Under the Hood of Agentic AI | New Zealand AI Builders (in person event)
Under the Hood of Agentic AI | New Zealand AI Builders (in person event)
Thursday, 10 September 2026 · 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM NZST @ Chubb NZ
About Event
Under the Hood of Agentic AI
Hi everyone!
We're bringing a great lineup of talks to our Wellington dev community, covering everything from the foundations of AI to how agents actually work, governance, and where software engineering is heading next.
Beyond the AI hype, this is a space for practical knowledge sharing, open discussion, and collaboration.
Whether you're a developer, platform engineer, cloud-native practitioner, architect, engineering leader, or simply curious about AI engineering, you'll find something here.
Expect practical talks, good conversations, and plenty of networking. Food and drinks are kindly provided by Chubb NZ.
Doors open: 5:00 PM
Talks start: 5:30 PM
See you there!
Chris & Xiaodi
The Lineup
— Governing AI Agents: From Autonomy to Accountability
Speaker: Xiaodi Yan — Lead Engineer at Kiwibank / Microsoft MVP
Abstract: As AI agents become more autonomous and gain access to tools, APIs, and real-world systems, traditional AI safety approaches are no longer enough. This session introduces the key challenges of AI agent governance and explores how to address them. We'll look at the concepts behind the Agent Governance Toolkit and see how governance can be built into agentic applications from the start.
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— What does software engineering look like in the next 12 months (a Chubb perspective)
Speaker: Damo Hoffman — Software Engineering Manager, Chubb NZ
Abstract: A view from inside a large engineering organisation on what's actually changing in how software gets built — and what isn't. Where AI is landing in real delivery teams, what it means for how we hire, structure, and grow engineers, and which bets look sensible from here.
Bio: An old .NET hacker, now growing engineering teams at Chubb NZ.
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— From API Calls to Agents: Popping the Hood on AI
Speaker: Roberto Allende
Abstract: This talk pulls back the curtain. Starting from a plain function call, we trace the journey to a working AI agent — step by step, concept by concept. What is a tool, and how does an agent discover it? How does an LLM decide what to call, and when? What turns a raw response into a natural conversation? No magic. Just the real mechanics of how agents work, shown through simple running examples that grow from a bare API call into a reasoning, tool-using AI.
Bio: Roberto is a builder and leader with twenty years of experience across startups, enterprise, and government. He builds with AI at every layer and shares what he learns along the way at allende.nz. His open source projects include MMDD (Micromanaged Driven Development), an AI coding workflow for developers who want to stay in control of AI-generated code, and two AI-ready Obsidian plugins — Fancy Kanban for markdown kanban boards, and Fancy Charts for charts in markdown.
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— From Dirt to Agents
Speaker: Juan Pablo (JP) Vasquez
Abstract: AI isn't magic and it isn't just autocomplete — it's five physical layers stacked from the ground up. We climb all five, so you can read any AI headline and know exactly which layer it's about.
Bio: JP Vasquez is the founder of AI Foundry, a New Zealand sovereign AI inference provider running on owned hardware in Auckland, and the authorised ANZ partner for Positron AI. A 17x certified IT professional (including 2x NVIDIA), he brings six years of enterprise platform and advisory experience from Deloitte and KPMG.
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— Q&A, community notices & networking
Bring your questions — we'll bring ours, and we have plenty. We'll also share what's coming up in the Wellington and wider NZ dev community.
Sponsors
Special thanks to the partners making this event possible:
Chubb NZ (Venue, food and drinks)
Agentic Engineering Day NZ (AEDNZ): October 21-22 to Auckland.
Plexure (AEDNZ Sponsor): Plexure is a global software company that helps major consumer brands create personalised digital experiences that drive customer engagement, loyalty, and revenue.
AutoHand AI (AEDNZ Sponsor): AutoHand AI gives teams governed coding agents that plan, edit, test, and improve software.
RSVP & Logistics
Spaces are limited — RSVP to secure your spot!
⚠️ IMPORTANT VENUE SECURITY RULE: Pre-registration is strictly required by Chubb. NO WALK-INS. Please register with the name you'll give at reception.
Doors, food and networking: from 5:00 PM
Talks: 5:30 PM – 7:15 PM
Wrap and venue clear: 7:30 PM
Food and non-alcoholic drinks are provided by Chubb. No alcohol on site.
Optional post-event drinks at a nearby venue afterwards — self-funded, all welcome.
Also listed on Meetup (.NET Wellington / Dev WGTN) — please only register once so we keep the headcount accurate.