The AI Collective X McHacks: Back to School
Join us for an evening of data, AI, and collaboration, where students, researchers, and industry come together to unlock what’s next in AI and discover how to weave it into your business, research, and projects.
Who’s it for?
Students & Researchers – This event is designed to encourage cross-connections between academia and industry.
Business – You may find the talent you’ve been looking for from McGill at this event.
Event Flow
30 min – Networking & pizzas 🍕
30 min – Talk: ML & AI Cheat Sheet 🎤
10 min – Sponsor spotlight: Plotly Studio 📊
Remaining time – Open networking & discussions 🤝
The Talk: ML & AI Cheat Sheet
Led by Gauraang Malik, the session will start simple and build step by step:
Quantitative Data + ML: How numbers can reveal quick insights.
Quant Data + Database + ML: Scaling from small data to structured systems.
Qualitative Data + LLM: Summarizing documents, feedback, and other text.
Qual Data + Vector DB + LLM: Making unstructured text searchable and comparable.
Putting it all together: Combining numbers + text for a complete view.
Followed by:
Exploring Plotly Studio: Learn how to go from raw data to clear, interactive dashboards in minutes.
💡 What You’ll Get Out of This Event
By the end of this session, you’ll be able to:
Start with the ideation of your AI business seeing how AI can shape your first ideas and strategies.
Ask sharper questions when someone says they’re working with AI.
You’ll learn to think critically about:
📊 Language model vs. machine learning model
🔍 RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)
⚙️ How data, databases, and vector search fit into the bigger picture
This event is about building the mental framework to understand how AI systems are made, so you can create, collaborate, and critique with confidence.