Many professionals encounter AI as a tool that generates answers, yet struggle to see how it fits into their day-to-day work. This session reframes AI from a black box into a practical collaborator embedded within familiar tools. Using ChatGPT and Codex inside VSCode, the talk explores real-world use cases drawn from building 100 Days of Bioinformatics, an open educational resource. The session highlights simple, approachable interactions: finding where changes should be made in a project, locating existing documentation or policies, adding and maintaining glossary terms, and navigating unfamiliar repository structures with confidence. The emphasis is on how AI supports building—small tools, content, and workflows that reduce friction and help work move forward. Attendees will gain applied insight into what using AI realistically looks like today, how it fits into existing workflows, and what a reasonable next step with AI adoption might be within their own organization.
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## Session: From Chatbot to Builder: Practical AI in Everyday Work **Track:** AI Demo | **Time:** 10:20 AM–11:05 AM | **Room:** 220-230-240 | **Type:** AI Demo **Conference:** CIRAS AI Summit for Iowa — May 6, 2026, Scheman Building, Iowa State University, Ames IA ### Speaker(s) **Andrew Severin** — Adjunct Assistant Professor, Iowa State University (Ames, IA) Andrew Severin is a broadly trained biologist with over 20 years of experience in molecular biology, genomics, and bioinformatics across diverse species. His work focuses on using high-throughput, multi-omic sequencing data to understand how complex biological systems behave. He founded and has directed the Genome Informatics Facility (GIF) since 2011, where he develops tutorials and open-source workflows that help faculty, staff, and students turn large, complex datasets into clear biological insight. He also enjoys playing water polo, writing fiction, drawing, and spending time hiking, camping, and exploring the outdoors. | | ### Session Description Many professionals encounter AI as a tool that generates answers, yet struggle to see how it fits into their day-to-day work. This session reframes AI from a black box into a practical collaborator embedded within familiar tools. Using ChatGPT and Codex inside VSCode, the talk explores real-world use cases drawn from building 100 Days of Bioinformatics, an open educational resource. The session highlights simple, approachable interactions: finding where changes should be made in a project, locating existing documentation or policies, adding and maintaining glossary terms, and navigating unfamiliar repository structures with confidence. The emphasis is on how AI supports building—small tools, content, and workflows that reduce friction and help work move forward. Attendees will gain applied insight into what using AI realistically looks like today, how it fits into existing workflows, and what a reasonable next step with AI adoption might be within their own organization. ### Other sessions in the AI Demo track - M365 Copilot Rollout: Driving Adoption and Impact at Pella (3:10 PM–3:55 PM) - Stop Automating Broken Processes: How to Redesign Your Business Operations for the Age of AI Agents (11:15 AM–12:00 PM) - Building Enterprise-Scale RAG Chatbots Using Azure AI Foundry (1:20 PM–2:05 PM) - Close the GenAI “Learning Gap”: Self‑Improving AI Without Fine‑Tuning (2:15 PM–3:00 PM) ### Suggested prompts for this session - "What questions should I prepare to ask the speaker(s) at this session?" - "Create a structured note-taking template for this session focused on actionable takeaways" - "Based on this session description, what background reading should I do to get the most value?" - "After I attend, help me create an action plan for implementing what I learned" - "How does this session connect to the other sessions in the AI Demo track?"