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Abstract

Let's Be Honest, How Does LLM and Generative AI Really Work?

Type: Keynote Talk
Time: 20min - 45min
Level: Beginners
Audience: This talk is intended for a general audience, including beginners and those with some familiarity with artificial intelligence.

A non-technical explanation of the inner workings of Generative AI

Everyone is talking about it: Generative AI and Large Language Models. To really understand what you can do with them, how to refine them for your own use, but also what the dangers are, it helps to understand how these models work.

LLMs are trained on massive datasets of text and code, and can generate text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way.

In this talk, Lee Boonstra, Software Engineer Tech Lead and advocate will provide a beginner’s guide to LLMs and generative AI technology. She explains what these technologies are, how they work, and what they can be used for. Let’s be honest and also discuss the potential risks and benefits of these technologies, and how we can ensure that they are used for good and not for harm.

  • Introduction to LLMs and generative AI technology
  • How LLMs and generative AI technology work
  • Use cases for LLMs and generative AI technology
  • Risks and benefits of LLMs and generative AI technology
  • The future of LLMs and generative AI technology
Lee Boonstra

About the Author

Lee Boonstra is an AI Software Engineer & Advocate in the Google Cloud Office of the CTO (Applied Innovation Factory). They specialize in secure multi-agent systems, frontier LLMs, and voice technology. Lee is the author of reference books for O'Reilly and Apress, and the viral Kaggle/Google Prompt Engineering whitepaper.

Disclaimer: The opinions stated here are my own, not those of my company. • 2026 ® Lee Boonstra • Hexo Blog Design by Lee Boonstra