If you've been tinkering with AI tools and wondering how deep the rabbit hole goes, this one's for you.

BRAIN (Ballarat Regional AI Network) and Ballarat Hackerspace are teaming up for a practical, no-fluff meetup focused on how people are actually using AI in their work — and April's feature talk is one we're genuinely excited about.

The Talk: Fun with Local Models

Chris Berry from fellow Ballarat-based outfit Zainode is bringing serious hands-on experience to the room. With a background spanning security, engineering, infrastructure, and automotive, Chris has been running local LLMs in real environments for a long time now, and he's going to show you exactly how it works.

The demo will cover three tiers of hardware — because not everyone has a rack of GPUs:

  • CPU-only machines — yes, you can run models on modest hardware with no GPU at all
  • A gaming laptop — the sweet spot for most tinkerers
  • A dedicated AI workstation (an NVIDIA DGX Spark, custom built for AI)

On top of that, Chris will show models connected to OpenCode doing something genuinely useful with real workflows.

Why Local Models? Why Now?

This isn't just about the cool factor. There are real, practical reasons to care about running AI locally — especially in regional Australia:

Data sovereignty is increasingly a hard requirement. Whether you're in healthcare, legal, government, or any industry handling sensitive data, Australian regulatory frameworks are tightening around where data can go and who can see it. Sending queries to a US-based cloud API may not be compliant — or may simply not be acceptable to your clients. Local models keep your data on your hardware, full stop.

You control your data, which matters for patents, IP, and privacy law, among dozens of other reasons.

For Ballarat and regional businesses specifically, this matters even more. You don't need to compromise on AI capability just because you're outside a capital city, and you don't need to hand your data to a hyperscaler to get real work done.

What Else Is On

Beyond the feature talk, the night includes:

  • Lightning Talks — got a workflow, tool, or project you're excited about? Stand up for 5 minutes and share it. All welcome.
  • Info about BRAIN and what's coming up for the Ballarat AI community
  • Honest conversation about real tools, real workflows, and real results, no hype, no sales
  • Discussion with local experts on AI across all areas

Topics on the table include text, image and audio generation, software tooling, system architecture, and live demos. Bring your laptop if you want to follow along.

Who Should Come

Anyone already using AI tools and ready to go deeper. Developers, engineers, sysadmins, creatives, business owners — if you've moved past "what is ChatGPT" and want to see what's actually possible, this is the room.

Get Involved

We're planning regular sessions, and we'd love to hear from you if you want to present your own AI workflow at a future meetup. This community is being built right here in Ballarat — come help shape it.

Tickets are required — grab yours and we'll see you at Ballarat Hackerspace. They are free for BRAIN members with an individual plan or higher (but you still need to register). If you want to register as a BRAIN member you can sign up here: https://www.brain.net.au/signup/

This event is a collaboration between BRAIN and Ballarat Hackerspace.

URL: https://thq.fyi/se/1e6496740622

The link has been copied!