Our values ✋

We keep our egos at the door. AI is moving fast enough that nobody has it all figured out, and the people who know the most are usually the first to say so. Ask the “dumb” question — chances are half the room was wondering the same thing.

Humble means we credit generously, we point to others’ work before our own, and we treat a first-timer’s half-baked idea with the same respect as a veteran’s demo. The community is a place to be a beginner without shame and an expert without swagger.

It takes a bit of front to stand up and show what you made — especially when it’s held together with duct tape. We back that. Bring the half-finished build, the experiment that didn’t work, the opinion that cuts against the hype.

Courageous means we’d rather you tried and stumbled in the open than played it safe in private. The best learning in this whole scene happens when someone is brave enough to say “here’s what I got wrong.”

We’re model-agnostic and people-agnostic. Claude, GPT, Gemini, open-source — use what works. Student, researcher, founder, hobbyist, sceptic — you belong here.

Respectful means manaakitanga: we look after the people in the room. We disagree without contempt, we honour te ao Māori and the reo we borrow, and we never make someone feel small for where they’re starting from. Good vibes are a rule, not a nice-to-have.

Build in the open. AI is incredibly powerful, but working with it can be isolating — heads-down, late nights, just you and a chat window. This is your reminder to stay connected: build together, share what you learn, collaborate.

Open means we link out generously — even to “competitors” — because a healthy ecosystem beats a walled garden every time. Share the prompt, share the repo, share the lesson. The whole point of a community is that none of us has to figure it out alone.