savings in data processing. ✔ Multithreading advantage: Polars fully leverages multi-core processors, allowing for significant performance improvements in data-heavy applications. ✔ Lazy evaluation: With its approach to lazy evaluation, Polars optimizes query execution, ensuring that operations are performed only when necessary, improving pipeline efficiency. What do you think? Have you tried Polars and do you think the data science community is ready to say goodbye to Pandas? Read the full article here and tell us what you think in the comments https://lnkd.in/eBdT-WAR

Exciting developments in AI: Japan’s Sakana AI is making waves! 🌊 Founded by former Google AI engineers, including Llion Jones (co-author of “Attention Is All You Need”), Sakana AI is taking a unique approach to artificial intelligence. Why we as Kickstart AI think the AI Community should take notice: 1. Nature-inspired AI: Sakana draws inspiration from collective intelligence in nature, like schools of fish and beehives, to design more flexible and reactive AI models 2. Beyond traditional LLMs: The startup aims to develop AI that can generate text, images, code, and multimedia content using principles of evolutionary computing 3. Substantial funding: Sakana recently raised $30M in seed funding, backed by prominent VCs and tech giants 4. AI for scientific discovery: Their recent paper explores using AI agents for conducting scientific experiments and writing research papers. It has not yet reached the human level (prone to errors and hallucinations) but it is an interesting glimpse into a possible future. What are your thoughts on this nature-inspired direction for AI? Let us know in the comments. Full article can be viewed here: https://lnkd.in/gEXWkMCY #ArtificialIntelligence #DataScience #Innovation #AIResearch

If your company hasn't signed up for the National AI Challenge yet, then this is your chance to do it now! Janneke Niessen, co-founder of CapitalT, and one of the jury members of the Challenge explains in this article why companies should participate and how they can sign up. Janneke Niessen: ''The National AI Challenge aims to accelerate AI development and adoption in the Netherlands, as we're currently lagging behind in this area. Despite our strong position in AI research and innovation, the broader business community is not fully capitalizing on the opportunities this technology offers. With the AI Challenge we intend to bridge this gap and unleash the potential of AI across various sectors.'' Interested in the full article (in Dutch)? Click here: https://lnkd.in/eqwqJ6uf #AI #NationaleAIChallenge 

Curious about how companies like Albert Heijn, bol, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Nederlandse Spoorwegen are harnessing the power of AI and you haven’t watched our AI Cybersessions yet? Then take the opportunity this summer to watch our 6-episode series featuring industry leaders leveraging AI to improve their operations! Watch the series here: https://lnkd.in/diGqwySn Want to share your thoughts? Please do so in the comments!

Excited to see that the Netherlands ranked first in the Global Index on Responsible AI! This annual research evaluates the state of responsible AI in 138 countries, assessing areas such as ethical practices, safety, and worker protection. Why this matters: ✔ Global leadership: This ranking highlights the Netherlands’ commitment to ethical and inclusive AI practices. ✔ International collaboration: The research emphasizes the importance of global partnerships and shared knowledge in advancing responsible AI. ✔ Safety & security: Ensuring the safety and reliability of AI systems is crucial as we rely more on AI. ✔ Worker protection: The report points out the need for better protection for workers in AI-driven economies, an area where the Netherlands is leading. ✔ Education & awareness: Dutch universities, civil society organizations, and various coalitions are actively promoting AI education and responsible use. As Kickstart AI it's fantastic to see that we're performing so well in this area and it shows that the Netherlands can indeed take a leading role in AI. As an organization that wants to accelerate the adoption of AI in the Netherlands, we remain committed to driving the large-scale implementation and utilization of AI 🚀 #AI #ResponsibleAI #Netherlands

Join us on September 10, for an evening of insights, networking, and cutting-edge technology at the AI Innovation Center in Eindhoven. This event is organized by Kickstart AI in partnership with PyData Eindhoven. 🎤 Speakers and Topics: 1. Merel Theisen - Principal Software Engineer at QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey. Topic: Embedding Software Engineering Best Practices into Machine Learning Projects with Kedro Explore how modularity, testability, and reproducibility can elevate your ML projects. Learn how the Kedro framework integrates these principles, making complex projects more manageable and scalable. 2. Emilio Oldenziel - Machine Learning Engineer at Eraneos. Topic: Optimizing Rail Traffic Control using a Digital Twin and Reinforcement Learning Dive into a customer case where RL and Digital Twin technology reduced delays by over 58,000 minutes annually in a high-frequency railway network. 🤝 Networking and Collaboration: Connect with fellow AI experts, share your experiences, and learn from top professionals in the field. Enjoy networking drinks and bites after the talks, with our speakers available for further discussions. Event Details:  📅 Date: September 10  🕕 Time: 18:00 - 21:00  📍 Location: AI Innovation Center - High Tech Campus Eindhoven Don’t miss this opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of AI and machine learning. We look forward to seeing you there! 🚀 Sign-up here: https://lnkd.in/eGstmiqr #AI #MachineLearning #TechMeetup #Innovation #Networking #EindhovenEvents #HighTechCampus

🚀 Project Update 🚀 We’re excited to share an update on our work with Ampère, a start up founded by bol. Earlier this year we came together with the Ampère team to define a use case: by enriching package data, such as weight and dimension, we wanted to increase routing efficiency. In the last two weeks, Data Scientists, ML Engineers, Software Engineers from Kickstart AI, bol, and Ampère, have worked intensively together to achieve this goal, and with success! Together, we developed a data-driven solution that operates in real -time for each incoming parcel request, ensuring that the most up to date and accurate data is being used. By providing Ampère with this critical information, we've enabled more efficient route planning, which is projected to significantly reduce CO2 emissions in the coming years. As a bonus we also gained valuable insights for other parts of the Ampère business such as differences in data quality among DCs and insights in bottlenecks in their process. We will now move into implementation phase to ensure this solution becomes part of Ampère’s daily operations.Stay tuned for more updates! #KickstartAI #Innovation #DataDriven #Sustainability