This year, the Dev Room we organize with AIFoundry.org, @jarekpitiouk and other great organizers is titled "Low-Level AI Hacking and Engineering." There are plenty of reasons for this focus, but before we dive into those, our main call to action is for everyone to check out the Call for Papers! Feel free to apply with your open-source AI projects. Everyone interested in AI and AI engineering is encouraged to join us at FOSDEM.
What do we like about FOSDEM? Jarek Potiuk shares his impressions:
“I’ve only been twice, but that was enough for me to know I want to be there every year. What’s great about FOSDEM is that everyone in the open-source community is there. Whether you're into governance, policy, low-level hacking, or even niche firmware solutions, there’s a space for everyone. You don't need to register—you just show up, which is amazing. I’ve organized many conferences, but FOSDEM is unique. It’s like what Burning Man used to be—no tickets, just show up and enjoy. You get to meet incredible people, even while waiting in line for food. The connections made in those moments are unforgettable.
The atmosphere is fantastic, despite the cold, rainy weather. It’s a bit of a challenge, but the organizers know this, which is why you see useful swag like umbrellas, hats, and, of course, beer! It’s not uncommon to spot people in costumes, like someone dressed as an elephant last year. The open, casual, and approachable atmosphere is what makes FOSDEM so special—you can meet everyone, from contributors to people who’ve been pivotal in the industry, in a very approachable setting.”
This year, we’re doing the AI Dev Room, and we’re focusing on AI engineering—something that hasn’t really been emphasized enough. AI’s been around for a long time, but there haven’t been many events focusing on the engineering side, like the low-level optimizations and the kind of stuff that interests serious engineers. We're particularly interested in projects that make it possible for individuals or small companies to work with AI affordably and efficiently, without having to spend millions on infrastructure.
The Low-Level AI Hacking&Engineering AI Dev Room this year is about bringing in engineers with that core knowledge, those who understand low-level optimization, infrastructure, and how to make it all work faster, better, and cheaper. It’s also about bringing in those who are downstream, who are looking at models and asking what can be done with the existing architectures—how can we fine-tune them, distill them, optimize them, and make AI more accessible?
This is the year for the engineers who finally see an entry point into AI beyond just building chatbots. We're interested in people who want to work on everything from inference models like llama.cpp and quantization hacks to integrating with existing data pipelines like Apache Airflow. It’s about finding out what more we can do to help the AI ecosystem thrive.
When it comes to FOSDEM, it’s really about the community. You don’t represent a vendor, you represent an open-source project. The projects and contributions are the stars of the event, and that’s something really special, especially in a time when so many conferences have become vendor pitches. FOSDEM is different, and it’s the only place where I’ve felt the real community of open-source engineers coming together.
We’re also here to help make open-source contributions more accessible. It's still intimidating for some people to take that first step into contributing to a project, and our dev room is a perfect space for helping people do just that. We want to showcase how to make that first commit, how to find issues to work on, and how to navigate the community.
The Call for Papers is open until December 1st, and we’re looking for talks, demonstrations, hands-on sessions—anything that showcases real, tangible engineering work. Whether you’re building the core components, working on optimizations, or experimenting with new ways to leverage existing models, we want you to come and share your work.
If you’re interested in attending or need help with travel or applying, reach out to us. FOSDEM is free, but travel and accommodation can be a challenge, so we’re working on sponsorships to help with that. Whether you're an upstream developer working on core components or someone building downstream applications, there's a place for you in our dev room.
Bring your tents, your umbrellas, and your passion for open-source. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!
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AIFoundry.org Team