Campus AI: Building Real Systems with IFM Models
Research to Real Systems: Inside IFM’s Foundation Model Stack
AI Valley × IFM @ Carnegie Mellon
How do frontier foundation models move from research papers to real systems?
Join Institute of Foundation Models (IFM) and AI Valley for an evening with CMU builders exploring how modern AI systems are designed, deployed, and applied in the real world.
The event features a technical deep dive, hands-on workshop, and networking session with researchers and engineers working on frontier models across language, multimodal reasoning, and world models.
What to Expect
🧠 Technical Talk
Research to Real Systems — How Foundation Models Move From Lab to Deployment
Hear from IFM researchers and CMU professor's on how modern AI systems are built and deployed.
⚙️ Hands-On Workshop
Build a simple agentic or reasoning workflow using IFM models with guidance from AI Valley mentors and IFM engineers.
🍽 Dinner + Networking
Connect with researchers, explore research & internship opportunities, and meet fellow builders across CMU.
Schedule
5:30 – 6:00 PM
Check-in, food, and networking
6:00 – 6:45 PM
Technical talk: Research to Real Systems
How foundation models move from research to deployment.
6:45 – 7:30 PM
Hands-on workshop
Build simple agentic workflows using IFM models.
7:30 – 8:30 PM
Dinner and builder networking
Meet researchers, engineers, and students building in AI.
About IFM (Institute of Foundation Models)
The Institute of Foundation Models (IFM) at Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) is a global research center focused on advancing next-generation foundation models across language, multimodal reasoning, and world simulation. With research hubs in Abu Dhabi, Silicon Valley, and Paris, IFM brings together leading researchers and engineers to develop scalable, reliable AI systems that move from cutting-edge research into real-world deployment, pushing the boundaries of reasoning, reliability, and practical AI applications.
AI Valley is a community rooted in supporting exceptional first generation builders, founders, and creators. We curate environments where ambitious people meet collaborators, mentors, and opportunities through hackathons, workshops, and intimate gatherings across AI, tech, and the arts. If you care about who you build with as much as what you build, this is your place.
🌐 Website: https://aivalley.io
📅 Events: https://lu.ma/aivalley
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