# Opening Remarks

Lia McBride, Alex Lieberman · AI Engineer NYC 2026 · October 13

[Watch recording](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=22s)

[00:00:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=23s) Good morning and welcome to AI Engineer New York 2026.

[00:00:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=29s) We're thrilled to have you with us as we kick off an event of big ideas, sharp perspectives, and plenty of signal cutting through the noise.

[00:00:38](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=38s) To officially open the event for us this morning, please welcome to the stage AI Engineer's General Manager, Lia McBride.

[00:00:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=52s) Hi, good morning everyone, and welcome to New York.

[00:00:57](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=57s) This is our third event in New York.

[00:01:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=60s) We had two in 2025 with some of our greatest speakers that we've ever had at AI Engineer.

[00:01:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=67s) So we're really excited to be back.

[00:01:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=68s) So just a huge welcome from myself and swyx to everyone.

[00:01:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=72s) Thanks for attending today.

[00:01:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=73s) We hope you're going to have a great few days.

[00:01:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=75s) There's very, very few places like New York City, as we know, where big ideals scale very,

[00:01:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=83s) very fast.

[00:01:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=84s) It is where Frontier AI comes to meet centuries-old global financial institutions

[00:01:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=90s) and where multiple different economies thrive together.

[00:01:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=94s) So we're excited to have an incredible lineup.

[00:01:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=96s) You're going to hear from some of the world's best speakers, just like at all our events.

[00:01:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=102s) We have got people, we've got tracks in finance.

[00:01:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=105s) We've got engineering, leadership, evals, and LLM.

[00:01:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=110s) um we've got Aparna Dhinakaran i'm gonna get that right uh from Arize we've got Max Kanat-Alexander

[00:01:57](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=117s) from capital one and Tariq Shaukat from sonar that's just a few of the incredible speakers

[00:02:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=124s) that we've got this week uh i'm going to say a huge thank you to Arize who's our presenting sponsor

[00:02:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=130s) you guys can go and meet their team in the expo any point this week so uh lean in to learning here

[00:02:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=138s) lean into connecting as well

[00:02:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=140s) there's so many people here

[00:02:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=142s) that are sharing ideas

[00:02:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=144s) they want to talk about

[00:02:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=147s) the ideas, they want to challenge ideas

[00:02:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=148s) and they want to collaborate as well

[00:02:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=150s) so make sure to speak to as many people as

[00:02:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=153s) possible, your attendees, speakers

[00:02:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=154s) and all the sponsors

[00:02:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=156s) and we hope to see you again soon

[00:02:38](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=158s) we do have a great line up

[00:02:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=160s) we've got

[00:02:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=161s) another event called Summit in San Francisco in November.

[00:02:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=164s) And then we have London lined up in February. And then of course, World's Fair. And we've got a couple of other events happening next year as well that are new.

[00:02:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=173s) So keep an eye on the schedule. But have a wonderful few days. Thank you so much. Take care.

[00:03:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=183s) And now, please welcome to the stage, your MC for the day, managing partner at Tenex, Alex Lieberman.

[00:03:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=194s) What's up, everyone? How's it going?

[00:03:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=197s) There we go.

[00:03:19](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=199s) Before we hop into the official stuff, I just want to start by introducing myself and asking you a quick question.

[00:03:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=206s) Alex Lieberman.

[00:03:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=207s) I'm one of the co-founders and co-managing partners at Tenex.

[00:03:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=210s) We're an applied AI company working with Fortune 500 businesses to become AI native.

[00:03:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=215s) Before that, I co-founded a business called Morning Brew, which makes business news suck

[00:03:39](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=219s) a little bit less.

[00:03:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=220s) My question for you is, who in the room, raise your hand, if you are healthily addicted to

[00:03:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=227s) X or formerly known as Twitter?

[00:03:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=230s) Okay, a lot of people are lying in the room.

[00:03:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=233s) I spend a lot of time on X. And one of the reasons that I spend a lot of time on X is because I feel

[00:04:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=242s) like I get to live in the future, right? When you're scrolling through X, when you're looking

[00:04:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=246s) at the commentary on the platform, you feel like you're seeing what will become consensus in three,

[00:04:14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=254s) six, or 12 months. And what I love about this conference and why I get so excited to come to

[00:04:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=260s) it every single year is because this almost feels like X on steroids. There's this concept that a

[00:04:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=268s) friend told me a while back called Edge City. And Edge City is this concept that at any point in

[00:04:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=275s) some part of the world, there are a group of people that are living in the future in a specific

[00:04:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=281s) function or specialty. And the way I think about this conference is we are all living in Edge City

[00:04:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=288s) for what will be consensus in the next six months to two years, if you really think about

[00:04:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=295s) the diffusion of this technology. So I'm super excited to be part of this with you all today,

[00:04:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=299s) and now let's hop into what's going to happen. First of all, welcome to AI Engineer New York

[00:05:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=305s) 2026, where AI engineering meets Wall Street. This is the conference for engineers and technical

[00:05:11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=311s) leaders building production AI across banking, hedge funds, fintech, insurance, and asset

[00:05:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=318s) management.

[00:05:19](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=319s) Over the next two days, we will hear from companies and leaders sparking discussion

[00:05:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=323s) not only on models, agents, infra, compute, dev tools, and evals, but then how they weave

[00:05:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=331s) and shape the financial industry impacting hedge funds, investors, banks, insurance,

[00:05:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=337s) fintech, and security.

[00:05:39](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=339s) Of course, as you all can tell, there's a lot going on.

[00:05:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=342s) Putting together a gathering like this requires a huge amount of effort,

[00:05:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=347s) and it could not be done without our sponsors.

[00:05:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=349s) But before our sponsors, let's all just give a huge shout-out to the AIE team.

[00:05:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=353s) What they do is incredible.

[00:05:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=359s) Now, let's give some flowers to the sponsors.

[00:06:02](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=362s) First up, the presenting sponsor, Arize.

[00:06:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=365s) Let's give it up for Arize.

[00:06:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=368s) Yeah, Arize.

[00:06:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=370s) Next up, the platinum sponsors, Oracle, Sonar, WorkOS, and Exa.

[00:06:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=375s) Let's give it up for them.

[00:06:18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=378s) Then we have our gold sponsors.

[00:06:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=380s) If I had enough time, I'd rattle all of them off.

[00:06:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=383s) And finally, the silver sponsors.

[00:06:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=385s) But wait, there's more, the supporting sponsors.

[00:06:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=389s) Awesome.

[00:06:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=390s) So we are going to hop into the first keynote of the day.

[00:06:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=397s) We have two amazing folks from Bridgewater who are in the weeds of production AI every single day.

[00:06:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=405s) So let's give it up for them.

[00:06:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akEqiXFo3GM&t=406s) Welcome, guys.