Apertus for NGOs: A Workshop on Running and Deploying Switzerland's Open-source LLM

This workshop is for staff and researchers working in NGOs and non-profits who aim to bring AI into their workflows with an ethical, careful approach. Join us for a hands-on morning of using and deploying the flagship model of the Swiss AI Initiative, learn first hand from the engineers and scientists working on Apertus.

The workshop runs from 9:30 to 12:30 at the EPFL AI Center Lounge in Lausanne. Doors open at 9:00.

Background: Apertus is a fully open large language model built in Switzerland, which is fully reproducible and can run on your own infrastructure. As a Foundation Model, it has already been adapted to specific contexts through post-training and fine-tuning processes. In addition to open access at all Swiss academic institutions, a growing number of Swiss and international commercial providers support Apertus for production deployment.

This workshop is also designed as a two-way conversation: alongside learning how to use and deploy Apertus, we want to hear how your organization is already working with AI, and where today's tools still fall short for you. We would like to hear about the languages, legal contexts, and use cases you operate in. This input will give us the opportunity to prioritize improvements for non-profit organizations on the Apertus roadmap.

At this workshop, you will have the chance to:

See how Apertus, a fully open, Swiss-built LLM, can be deployed on your own infrastructure

Get hands-on experience using the technology itself, not just a description of it

Tell the team building Apertus where it's falling short for your work, and help shape where it goes next

Preliminary schedule9:00: Doors open9:30-9:35: Welcome & workshop goals.9:35-10:00: Understanding Apertus.10:00-10:30: Case study talk. Short talk from a Swiss non-profit on their own experience using AI, how they deployed Apertus, and their use cases for it.10:30-10:45: Networking Break. Coffee/ Apéro provided by us.10:45-11:30: Hands-on: Apertus for your organization's tasks. Overview of the technical pipeline needed to deploy Apertus, either on one's own infrastructure or using a provider11:30-12:30: Hands-on: working with Apertus. Practical exercises: divide into groups based on technical skill level. Work through examples deploying or using Apertus endpoints