Workshop Announcement: Using LLMs with ellmer by Hadley Wickham

Join our workshop on Using LLMs with ellmer, which is a part of our workshops for Ukraine series! 

Here’s some more info:

Title: Using LLMs with ellmer

Date: Friday, June 13th, 18:00 – 20:00 CEST (Rome, Berlin, Paris timezone)

Speaker: Hadley Wickham is Chief Scientist at Posit PBC, winner of the 2019 COPSS award, and a member of the R Foundation. He builds tools (both computational and cognitive) to make data science easier, faster, and more fun. His work includes packages for data science (like the tidyverse, which includes ggplot2, dplyr, and tidyr)and principled software development (e.g. roxygen2, testthat, and pkgdown). He is also a writer, educator, and speaker promoting the use of R for data science. Learn more on his website, <http://hadley.nz>.

Description: Join us for an engaging, hands-on hackathon workshop where you’ll learn to use large language models (LLMs) from R with the ellmer (https://ellmer.tidyverse.org) package. In this 2-hour session, we’ll combine theory with practical exercises to help you create AI-driven solutions—no extensive preparation needed!

## What you’ll learn:

– A quick intro to LLMs: what they’re good at and where they struggle

– How to use ellmer with different model providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, and others)

– Effective prompt design strategies and practical applications for your work

– Function calling: how to let LLMs use R functions for tasks they can’t handle well

– Extracting structured data from text, images, and video using LLMs

## What you’ll need:

– A laptop with R installed

– The development version of ellmer (`pak::pak(“tidyverse/ellmer”))`

– An account with either Claude (cheap) or Google Gemini (free).

Follow the instructions at <github.com/hadley/workshop-llm-hackathon> to get setup.

Minimal registration fee: 20 euro (or 20 USD or 800 UAH)

Please note that the registration confirmation is sent 1 day before the workshop to all registered participants rather than immediately after registration

How can I register?

• Go to https://bit.ly/3wvwMA6 or https://bit.ly/4aD5LMC  or  https://bit.ly/3PFxtNA and donate at least 20 euro. Feel free to donate more if you can, all proceeds go directly to support Ukraine.

• Save your donation receipt (after the donation is processed, there is an option to enter your email address on the website to which the donation receipt is sent)

• Fill in the registration form, attaching a screenshot of a donation receipt (please attach the screenshot of the donation receipt that was emailed to you rather than the page you see after donation).

If you are not personally interested in attending, you can also contribute by sponsoring a participation of a student, who will then be able to participate for free. If you choose to sponsor a student, all proceeds will also go directly to organisations working in Ukraine. You can either sponsor a particular student or you can leave it up to us so that we can allocate the sponsored place to students who have signed up for the waiting list.

How can I sponsor a student?

• Go to https://bit.ly/3wvwMA6 or https://bit.ly/4aD5LMC  or https://bit.ly/3PFxtNA and donate at least 20 euro (or 17 GBP or 20 USD or 800 UAH). Feel free to donate more if you can, all proceeds go to support Ukraine!

• Save your donation receipt (after the donation is processed, there is an option to enter your email address on the website to which the donation receipt is sent)

• Fill in the sponsorship form, attaching the screenshot of the donation receipt (please attach the screenshot of the donation receipt that was emailed to you rather than the page you see after the donation). You can indicate whether you want to sponsor a particular student or we can allocate this spot ourselves to the students from the waiting list. You can also indicate whether you prefer us to prioritize students from developing countries when assigning place(s) that you sponsored.

If you are a university student and cannot afford the registration fee, you can also sign up for the waiting list here. (Note that you are not guaranteed to participate by signing up for the waiting list).

You can also find more information about this workshop series,  a schedule of our future workshops as well as a list of our past workshops which you can get the recordings & materials here.

Looking forward to seeing you during the workshop!

Continue reading: Using LLMs with ellmer workshop by Hadley Wickham

Analysis: The Future of LLMs with ellmer Workshops

In the ever-evolving field of data science, continuous learning and keeping up-to-date with the latest technologies and methodologies are of utmost importance. A recent announcement on R-bloggers.com discussed a fast-approaching online workshop on ‘Using LLMs with ellmer’ which undoubtedly caught the attention of many data science enthusiasts.

Implications and Future Developments

Large Language Models (LLMs), as introduced in this workshop, are a critical component in the realm of AI, capable of understanding and generating human-like text. Notably, the ellmer package enables these advanced AI capabilities to be integrated into the R environment. Ensuring that data scientists are adept in such tools has long-term implications for the speed, efficiency, and novel applications in data science.

Hadley Wickham, the speaker for this session, is a distinguished data scientist and prolific contributor to R packages, making the promise of future workshops held by him or speakers of a similar calibre, highly beneficial for learners. It’s quite plausible that the increased demand for these workshops could lead them to become a regular occurrence, facilitating upskilling in the R community.

In the future, we might see an expansion of topics, covering more R packages and advanced AI techniques. Furthermore, the flexible approach today’s workshop adopted towards payment (acceptable in different currencies and also by sponsoring a student) combined with its charitable cause, paints an encouraging picture of an inclusive learning community that values diversity and social responsibility. This could lead to increased accessibility in the future, as more and more professionals and students benefit from these affordable (or sponsored) learning opportunities.

Actionable Advice

1. Stay Informed: Regularly check R-bloggers and similar resources for updates about forthcoming workshops and apply promptly. Remember that registration confirmations are sent out a day before the workshop.
2. Prepare Adequately: Ensuring that the necessary prerequisites are met before the workshop (such as having R installed and setting up the ellmer package) allows for a more effective learning experience.
3. Be Charitable: If able, consider sponsoring a student. This not only supports the learning of individuals unable to afford the fee, but additionally contributes towards addressing social implications in areas such as Ukraine.
4. Take Part: Even if one is not an R user, such workshops, often held by industry experts, offer valuable insights which could be applied to data science work in general.

By utilizing such actionable advice, not only can individuals further their personal knowledge and skills, but the broader R, data science, and AI communities can continue to grow and evolve positively.

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