Not long ago, most conversations about artificial intelligence in Nepal were driven by curiosity. People were learning, watching global trends, and experimenting on the side. Today, something has shifted. Nepali engineers are building AI into real products, real workflows, and systems used far beyond the country.

This shift sets the stage for AI Conf 2026, happening on January 10 and 11 in Kathmandu.

Organised by the team behind Web Weekend Kathmandu (WWKTM), AI Conf 2026 brings together engineers, designers, founders, and AI professionals working on real products and systems. The conference focuses on how AI is designed, deployed, evaluated, secured, and governed inside modern organisations.

A speaker lineup grounded in real work

The first set of confirmed speakers brings together people who have shipped AI systems across infrastructure, healthcare, design, security, and education, from Nepal and abroad.

From Madrid, Vlad Dyachenko, a platform engineer and open-source contributor at Cybergizer, will explore what programming languages need to look like in an AI-assisted world. His talk examines how language design affects reliability, cost, and developer feedback as prompt-driven development becomes more common.

Based in Kathmandu, Amit Timalsina will share lessons from applying generative AI to clinical trial reviews, showing how large, unstructured medical documents were transformed into systems that reduced review time from days to hours while operating at production scale.

Sayantika Banik, founder of DataJourneyHQ and an open-source contributor based in Chiang Mai, will focus on how LLM systems should be designed to be observable, secure, and intentional, moving beyond surface-level prompting toward system-level thinking.

Dijup Tuladhar will discuss how AI tools such as Figma Make and Copilot are changing how designers lead, think, and collaborate, shifting design work toward strategy and decision-making.

Saugat Acharya, principal engineer at Laudio, will present a practical look at LLM evaluation and observability, showing how engineers, product managers, and designers increasingly rely on shared dashboards to understand model behaviour, cost, and user impact.

Joining from San Francisco, Manu Chatterjee will unpack the changes in modern AI systems and explain how large language models transform unstructured input into decisions, actions, and workflows.

Pranjal Timsina, a Kathmandu-based engineer and educator, will examine emerging AI security risks, including data leakage, training data poisoning, and the liabilities created when AI agents act on behalf of users.

Haihao Liu (Hong Kong SAR), founder and CEO of Ternity Education and an AI researcher with academic training at MIT and Harvard, will speak on humanity-first AI, AI safety, and the long-term societal implications of AI systems.

Asking the hard question: Who owns AI in the company?

AI Conf 2026 will also feature a panel discussion titled ‘Who Owns AI in the Company?’ The conversation will explore how responsibility for AI systems is shared across engineering, product, design, legal, and leadership teams as AI becomes embedded into everyday business workflows.

Why AI Conf 2026 is being organised in Kathmandu

For many professionals in Nepal, participating in global AI conferences is expensive and often complicated by visa barriers. AI Conf 2026 is being organised to help close that gap by bringing experienced builders and researchers directly to Kathmandu.

At the same time, the goal is to promote Nepal’s growing technology ecosystem by placing local teams and companies on the same stage as internationally recognised speakers, creating an equal exchange.

Beyond the conference

In addition to the main conference sessions, AI Conf 2026 includes a second-day community hike in the Kathmandu Valley, creating space for informal conversations and deeper connections beyond the stage.

The event is expected to host more than 400 participants, including speakers and attendees from Nepal, as well as professionals from across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

AI Conf 2026 is supported by Programiz, Leapfrog, Care Boarding, Logpoint, SecurityPal AI, Proshore, Gritfeat Solutions, Kantipur NEO, and Fusemachines, reflecting the industry’s growing interest in practical, applied AI emerging from Nepal.

As Nepali teams continue to ship AI-powered products for global markets, AI Conf 2026 reflects a community moving from exploration to execution, and from following trends to shaping them.

Further agenda details and updates will be available at ai.wwktm.com.