Builders/ 01
For engineers, AI engineers, researchers and data scientists.
- 01Coding agents
- 02Evals and reliability
- 03Agents and orchestration
- 04Context engineering
- 05AI-native software
- 06Voice and multimodal
How AI is changing knowledge work.
A one-day conference in Tbilisi for the people building with AI and the people putting it to work inside organisations. Practitioner talks about systems that shipped, evaluations that held up, and the approaches that did not.
(01) Tbilisi, Georgia(02)
What Crossroads is for
(01) Why
Crossroads AI is the first conference of this scale in Georgia and the Caucasus. GAIA has run focused technical gatherings since 2023; this is a deliberate step up in level and reach.
The aim is narrow on purpose: put international practitioners in the same room as the people building and deploying AI across the region, and keep the talks specific enough to be useful the following Monday.
- (01)
AI-augmented development
From prototyping to AI-native IDEs: how teams are shipping faster, and what is coming next.
- (02)
Agents and automation in practice
Real implementations of AI agents and workflows across knowledge functions.
- (03)
From pilot to impact
Scaling and measuring AI adoption in teams working under different constraints.
The two tracks
(02) Who it is for
Crossroads is the point where building AI meets putting it to work. The programme runs both, side by side, all day.
Applied/ 02
For product, business and technology leaders.
- 01AI products
- 02Enterprise implementation
- 03Workflows and automation
- 04Operations
- 05Product management
- 06Organisational change
What we are here to find out
(03) Working questions
When agents write the code, what does the engineer own?
How do you evaluate a system that does not give the same answer twice?
Which AI pilots actually became production systems, and which quietly stopped?
What changed in the finance, HR and support teams that got adoption right?
Who does the work when the first draft is free?
Where are agents still worse than simpler software?
Confirmed speakers
(04) 12 confirmed
Engineers, researchers and operators from Google, YouTube, ElevenLabs, Hugging Face, Make and Provectus, alongside the people building AI in Georgia.
Sara MaldonLinkedIn
Head of AI Transformation, Make
Jan SmerhovskyLinkedIn
GenAI GTM CEE Lead, Google
Arnas MatiukasLinkedIn
AI Engineer, Google
Kinga AsbóthLinkedIn
Senior Product Manager, YouTube
Evžen WybitulLinkedIn
Anthropic AI Fellow, Oxford PhD candidate
Irakli Salia
Hugging Face
Natia KukhilavaLinkedIn
Co-Founder & CTO, Helio AI
Shota ElkanishviliLinkedIn
Senior ML Engineer, Stealth AI startup
Shota NatenadzeLinkedIn
ML Lead, Provectus
Ani JanelidzeLinkedIn
Head of DataOps, ElevenLabs
Beka ZakaidzeLinkedIn
Founder, SeekerClaw
Levan TsinadzeLinkedIn
AI Researcher, Maxin AI
The line-up is still being built; further speakers are published as they confirm. Talk titles follow once the programme is fixed.
Programme
(05) Working schedule
One day, three parallel streams: a main hall and two breakout rooms. This is the working programme: the running order is set, the timings are still being tuned, and the sessions marked TBC are not yet confirmed.
A working programme. Timings will still move, sessions marked TBC are not yet confirmed, and talk titles follow once the line-up is fixed.
Tbilisi
(06) Place
Crossroads brings international practitioners together with the engineers, researchers and companies building AI in Georgia. The venue will be announced once it is contracted.
- Coordinates
- 41.7151° N, 44.8271° E
- Venue
- To be announced
Crossroads is built by GAIA.
(07) Organiser
The Georgian Artificial Intelligence Association is a national non-profit that has brought together AI professionals, enthusiasts, academia and the private sector since 2023. It is a long-term initiative rather than an events organisation: its programmes run across AI talent development, adoption and public understanding.
To support Georgia's economic development by promoting the effective and responsible use of AI by society and business.
- 100+
- Full members
- 500+
- Associate members
- 40+
- Member organisations
- 50+
- Projects and events
- AI Olympiad
In 2025 Georgia presented a national student team at the International Olympiad in AI for the first time.
- Student AI Club
Students from Georgian universities interested in AI research work together with curators.
- National AI Hackathon
Held annually, with participants working on creating quality AI products.
- Georgia AI Summit
An annual event where AI and data science professionals and partners discuss initiatives.
- AI strategy
GAIA works with government agencies, community groups, businesses and donors to ensure Georgia has an AI strategy.
- International cooperation
GAIA is a member of the European AI Forum and collaborates with international partners.
Tbilisi, 3 October 2026
(08) Take part
Crossroads AI is being put together now. If you build with AI, deploy it inside an organisation, or want to support the conference, this is the moment to get in touch.
- Registration
- Opens later
- Speaking and partnerships
- Contact address TBA