Our Very Own March Madness at PMAI
And we are just getting started!
March Event Recap
We closed March strongly - This month at Pioneering Minds AI was all about one thing: turning ideas into reality, and then learning how to tell those stories well.
We kicked things off with the Grayscale Hackathon, built around a simple but powerful idea: AI is not black or white. It’s shaped by the people building it, in the gray. Across a full day in New York, we brought together founders, engineers, designers, and curious builders to explore the dual nature of AI; what it can enable, and what it can harm. Are we ready for evil AI? From tackling misinformation and doomscrolling loops to rethinking access and control, teams made deliberate choices about the direction of technology. What stood out most wasn’t just the quality of the prototypes, but the thought and design behind them. Teams thought hard about the problem before building, and that’s exactly the kind of builder mindset we want to cultivate.
(And yes we have Red Bull sponsoring us because we are doing an extreme sport, obviously)
We then carried that momentum straight into our Pitch Masterclass with Anthony Rose, where building met storytelling. In an intense, hands-on session, we worked through eight live pitches, each with a completely different style, stage, and challenge. Anthony broke down each pitch with precision, helping founders sharpen their structure, clarify their language, and most importantly, see their product from the perspective of customers and investors. One of the highlights was seeing Anthony deliver a live pitch himself—showing how clear structure and precise wording can make even complex ideas easy to follow. By the end of the session, the transformation was obvious: tighter narratives, stronger hooks, and founders who could communicate with much greater confidence.
These two events reflect what we believe at our core: building is only the first step. Being able to clearly articulate what you’ve built, and why it matters, is what turns ideas into momentum.
We have more exciting things planned, so make sure to follow us on Luma for more events, deeper conversations, and stronger builders!
Upcoming Events from Us
Is Taste All You Need? PMAI Design Workshop
AI products should be more than just a chatbot with new functions piling up ~ we want to demystify design thinking. It is both a science, and a stroke of genius, and everyone can do it!
Code, Capital, and Curiosity — A Woman’s Take on AI (Upcoming in May)
What does it really take to build, fund, and lead in AI today, and how are women redefining that path? We will bring together founders, investors, and researchers in NYC for a candid conversation on how women are shaping the future of AI across industries.
The Pioneering Track - Our Latest Program!
We are proud to present out latest program. If you’re looking to actually build with AI, and not just learn about it, our Pioneer Track is a hands-on program focused on creating real AI workflows and portfolio-ready artifacts. Over a structured period, you’ll work through practical use cases and leave with something tangible you can showcase. If you want to move from experimenting to shipping, learn more and apply here!
Treats to Try
SeedLegals - a full-stack legal platform from incorporation to Series A and beyond, designed for founders.
Prelint - reviews every pull request against your product specs, so what you pitch is what you built.
PMAI Members’ Perks
Join WeAreDevelopers World Congress, the world’s leading event for developers, taking place 23–25 September 2026 in San José, CA. WeAreDevelopers will welcome 10,000+ developers and 500+ high-level speakers to exchange knowledge, challenge assumptions, and push technology forward. Use the exclusive discount code “Community_PioneeringMinds” for 10% off.
Secure your spot at wearedevelopers.us
April 2026 NYC AI Events
Curated picks for builders, founders, and the AI-curious — in-person NYC and virtual East Coast.
🤖 Application
Apr 2: MCP in the Wild: Data Agents in Production — Deep dive on Model Context Protocol for autonomous data agents. Speakers from Snowflake, Block, CrewAI, OpenBB. Luma Studios, 307 W 38th St. Free.
Apr 7: AI/ML Conversations: Building Complex Systems in the Age of AI — “AI Memory Architectures” + “Rising Value of Human Judgment.” Capital One, 11 W 19th St. Free.
Apr 9: Oracle AI World Tour NYC — Full-day AI across Oracle’s stack — OCI, Applications, Database. Keynotes, hands-on labs, AI expo. Javits Center. Free.
🔧 Deep Dives
Apr 2: NYU: Who’s in Charge? AI, Judgment & Future of Work — Panel with NYU and Google experts on human judgment in AI systems. NYU Silver Center, Rm 104. Free.
Apr 4: Evil ClawHack NY — AI Tinkerers hackathon — build “technically functional yet disastrous” agents. Playful, irreverent. NYC. Free.
Apr 11: Generative Media Hackathon with ElevenLabs — AI Tinkerers full-day hackathon on generative media. 200+ registered. NYC. Free.
Apr 14: Columbia DAX 2026: Responsible AI — Columbia’s flagship AI event. Sessions on privacy, agents, governance. Innovation Showcase. Lerner Hall. Paid.
🎭 Networking & Social
Apr 13: ML Networking & Drinks — No presentations, just conversations. Data scientists, ML engineers, AI practitioners. Stout NYC, Bryant Park. Free.
🏛️ Summits & Conferences
Apr 15–16: AI in Finance Summit NY — Trading, fraud detection, risk modeling. Speakers from JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Visa. Convene One Liberty Plaza. From $400.
🌐 Virtual / Hybrid
Apr 1: Yale FDS: Data-Driven Convex Optimization — Bartolomeo Stellato (Princeton). Free Panopto webcast. 12–1 PM ET.
Apr 8: Yale FDS: Nikhil Garg — Algorithms, mechanism design & markets (Cornell Tech). Free Panopto webcast. 12–1 PM ET.
Apr 15: Yale FDS: Ellen Vitercik — ML for discrete optimization (Stanford). Free Panopto webcast. 12–1 PM ET.
AI Deals to Watch
Sycamore, an enterprise AI agent orchestration platform, raised its $65M seed.
AI&, an AI infrastructure and model services platform, raised its $50M seed.
Yann LeCun’s AMI Labs, a next-generation AI research lab, raised its $1B seed.
Deeplify, an AI workflow automation platform, raised its $2M pre-seed.
Nature Robots, an autonomous farming software platform, raised its €4M seed.
Vuelo, an AI-native travel booking platform, raised its €6.4M seed.
Our hand-picked meme
Yes, we still look at memes at PMAI, because, why not? :)
