The LaunchPad

The LaunchPad AI SymposiumAcacia College, National University of Singapore17 to 18 August 2026

From the model to the moment someone uses it.

Students only. Hear from the researchers, builders and operators setting the standard for how AI is trained, deployed, embodied, trusted and used.

View the programmeExplore the five themes

17 to 18 August 2026Acacia College, National University of Singapore300+ participants

The community behind the symposium

Built with the organisations moving AI into the world.

23 organisations
Platinum01 of 0502 frames · headline
01AJane Street
02AGriffinLabs
Gold02 of 0502 frames · major
03ASemiAnalysis
04AZo Computer
Supported By03 of 0503 frames · institutional
05AIMDA
06AAcacia College
07AOpenAI
Partners04 of 0513 frames · in kind
08AAgnes AI
09AAI Singapore
10ACloudflare
11AGMI
12AArkVerse
13AKabam
14ANeo Research
15ANebius
16ANUS Computing
17AReactor School
18AShopBack
19AThe Collective
20ATRC
Organised by05 of 0503 frames · hosts
21AAcacia AI Society
22ANUS Computing AI Society
23AStartIT
Community · Vol. 01 · 23 organisationsNUS / SG / 17 to 18 Aug 2026

Platinum: Jane Street and GriffinLabs.

Gold: SemiAnalysis and Zo Computer.

Supported By: Infocomm Media Development Authority, Acacia College, and OpenAI.

Partners: Agnes AI, AI Singapore, Cloudflare, GMI, ArkVerse, Kabam Robotics, Neo Research, Nebius, NUS Computing, National University of Singapore, Reactor School, ShopBack, The Collective, and The Robot Company.

Organised by: Acacia AI Society, NUS Computing AI Society, and StartIT, NUS Computing Technopreneurship Society.

Research, infrastructure, robotics, policy and product belong in the same conversation.

Explore the five themes →

Why this room exists

The whole AI system belongs in one room.

A breakthrough in training changes what models can do. Infrastructure decides whether they can run. Robots give them a body. Products put them in people’s hands. Social norms decide whether they belong there.

The LaunchPad AI Symposium brings those decisions together while they are still being made.

  1. 01 Train

    How models learn from data and feedback — and the trade-offs in capability, cost and safety.

  2. 02 Deploy

    The compute, infrastructure and operations that turn a model into a dependable service.

  3. 03 Embody

    What changes when AI can sense, move and act in physical environments.

  4. 04 Trust

    The safeguards, human norms and accountability that earn AI permission to participate.

  5. 05 Use

    The products and workflows that make capability useful enough for people to choose.

2days at Acacia College

5connected themes

300+people in the room

Five connected fields

Follow AI from model to world.

The programme follows the decisions that turn capability into something people can run, encounter, trust and use.

Field 01 / 05

AI in Training

How models learn, adapt and improve after deployment.

17 August · 09:40–11:50

In the conversation
  • Agnes AI
  • Adaption Labs
  • AI Singapore

Field 02 / 05

AI in Infrastructure and Deployment

The compute, systems and operational choices that decide what ships.

17 August · 13:00–15:20

In the conversation
  • Cloudflare
  • Nebius
  • SemiAnalysis

Field 03 / 05

Embodied AI

What changes when intelligence gains sensors, movement and a place in the physical world.

17 August · 15:40–17:40

In the conversation
  • Griffin Labs
  • The Robot Company
  • Kabam

Field 04 / 05

Social Intelligence and Human Norms

How AI reads people, learns social expectations and earns the right to act among us.

18 August · 09:40–11:50

In the conversation
  • NUS Computing
  • Neo Research
  • IMDA

Field 05 / 05

AI in Product

How capability becomes something people choose, trust and use.

18 August · 14:00–16:00

In the conversation
  • ShopBack
  • OpenAI
  • ArkVerse

The 2026 speaker programme

The people who took the stage.

Seventeen practitioners across five fields, with the full programme retained below.

Day 01 · 09:40–10:10 AI in Training

Alex Ang

Agnes AI

How We Built Agnes AI

Day 01 · 09:40–10:10 AI in Training

Aiden Ma

Agnes AI

How We Built Agnes AI

Day 01 · 10:10–10:40 AI in Training

Darius Liu

Adaption Labs

Why the Future of AI Belongs to the Adaptive

Day 01 · 10:40–11:10 AI in Training

Wai Yi Leong

AI Singapore

How We Built SEA-LION for South East Asia

Day 01 · 13:00–13:25 AI in Infrastructure and Deployment

Louis Lu

SemiAnalysis

Scale Up Sophistry: Copper vs Optical is a False Dilemma

Day 01 · 13:25–13:50 AI in Infrastructure and Deployment

Guan-ru Huang

Nebius

Nebius AI Cloud — A Technical Overview

Day 01 · 13:50–14:15 AI in Infrastructure and Deployment

Jaryl Chng

Cloudflare

Leveraging AI to Diagnose and Maintain the Servers in Serverless Infrastructure

Day 01 · 14:15–14:40 AI in Infrastructure and Deployment

Amirul Zharfan Zalid

Cloudflare

The AI-Native Internet: What Happens When Agents Become Users?

Day 01 · 15:40–16:10 Embodied AI

Siddharth

The Robot Company

Bridging the Deployment Gap

Day 01 · 16:10–16:40 Embodied AI

Jakub

Kabam

Beyond Physical AI: Interoperability Through Physical APIs

Day 01 · 16:40–17:10 Embodied AI

Raphael Yee

Griffin Labs

The Myth of Generalized Robots

Day 02 · 09:40–10:50 Social Intelligence and Human Norms

Tan Zhi Xuan

NUS Computing

Scaling Rational Cooperative Intelligence for Pluralistic AI Futures

Day 02 · 10:50–11:10 Social Intelligence and Human Norms

Huanyue Liao

IMDA

Assessing AI Chatbots’ Responses to Suicide and Self-Harm Risks

Day 02 · 11:10–11:35 Social Intelligence and Human Norms

Clement Neo

Neo Research

Evaluating the Open Frontier: Harmful Manipulation and Loss-of-Control Risks

Day 02 · 14:15–14:45 AI in Product

Isaac Tay

ShopBack

How AI Is Changing Product Management

Day 02 · 14:45–15:20 AI in Product

Gabriel Chua

OpenAI

Reflections from Codexmaxxing

Day 02 · 15:20–16:00 AI in Product

Dawn Teo

ArkVerse

Human Transformers: Using Cognitive Science to Build True AI Product Efficacy

The programme

Two days built for attention and conversation.

Two days across five AI themes, with time set aside to meet the people building, funding and hiring in the field.

Day 01

17 August

Acacia College, National University of Singapore
  1. Registration All attendees
  2. Opening address Organising team
  3. Alex Ang and Aiden Ma · Agnes AI How We Built Agnes AI
  4. Darius Liu · Adaption Labs Why the Future of AI Belongs to the Adaptive
  5. Wai Yi Leong · AI Singapore How We Built SEA-LION for South East Asia
  6. Panel · AI in Training Evolving Approaches to Model Training
  7. Lunch and networking All attendees
  8. Louis Lu · SemiAnalysis Scale Up Sophistry: Copper vs Optical is a False Dilemma
  9. Guan-ru Huang · Nebius Nebius AI Cloud — A Technical Overview
  10. Jaryl Chng · Cloudflare Leveraging AI to Diagnose and Maintain the Servers in Serverless Infrastructure
  11. Amirul Zharfan Zalid · Cloudflare The AI-Native Internet: What Happens When Agents Become Users?
  12. Panel · AI in Infrastructure and Deployment Infrastructure at the Edge of Scale: Copper, Optics, and the Agentic Web
  13. Recess All attendees
  14. Siddharth · The Robot Company Bridging the Deployment Gap
  15. Jakub · Kabam Beyond Physical AI: Interoperability Through Physical APIs
  16. Raphael Yee · Griffin Labs The Myth of Generalized Robots
  17. Panel · Embodied AI From Myth to Deployment: Navigating Interoperability, Physical APIs, and Specialized Robotics
  18. Open networking Meet partners, mentors and fellow students
Day 02

18 August

Acacia College, National University of Singapore
  1. Registration All attendees
  2. Opening address Organising team
  3. Tan Zhi Xuan · NUS Computing Scaling Rational Cooperative Intelligence for Pluralistic AI Futures
  4. Huanyue Liao · IMDA Assessing AI Chatbots’ Responses to Suicide and Self-Harm Risks
  5. Clement Neo · Neo Research Evaluating the Open Frontier: Harmful Manipulation and Loss-of-Control Risks
  6. Panel · Social Intelligence and Human Norms Designing AI for Humanity
  7. Judging and lunch All attendees
  8. Isaac Tay · ShopBack How AI Is Changing Product Management
  9. Gabriel Chua · OpenAI Reflections from Codexmaxxing
  10. Dawn Teo · ArkVerse Human Transformers: Using Cognitive Science to Build True AI Product Efficacy
  11. Recess All attendees
  12. Award ceremony Prize distribution
  13. Closing address Closing ceremony
  14. Open networking Meet partners, mentors and fellow students

The room is part of the programme

300+ people. Time to actually meet them.

More than 20 partners and mentors are joining us to share what they are building and meet students. Many are founders, and many are hiring.

View the full programme

Participants include Students, Student builders, Student researchers, Student founders, Student engineers, Student operators.

The 2026 archive

The Symposium has concluded.

Dates
17 to 18 August 2026
Place
Acacia College, National University of Singapore
Format
Two days, in person
Community
300+ participants

Legacy

The programme and speaker roster are retained here.

Event photos and other post-event materials will be added separately.

Questions

Everything else, quickly.

Ask us directly →
The Symposium

The Symposium is for students only. You do not need to be part of the LaunchPad Challenge to attend.

The 2026 programme, retained.

View the programme

The LaunchPad AI Symposium · Vol. 01From model to worldsymposium.acacia-ai.org

Dates: 17 to 18 Aug · Place: Acacia College, National University of Singapore · Themes: Five · Participants: 300+.