Speaking
I regularly speak about AI agents, building and scaling AI/ML projects, and how people and AI systems actually work together. Here’s where you can find my recent talks and appearances.
Highlights
[Talk] Creating Better AI Prompts
A discussion with Chicago Data & AI on best practices for writing well-performing AI prompts. We go over prompting best-practices, inspired by my own work as an AI researcher as well as insights gathered from working with clients early in their AI adoption journey.
See the blog post here.
[Talk] Beyond the AI hype: Building AI systems that actually work
A discussion with Chicago Data & AI on the strengths and limitations of modern AI agents, why successful AI adoption requires more than just plugging in an LLM, and the workflows, guardrails, infrastructure, and human oversight needed to make AI useful in practice.
[Talk] Silicon Societies: What happens when millions of AI agents use the Internet alongside us?
A talk given to the PyData Chicago community, on multi-agent systems, how well AI agents simulate human behaviors and beliefs, and where things might be headed as we increasingly rely on AI agents to work, shop, call, and interact with others on our behalf.
[Talk] Using LLMs for social science (beyond ChatGPT)
A talk given to the Kellogg community, discussing practical tools, tips, and techniques for integrating AI tools into everyday research workflows. Discussed prompt optimizations, human-in-the-loop workflows, and how to use tools like Claude Code and Cursor.
[Podcast] AI’s effect on the Future of Civil Discourse
A discussion with the Fair Point podcast, on AI’s effect on the future of civil discourse and polarization. Spotify link
Interested in having me speak? Reach out at markptorres1 [at] gmail.com or schedule a meeting via my Calendly link.