Austin GILD AI Forum x Tecla: AI and Engineering Leaders Dinner
The Austin GILD AI Forum brings together senior AI and engineering leaders for candid conversations about what's actually working in their companies, what's not, and the real challenges of shipping AI in production.
Each Forum opens with a Conversation Starter, a practitioner sharing what their team is building with AI, followed by open Q&A.
The room then breaks into intimate discussions where each attendee introduces themselves, their company, and provides context regarding a current project, challenge, win, or loss with AI. Each attendee shares something they are building, have recently built, or a recent success. This provides context for the group to engage in peer-to-peer discussion, asking questions about specific implementations, adoption challenges, and technical approaches based on what each person brings to the table.
No panels. No pitches. No demos. Just senior leaders being honest about the architectures they're choosing, the tradeoffs they're making, and what they wish they'd figured out sooner.
Presented in partnership with Tecla, helping AI-forward companies hire elite talent across engineering, product, and growth.
TRENDING THEMES FOR THIS SESSION
Conversations at the Forum are shaped by what technical leaders bring to the table. Themes likely to surface this evening include:
From AI pilots to AI in production: breaking out of the proof-of-concept trap and scaling agents into real workflows
Connecting AI to legacy systems: architectural patterns for integrating modern AI with 20-year-old stacks without breaking everything
The AI tooling budget problem: balancing experimentation with unsustainable spend as engineers blow through AI tool budgets
Engineers as curators, not creators: the shift from writing code to orchestrating AI agents, reusable components, and external services
MCP, multi-agent systems, and the orchestration layer: what's working, what's overhyped, and what technical leaders are actually building
Guardrails and governance for AI-generated code: who's accountable when the AI writes it, and what review processes actually hold up in production
THE FORMAT
GILD dinners are intentionally small and highly curated, 20 to 25 people. This is a private, off-the-record exchange under Chatham House Rules. No panels. No pitches. No demos.
AGENDA
6:00–6:30 PM · Arrival, food, and drinks 6:30–6:45 PM · GILD welcome + sponsor introduction 6:45–7:00 PM · Conversation Starter 7:00–8:00 PM · Breakout rounds 8:00–8:30 PM · Open mingling
WHO THIS IS FOR
CTOs · VPs of Engineering · Heads of AI · AI Transformation Leaders · Senior Technical Operators
This session is for senior leaders responsible for AI strategy, implementation, and execution inside their companies.
Chatham House Rules apply. Discussion stays private.