We had too many sandwiches. We had too few proper nights of sleep. But we had just the right amount of AI Portland energy.

In this episode, Megan and Nicole debrief a jam-packed week featuring AI Launchpad Northwest and AI Portland's AI for Public Good meet up. They cover the chaos and success of organizing their first definitely-not-a-conference, from small group Q&As with local experts to the very real challenge of predicting catering.

They also dig into highlights from speakers Jordan Plawner, Cassie Scyphers, and Dr. Richard Bruno - each bringing a different but equally powerful take on what responsible AI looks like in 2025.

Along the way:

🥪 How AI Launchpad nearly became the Sandwich Crisis of 2025

🧠 Why Jordan says you only need to be three days ahead of your team

🚑 The life-saving power of AI in public health

Plus: Big shoutouts to our sponsors (thank you forever), a wrap hangover, live music teasers, and the exact moment Megan realized she’d made it through the week: holding an ice cream cone at the end of a long week.

If you meet your soulmate at an AI Portland event, just know the officiants are already picked. (It’s in the fine print.)

In this episode, Megan and Nicole debrief an absolutely wild Startup Week, complete with 400+ RSVPs, 11 hackathon teams (including a few surprises), and one very legit Cancun prize. They also dive into what’s coming next, from their most ambitious event yet to an AI-for-good session you won’t want to miss.

Along the way:

👰 Why we now offer wedding officiation as a member benefit

🛠️ How 11 teams built working AI tools in under 30 hours

🌶️ What makes a “spicy” startup pitch

🧠 Addie Olson’s cat-filled crash course on ML and NLP

📣 Why we’re (still) shouting about the proposed Prosper Portland funding cuts

Plus: Monday brain fog, the GIF vs. JIF debate that never ends

Also featuring: A full breakdown of AI Launchpad Northwest—our June 11 extended event built to get teams up to speed (and a little past it) on AI literacy, strategy, and automation. Don’t call it a conference.

🎟️ Tickets: https://lu.ma/ygct00ld

Related links:

• Addie's slides from Thursday: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1G7ZZxoyOjMXsVkRO4X0pU3pu7-1SX7WQ-aMN_T3KYdU/edit?usp=sharing
• Support Prosper Portland: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScwKGSuXqLSqkPax3VpYtz5kuuP_hESafzN7IUJmsD3O29_0Q/viewform

Someone might panic if you call it a conference. Someone else wonders if ChatGPT would tell her if she's dumb. And a certain French bulldog named Gary refuses to get off the mic. It’s another classic episode: part community update, part philosophical debate, part dog-induced chaos.

In this episode, Megan and Nicole talk about what’s coming next for AI Portland: from a definitely-not-a-conference event to an upcoming build challenge with UFO-adjacent priorities. They also dig into the weird emotional weight of AI feedback, why sycophantic robots aren’t helping anyone get better, and what it means to be the human in the loop _with actual_ critical thinking.

Along the way:

📆 Why we’re hosting a half-day event that’s definitely _not_ a conference

🧠 Why ChatGPT's compliments feel like something your mom would say

🪞 Whether AI can _actually_ tell you what you need to hear to get better

💥 And why the productivity gap might just explode in the age of AI

Plus: Heather Havrilesky makes them feel weird, the robots are sycophants, and Gary attempts a full podcast takeover and a not-so-secret yearning for federal data privacy regulation.

Related Links:

• Hello World! Demystifying AI/ML/NLP

• Zero-to-One Build Challenge

• Perplexity is making a browser

• OpenAI rolls back sycophantic update
• Chat - Heather Havrilesky
• AI is coming for the unmotivated - Sinead Bovell