The Oxford AI Summit 2026: AI-Assisted Development, Skills and Reskilling

Programme details

Day 1: Spec-driven development for building AI-assisted applications

Day 2: Best practices for deploying AI-assisted systems into production 

Note: Due to the fast-changing nature of AI, the content may be updated prior to the event. 

Capstone project 

After the end of the Summit, you will have two weeks to complete a capstone project individually, during which time you will have access to online support from tutors. The task is based on creating AI-assisted tools for forward deployed engineers in OpenAI and Claude. Background and configurations materials will be provided prior to the Summit, and more details about the project will be given during the event. 

Attending this event  

Further details will be emailed to you two weeks ahead of the Summit and will include registration information and an overview of the timetable. 

Please get in touch if you have not received this information within five working days of the start date.  

In the meantime, you may wish to plan your travel: Travel information 

Programme details

Day 1: Spec-driven development for building AI-assisted applications

Day 2: Best practices for deploying AI-assisted systems into production 

Note: Due to the fast-changing nature of AI, the content may be updated prior to the event. 

Capstone project 

After the end of the Summit, you will have two weeks to complete a capstone project individually, during which time you will have access to online support from tutors. The task is based on creating AI-assisted tools for forward deployed engineers in OpenAI and Claude. Background and configurations materials will be provided prior to the Summit, and more details about the project will be given during the event. 

Attending this event  

Further details will be emailed to you two weeks ahead of the Summit and will include registration information and an overview of the timetable. 

Please get in touch if you have not received this information within five working days of the start date.  

In the meantime, you may wish to plan your travel: Travel information 

Ajit Jaokar – Conference Director and Speaker

Ajit is a dedicated leader and teacher in Artificial Intelligence (AI), with a strong background in AI for Cyber-Physical Systems, research, entrepreneurship, and academia. 

Currently, he serves as the Course Director for several AI programs at the University of Oxford and is a Visiting Fellow in Engineering Sciences at the University of Oxford. His work is rooted in the interdisciplinary aspects of AI, such as AI integration with Digital Twins and Cybersecurity.

His courses have also been delivered at prestigious institutions, including the London School of Economics (LSE), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), and as part of The Future Society at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

As an Advisory AI Engineer, Ajit specialises in developing innovative, early-stage AI prototypes for complex applications. His work focuses on leveraging interdisciplinary approaches to solve real-world challenges using AI technologies.

Ajit has shared his expertise on technology and AI with several high-profile platforms, including the World Economic Forum, Capitol Hill/White House, and the European Parliament.

Ajit is currently writing a book aimed at teaching AI through mathematical foundations at the high school level.

Ajit resides in London, UK, and holds British citizenship. He is actively engaged in advancing AI education and innovation both locally and globally. He is neurodiverse – being on the high functioning autism spectrum.

Ajit’s work in teaching, consulting, and entrepreneurship is grounded in methodologies and frameworks he developed through his AI teaching experience. These methodologies help to rapidly develop complex, interdisciplinary AI solutions in a relatively short time. These include:
1. The Jigsaw Methodology for low-code data science to non-developers.
2. The AI Product Manager framework and AI product market fit framework 
3. Software engineering with the LLM stack 
4. Agentic RAG for cyber-physical systems.
5. AI for Engineering sciences: 
6. The ability of AI to reason using large language models

He also consults at senior advisory levels to companies.

His newsletter on AI in Linkedin has a wide following 
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/artificial-intelligence-6793973274368856064/

David Knott – Speaker

Chief Technology Officer, UK Government

David Knott is an experienced IT leader, architect and strategist with over thirty years experience of designing, delivering and running IT for companies in the banking, insurance, media, utilities and transportation sectors.

Anjali Jain – Speaker

Co-founder, Erdos | Author | Senior Tutor in AI & ML, University of Oxford | AI Ambassador, Oxford AI & ML Competency Center | Data Architect, Metro Bank

Anjali Jain is a London-based data architect, author, and AI expert with over two decades of experience in software development, architecture, data strategy, and applied machine learning. 

At the University of Oxford, she serves as Senior Tutor in AI and Machine Learning and as AI Ambassador at the AI & ML Competency Center, where she leads strategic initiatives in AI education and research.

She is the co-founder of Erdos Research, a collaborative research and innovation lab focused on building and implementing AI systems, advancing prompting methods, and developing tools for AI-assisted software engineering.

Anjali also serves as Data Architect at Metro Bank, where she supports the integration of AI into financial systems with a focus on data governance, data architecture and compliance.
She is the co-author of “10X AI Developer Guide with BRIDGE AI Framework” and “AI-Assisted Programming for Web and Machine Learning”, offering practical methodologies for building intelligent, human-centric technologies.

Ayşe Mutlu – Speaker

Data Scientist

Ayşe Mutlu is a data scientist working on Azure AI and devops technologies. Based in London, Ayşe’s work involves building and deploying Machine Learning and Deep Learning models using the Microsoft Azure framework (Azure DevOps and Azure Pipelines).

She enjoys coding in Python and contributing to Open Source Initiatives in Python.

Mayank Sharma – Speaker

Mayank founded HiveMTD, a cloud-based ERP solution providing billing and VAT services to small and medium businesses in the UK under the Making Tax Digital campaign. He also co-founded HivePayroll, a cloud-based payroll solution launched in South Asia.

He has translated this experience in ERP to develop an end-to-end full stack platform using Vibe coding, specifically lovable and supabase. To this, also analytics was added using the same approach. He was the first ERP functional consultant to successfully implement SAP S/4HANA Central Finance with Central Payments and Central Taxation in 2018. Since 2020, he has co-authored three books on accounting and finance business processes using SAP ERP solutions.

Rosie Djurovic – Speaker

Prof Paul Newman – Speaker

Shaig Abduragimov – Speaker

Shaig Abduragimov leads OpenAI’s Solutions Engineering for Education in EMEA and APAC. In this capacity, he partners with governments, universities and national systems to architect and operationalise AI solutions powering education strategies and institutional transformation. Prior to OpenAI, Shaig worked at Palantir, driving mission-critical AI and data deployments at scale across the public and private sectors.

Soundappan Soundarraj – Speaker

Soundappan is a senior data leader with over 18 years of experience helping financial services organisations transform data into a strategic business asset. He currently leads Data Architecture and Governance within Inigo Insurance (Lloyd’s market), where he is responsible for shaping data strategy, governance, and the organisational capabilities needed to support growth, decision-making, regulatory compliance and AI adoption.
 
Over the past five years, he has helped establish the data foundations of a modern Lloyd’s insurer, bringing together architecture, governance, and operating models to create a trusted and scalable data capability. His work has enabled underwriting, finance, operations and executive teams to make faster, more informed decisions from a single source of trusted information.

Throughout his career, Soundappan has focused on a challenge many organisations continue to face: turning governance from an oversight function into a business capability. He advocates that architecture and governance must operate as one discipline, ensuring data is not only accessible, but trusted, owned and aligned to business outcomes.
 
Operating at the intersection of data, governance and AI within a highly regulated industry, he brings a practical perspective on how organisations can build strong data foundations while preparing for AI-enabled operating models. His work is centred on a simple belief: organisations achieve the greatest value from AI when trust, accountability and governance are embedded into everyday decision-making.

Steven Kok – Speaker

Steven Alexander Kok is a core member of Boston Consulting Group’s Digital, Financial Institutions and Energy practices, and an expert in engineering productivity, platform operating models and strategic governance. With over 20 years of experience across capital markets, broader financial institutions, insurance and energy, he advises executives on how to mitigate risk, accelerate time-to-value, and drive cost efficiencies in technology transformations.

Steven has delivered results in driving step changes in engineering excellence, on complex initiatives including recovery of SAP migrations and other ERP transformations, scaling GenAI adoption and enterprise-wide digital transformations. His strong engineering background informs his ability to align technology strategy with business objectives and consistently deliver sustainable impact in the face of rapidly evolving industries and contexts.

Before joining BCG, Steven was an Engagement Manager at Oliver Wyman and a Vice President at Barclay’s Bank in London.

Dr Andy McMahon – Speaker

Principal AI & MLOps Engineer, Barclays

Andrew (Andy) McMahon is a machine learning engineer and data leader with a passion for delivering valuable solutions that are robust, reliable and scalable.

As a Principal Engineer within the Chief Technology Office at Barclays, he is responsible for driving operational best practice for AI and ML products and solutions across the bank and runs the internal MLOps Community of Practice.

He has delivered high-value AI/ML solutions across multiple industries and is a multi-award winning data practitioner and leader.
He is also the author of the popular technical book, Machine Learning Engineering with Python, which is a practical guide to building real solutions using the latest ML engineering and MLOps best practices.

Arthur Orts – Speaker

Arthur Orts is Head of Generative and Agentic AI at Pictet Asset Management in Geneva, where he leads the development and adoption of AI capabilities across the firm.
Prior to joining Pictet, Arthur spent 10 years at Bloomberg in London, working in Financial Solutions with a focus on buy-side clients and portfolio management/risk analytics tools.

Arthur combines deep expertise in financial technology with hands-on experience building AI-powered workflows and agentic systems. He is particularly focused on the practical implementation of Agentic Artificial intelligence into professional environments, including coding assistants, autonomous agents and enterprise AI adoption strategies.

Claudia Saleh – Speaker

Claudia Saleh is an AI Product Leader at Disney with over 20 years of IT experience. She traded the laid-back beaches and sunny Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she worked for media companies like Globo.com and ADVPress, for the dynamic international scene of Washington, DC. There, she contributed her expertise to international organisations such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the United Nations.

She works in the media and entertainment industry, driving innovation at the intersection of technology and creativity. As a graduate student in Artificial Intelligence, she combines academic insights with hands-on expertise, focusing on AI strategies and their transformative potential for knowledge and creative professionals.

An experienced speaker and mentor, Claudia has guided enterprises in adopting technology effectively and strives to empower professionals to see AI as a collaborator. Her diverse background includes a decade as a travel journalist and graphic designer, which adds a unique perspective to her work, enabling her to simplify complex ideas and inspire diverse audiences.

When she’s not exploring the latest AI trends, Claudia can be found writing, travelling, or immersing herself in the magic of Disney. She brings a unique voice to conversations about AI, blending technical insights with a deep appreciation for the creative spark that drives innovation.

Nicole Königstein – Speaker

Nicole is the Co-Founder, CEO, and Co-Chief AI Officer at Quantmate, a deep-tech fntech company developing AI agents for portfolio management and strategy development via natural  language. She is a globally recognized thought leader in large language models and agentic architectures, with a particular focus on their transformative applications in quantitative finance.

As a guest lecturer, Nicole shares her expertise in Python, machine learning, and deep learning at  universities. She is also a frequent speaker at AI and quantitative fnance events.

Nicole has authored Math for Machine Learning and Transformers in Action with Manning Publications. Her forthcoming book, Transformers: The Defnitive Guide – Applications Beyond  NLP, will be published by O’Reilly Media.

Marina Fernandez – Speaker

Digital Hive and Innovation consultant, Anglo American Plc

Marina is an Analyst Developer and Software consultant at Anglo American plc working at the Digital Hive on innovative trading analytics and optimisation projects. She has over 18 years’ experience in Software Engineering, Business Analysis, Data Science and full software development life cycle in a variety of business domains including Commodity trading and optimisation, Finance, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, e-commerce, e-learning, and web-development.

Marina holds an MSc, with distinction, in Software Engineering from the University of Oxford and a degree in Applied Mathematics from Lomonosov Moscow State University. In February 2020, Marina completed the course “Data science for internet of things” from the University of Oxford.

Programme details

Day 1: Spec-driven development for building AI-assisted applications

Day 2: Best practices for deploying AI-assisted systems into production 

Note: Due to the fast-changing nature of AI, the content may be updated prior to the event. 

Capstone project 

After the end of the Summit, you will have two weeks to complete a capstone project individually, during which time you will have access to online support from tutors. The task is based on creating AI-assisted tools for forward deployed engineers in OpenAI and Claude. Background and configurations materials will be provided prior to the Summit, and more details about the project will be given during the event. 

Attending this event  

Further details will be emailed to you two weeks ahead of the Summit and will include registration information and an overview of the timetable. 

Please get in touch if you have not received this information within five working days of the start date.  

In the meantime, you may wish to plan your travel: Travel information 

Fees

Register immediately online   

Click the ‘Book now’ button on this webpage. Payment by credit or debit card is required.  

Request an invoice  

If you require an invoice for your company or organisation, please email us at technology@conted.ox.ac.uk to request an online enrolment form. Payment is then accepted online, by credit/debit card, or by bank transfer.  

If you would like to discuss your application or any part of the application process before applying, please email us at technology@conted.ox.ac.uk. 

The registration deadline for this course is 1pm UK time on 1 September 2026, or when the course is fully booked – whichever occurs first. 

You can sign up for course news for updates on future courses.

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