Skip to content
AI Engineer NYC 2026

AIE Welcome from GM, Lia McBride

Day 1 · Oct 13 Day 1 digest · More from this day

After an eight-minute pre-show countdown hold, an unseen voice-over opens the AI Engineer NYC 2026 livestream and hands the stage to AI Engineer General Manager Lia McBride, who welcomes the crowd to the third New York event, thanks presenting sponsor Arize, previews the tracks and speakers, and introduces MC Alex Lieberman.

Read the official edition ↗ A detailed reading edition with a searchable transcript.

TL;DR

Section titled “TL;DR”
  • A show-open voice-over at 8:56 AM ET officially opens AI Engineer New York 2026 and brings AI Engineer’s General Manager Lia McBride to the stage.
  • McBride marks this as the third AI Engineer event in New York, after two in 2025, and extends “a huge welcome from myself and Swyx.”
  • She frames New York as the place “where frontier AI comes to meet centuries-old global financial institutions,” which matches the event’s tracks: finance, engineering leadership, evals, and LLM.
  • She names a few speakers — Aparna Dhinakaran (Arize), Max Kanat-Alexander (Capital One), and Tariq Shakked (Sonar) — and thanks Arize as the presenting sponsor, with their team in the expo all week.
  • She plugs upcoming AI Engineer events: Summit in San Francisco in November, London in February, and the World’s Fair, plus new events next year.
  • She closes by introducing the MC for the day, Alex Lieberman, Managing Partner at 10X, whose “What’s up, everyone?” opens the next segment.

Key lessons

Section titled “Key lessons”
  1. AI Engineer NYC 2026 is the third New York edition of the event; two ran in 2025 and, per McBride, featured “some of our greatest speakers that we’ve ever had at AI Engineer.”
  2. The event’s editorial thesis is location-driven: New York is “where frontier AI comes to meet centuries-old global financial institutions and where multiple different economies thrive together,” so the program leans hard into finance.
  3. The conference tracks for the week are finance, engineering leadership, evals, and LLM.
  4. Headline speakers named in the welcome: Aparna Dhinakaran of Arize (McBride joked “going to get that right” on the pronunciation), Max Kanat-Alexander of Capital One, and Tariq Shakked of Sonar.
  5. Arize is the presenting sponsor of the event, and attendees can meet their team in the expo at any point during the week.
  6. The stated attendee playbook is to “lean in” twice — to learning and to connecting — and to talk to as many people as possible: attendees, speakers, and sponsors, because people come to share, challenge, and collaborate on ideas.
  7. The AI Engineer event calendar ahead: Summit in San Francisco in November, London in February, then the World’s Fair, with a couple of new events planned for next year.
  8. The show format runs voice-over show open, GM welcome, then MC hand-off; the MC for day one is Alex Lieberman, Managing Partner at 10X.

Watch this session

Section titled “Watch this session”

Lia McBride, Unseen announcer (show-open voice-over) · 8:56:03 AM ET–8:58:21 AM ET · announcement · Watch on YouTube from 00:08:11

Notable quotes

Section titled “Notable quotes”
  • “There’s very, very few places like New York City, as we know, where big ideas scale very, very fast.” — [00:08:34 | 8:56:26 AM]
  • “It is where frontier AI comes to meet centuries-old global financial institutions and where multiple different economies thrive together.” — [00:08:43 | 8:56:35 AM]
  • “I want to say a huge thank you to Arize, who’s our presenting sponsor.” — [00:09:25 | 8:57:16 AM]
  • “So just a huge welcome from myself and Swyx to everyone.” — [00:08:27 | 8:56:19 AM]

Session narrative

Section titled “Session narrative”

The livestream had sat on a countdown holding slide with pre-show music for just over eight minutes (segment 000). At 8:56 AM ET an unseen show-open voice-over broke in: “Good morning, and welcome to AI Engineer New York 2026,” framing the event as “big ideas, sharp perspectives, and plenty of signal cutting through the noise,” and asked the room to welcome “AI Engineer’s General Manager, Leah McBride” to the stage (the automated transcription rendered her first name as “Leah”; the official agenda and speaker record spell it “Lia”).

McBride kept the welcome short and warm. She noted this is the third AI Engineer event in New York, after two in 2025, and offered a welcome “from myself and Swyx to everyone.” Her core framing tied the city to the program: New York is one of very few places where big ideas scale fast, and specifically “where frontier AI comes to meet centuries-old global financial institutions.” From that framing she previewed the week — tracks in finance, engineering leadership, evals, and LLM, plus named speakers Aparna Dhinakaran (Arize), Max Kanat-Alexander (Capital One), and Tariq Shakked (Sonar) — and thanked presenting sponsor Arize, pointing attendees to their expo team all week.

The practical guidance was about participation: lean into learning, lean into connecting, and speak to as many attendees, speakers, and sponsors as possible, because the room is full of people who want to share, challenge, and collaborate on ideas. She closed with a forward calendar — Summit in San Francisco in November, London in February, the World’s Fair, and a couple of new events next year — and handed the stage to “your MC for the day, Managing Partner at 10X, Alex Lieberman.” The segment’s final transcribed line, “What’s up, everyone?” at [00:10:30 | 8:58:21 AM], is Lieberman’s first words and continues in the next session record (002), which begins at the same wall-clock moment.

Speaker details

Section titled “Speaker details”

Lia McBride - General Manager, AI Engineer. McBride leads AI Engineer globally, with a focus on overall operations, partnerships, and international expansion. She has spent nearly two decades in technology, starting at Google and holding senior leadership roles at Twitter and Improbable; she is also the founder and CEO of LIAVELLA, a University of Glasgow graduate, and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Links: LinkedIn | X/Twitter

Unseen announcer (show-open voice-over) - (identified from session) An off-stage voice that opened the livestream, welcomed viewers to AI Engineer New York 2026, and introduced Lia McBride to the stage. No speaker record exists for this voice.

Full timestamped transcript

Section titled “Full timestamped transcript”
[00:08:11 | 8:56:03 AM] Good morning, and welcome to AI Engineer New York 2026.
[00:08:11 | 8:56:03 AM] We're thrilled to have you with us as we kick off an event of big ideas, sharp perspectives, and plenty of signal cutting through the noise.
[00:08:11 | 8:56:03 AM] To officially open the event for us this morning, please welcome to the stage AI Engineer's General Manager, Leah McBride.
[00:08:11 | 8:56:03 AM] Hi.
[00:08:12 | 8:56:03 AM] Good morning, everyone, and welcome to New York.
[00:08:16 | 8:56:08 AM] This is our third event in New York.
[00:08:19 | 8:56:11 AM] We had two in 2025 with some of our greatest speakers that we've ever had at AI Engineer.
[00:08:25 | 8:56:17 AM] So we're really excited to be back.
[00:08:27 | 8:56:19 AM] So just a huge welcome from myself and Swyx to everyone.
[00:08:30 | 8:56:22 AM] Thanks for attending today.
[00:08:32 | 8:56:24 AM] We hope you're going to have a great few days.
[00:08:34 | 8:56:26 AM] There's very, very few places like New York City, as we know, where big ideas scale very, very fast.
[00:08:43 | 8:56:35 AM] It is where frontier AI comes to meet centuries-old global financial institutions and where multiple different economies thrive together.
[00:08:52 | 8:56:44 AM] So we're excited to have an incredible lineup.
[00:08:55 | 8:56:47 AM] You're going to hear from some of the world's best speakers, just like at all our events.
[00:09:02 | 8:56:54 AM] We've got tracks in finance.
[00:09:04 | 8:56:56 AM] We've got engineering leadership, evals, and LLM.
[00:09:10 | 8:57:02 AM] We've got Parna Dinakaran — going to get that right — from Arize.
[00:09:15 | 8:57:07 AM] We've got Max Kanat-Alexander from Capital One and Tariq Shakked from Sonar.
[00:09:21 | 8:57:13 AM] That's just a few of the incredible speakers that we've got this week.
[00:09:25 | 8:57:16 AM] I want to say a huge thank you to Arize, who's our presenting sponsor.
[00:09:29 | 8:57:21 AM] You guys can go and meet their team in the expo at any point this week.
[00:09:34 | 8:57:26 AM] So lean in to learning here.
[00:09:37 | 8:57:29 AM] Lean in to connecting as well.
[00:09:39 | 8:57:31 AM] There's so many people here that are sharing ideas.
[00:09:43 | 8:57:35 AM] They want to talk about the ideas, they want to challenge ideas, and they want to collaborate as well.
[00:09:49 | 8:57:41 AM] So make sure to speak to as many people as possible, your attendees, speakers, and all the sponsors.
[00:09:55 | 8:57:47 AM] And we hope to see you again soon.
[00:09:57 | 8:57:49 AM] We do have a great lineup.
[00:09:59 | 8:57:51 AM] We've got another event called Summit in San Francisco in November.
[00:10:03 | 8:57:55 AM] And then we have London lined up in February.
[00:10:03 | 8:57:55 AM] And then, of course, World's Fair.
[00:10:03 | 8:57:55 AM] And we've got a couple of other events happening next year as well that are new.
[00:10:03 | 8:57:55 AM] So keep an eye on the schedule.
[00:10:03 | 8:57:55 AM] But have a wonderful few days.
[00:10:03 | 8:57:55 AM] Thank you so much.
[00:10:03 | 8:57:55 AM] Take care.
[00:10:03 | 8:57:55 AM] And now, please welcome to the stage your MC for the day, Managing Partner at 10X, Alex Lieberman.
[00:10:30 | 8:58:21 AM] What's up, everyone?