About

Join us for the AI Retrieval Augmented Generation Workshop hosted by Southern Oregon University in collaboration with the Regen AI Summit (Summit described below Workshop description).
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The AI RAG workshop is open to all levels of participants (faculty, researchers, students, HPC/IT admins, and industry). This workshop is free but registration is required. The event will be held in-person on Southern Oregon University campus. Some funding is available to support travel. Participants in IT, research, education, and CS undergraduates are especially encouraged to apply.
The deadline for workshop applications is Midnight, July 17th AoE (Anywhere on Earth).
Notifications will be sent the following week.
Details
Date:
September 13th, 2024 9am - 12pm
Location:
Hannon Library
Southern Oregon University
1290 Ashland St, Ashland OR 97520
Coffee and lunch included.
Travel Awards available (see application form).

Workshop Description:
As artificial intelligence technology continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace, the economic and productivity benefits of integrating AI tools into our workflows are becoming increasingly apparent. However, this integration is not without its challenges, particularly in terms of data privacy and accessing specialized data not included in large language models' (LLMs) pre-training datasets. To address these critical issues, our workshop will introduce participants to a state-of-the-art Modular Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) workflow. This innovative approach is designed specifically to use capable offline LLMs, enabling them to utilize proprietary and protected data without the risk of privacy breaches when implemented using appropriate industry data practices.
This workshop will cover:
AI workflow concepts:
Introduction to LlamaIndex: A leading open source framework used to develop LLM applicatons. Basics of Retrieval-Augmented Generation: Understanding the components and operation of RAG. Building LLM compatible vector database for proprietary documents and data. Implementing RAG with Offline LLMs: Detailed instruction on setting up LLMs to securely access and process external data sources while operating entirely offline. This workshop will use the latest generation of open source LLMs but the framework is modular and supports the use of other foundation models such as GPT-4.
Speakers:
Ian Ingram
More speakers to be announced.
Agenda:
9:00-9:15 Set-up/introductions
9:15-9:45 Getting started with ACCESS tools
9:45-10:30 LLM Ops and RAG Concepts
10:30 - 11:00 Spinning up a RAG workflow
11:00 - 11:15 Break
11:15 - 12:00 Testing and optimization techniques/deployment
Objectives:
This workshop will leave participants with knowledge of an LLM workflow that uses RAG to allow users to query files and documents that AI models wouldn't otherwise have access to. This workflow is presented as a template to assist users in incorporating AI for increased capability and productivity.

The RAG Workshop 2024 is held in collaboration with Ashland's first major AI event:

RegenAI Summit

The RegenAI Summit will be held September 13-14th at the Ashland Hills Hotel, 5 minutes away from SOU campus. This collaborative summit is bringing together changemakers committed to regenerating our planet & developers intent on activating AI for good. For more information please visit:
RegenAI Summit

RegenAI Summit

News

  • Check back for updates

Team

Ingram

Ian Ingram

Contact

For more information, Please contact Ian Ingram at ingrami@sou.edu

Thanks to our sponsors

Southern Oregon University and ACCESS-CI, a program supported by the National Science Foundation

Southern Oregon University ACCESS-CI National Science Foundation