AI Flagship Conference
Our flagship AI conference experience brings together professionals, students, and leaders to translate emerging AI ideas into practical skills, clearer career direction, and real execution.
Why Attend Horizons
Welcome to LISUG Horizons 2026, our flagship AI conference experience built for professionals, students, leaders, and innovators who want to move from curiosity to confidence in an AI-driven world. This year’s theme, From Code to Career: Thriving in an AI World, focuses on practical insight, career impact, and real-world strategies you can apply immediately.
Our featured sessions begin with Arup Das, who will unpack what agentic AI really means in plain language, why inference infrastructure matters more than most teams realize, and how organizations can move from fragile AI experiments to reliable, cost-effective AI operations across cloud, on-premises, and edge environments.
David Birdwell follows with a direct look at how AI is changing jobs, hiring priorities, and team structures, including which roles are most vulnerable, which are becoming more strategic, and how organizations can reposition talent to adapt and compete.
Jesse Gorzinski then brings the conversation back to enterprise execution with practical agentic workflows for IBM i systems management, showing how MCP, BOB, and i Assist can support modernization, automation, and more effective day-to-day operations.
The evening continues with student innovation spotlights, a career-focused AI panel, and Aaron Magid’s live demo on preserving institutional knowledge with AI coding agents that analyze existing applications, generate documentation, and accelerate ongoing enhancement.
If you want to understand where AI is going and how to turn that momentum into career growth and real execution, Horizons 2026 is where strategy, community, and action come together. Join us, connect with the LISUG community, and register today to secure your place.
Program Experience
Every block is designed to move attendees from AI awareness to real execution and career momentum.
Event Timing Coming Soon
2:00 PM - 2:10 PM
Welcome remarks that set the direction for Horizons 2026 and the evening's AI-focused program.
2:10 PM - 2:45 PM
A practical session on what agentic AI means for business, why inference is critical to production success, and how to run AI systems reliably, affordably, and at scale.
2:45 PM - 3:15 PM
A direct look at how AI is reshaping jobs, which roles are most vulnerable, which are gaining importance, and how organizations can reposition talent for the next 24 months.
3:15 PM - 4:15 PM
How agentic workflows with MCP, BOB, and i Assist can improve IBM i operations and systems management.
4:15 PM - 4:30 PM
Short break to recharge and connect before student presentations.
4:30 PM - 5:15 PM
Penn College challenge winners present practical AI and IBM Power projects in concise showcase talks.
5:15 PM - 6:15 PM
Dedicated networking with speakers, peers, and community leaders.
6:15 PM - 7:00 PM
Panel discussion on workforce shifts, opportunity areas, and practical strategies for adapting to AI.
7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Dinner service paired with quick vendor rounds featuring tools and implementation ideas.
8:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Live demo showing how AI agents can document legacy systems and accelerate ongoing enhancement work.
Understand how AI is moving beyond support tools into systems that automate, augment, and sometimes replace categories of work, and what that means for hiring, team design, and career positioning over the next 24 months.
See how agentic AI patterns can be applied to IBM i systems using tools like MCP, BOB, and i Assist to improve operational efficiency, system management, and modernization without disrupting core business workflows.
Understand how AI coding agents can analyze legacy applications, generate living documentation, and use that context to help teams continue enhancing systems as experienced team members retire or transition.
Build a clearer mental model for how modern AI systems work, including how agentic systems plan, reason across multiple steps, use tools and data, and take action beyond simple chatbot interactions.
Learn why inference is the hidden engine behind production AI, and why reliability, cost, and scale often determine whether an AI initiative becomes real business value or stays a proof of concept.
Walk away with practical criteria for evaluating AI readiness, including what separates successful AI adopters from teams stuck with expensive, brittle experiments.
Featured Speakers
Learn directly from experts shaping the future of AI strategy, delivery, and career transformation.
STSM & Senior Business Architect • IBM
Jesse Gorzinski, a Senior Technical Staff Member and Senior Business Architect at IBM, has built a distinguished career over 17 years, focusing on open source software and AI solutions for the IBM i platform. H...
Chief Architect • Eradani
Aaron Magid, Chief Architect at Eradani, has over a decade of experience in software development and technology. He specializes in modernizing legacy systems like IBM i/AS400 using Python, Node.js, and Javascri...
AI Workforce Strategy Speaker • Industry Advisor
David Birdwell is a featured Horizons 2026 speaker focused on how AI is reshaping careers and talent strategy for both organizations and individual professionals. His session examines the practical impact of AI...
Senior Director of Data Service & AI • Jackson Lewis P.C.
Arup Das is Senior Director of Data Service & AI at Jackson Lewis P.C., where he leads the firm's data and AI strategy and brings 20+ years of AI and machine-learning experience, including shaping strategies fo...
Registration
Join us for an evening of practical AI insight, career-focused discussions, live demos, and community connection. Seats are limited for this flagship experience, so secure your place today and be part of the conversation shaping what comes next.