Building Your First AI App: A Hands-On Cloud Workshop

This is a hands-on, guided workshop designed to move you from understanding AI to actually building with it.

You’ll work through a simple, end-to-end application setup using modern AI and cloud infrastructure, while learning the “why” behind each decision, from compute and storage to security and cost.

Whether you’re exploring AI for the first time or trying to understand how it actually works in practice, this session will help you connect the dots.

No deep technical background required, but come ready to follow along and experiment.

• People early in their AI or tech journey who want practical, real-world exposure
• Professionals who understand AI conceptually but haven’t built anything yet
• Decision-makers who want clarity on cloud platforms and infrastructure choices
• Anyone looking to move beyond theory and see how AI applications actually come together

• What a “minimum viable” AI application actually looks like
• How to deploy a simple app in the cloud
• Key infrastructure concepts: compute, storage, networking, and cost
• How to think about security, logging, and shutting systems down responsibly
• The tradeoffs between major platforms (Microsoft and Oracle)
• How to avoid common mistakes that lead to unnecessary cost or risk

5:30pm-6pm-Networking

6pm-7pm-Presentation & Hands-on Guidance

7-7:30pm-Q&A and Networking

We encourage you to bring your laptop for the hands-on excercise at the end.

The Center for Practical AI is welcomes you our next ASPIRE event!

ASPIRE events are a free, monthly series of in-person and virtual events designed to improve AI literacy across the Research Triangle.

What does ASPIRE mean?

Autonomy.

Societal Impact.

Purpose.

Innovation.

Resilience.

Efficiency.

Each ASPIRE event convenes AI advisors and practitioners from research, industry, government, and the community, and aims to equip people with the literacy and fluency to critically engage with AI.

Sessions blend panels, demonstrations, and discussion, with topics ranging from introductory to advanced and designed to be practical and accessible across experience levels.

2026 ASPIRE Events Sponsored by .

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