Ritesh Bansal
As VP of Analytics Data, I lead a team responsible for enabling organizations across Autodesk to make data-driven decisions and deliver personalized customer experiences by harnessing the power of data and AI. My team focuses on improving Autodesk’s Analytics Data Platform tools and capabilities that power our Product Health Dashboard, Insights Delivery Engine, and Autodesk AI and Machine Learning Platform, as well as providing fast, efficient, and reliable access to behavioral data.
I am also the Steward of Machine Learning and sponsor of our annual AI/ML Hackathon, a global, company-wide, virtual event dedicated to empowering Autodesk employees to produce exciting, innovative proofs of concept using our AI/ML platform tools and capabilities. This flagship event is an opportunity for the broader AI/ML practitioners’ community at Autodesk to come together to develop strategically important, technically innovative solutions to important questions we face across the company.
The hackathon encourages connections across Autodesk’s industries, business teams, and a variety of roles (designers, engineers, data scientists, and product and program managers, along with contributors from sales, finance, and legal). Twenty-seven teams participated in this year’s hackathon.
Unlocking innovation
Once registered, participants can join a team and/or propose a project idea. Then comes “Pitchfest,” an event where participants can pitch their problem statements and make a call for team members. The actual hackathon takes place over four days when teams develop their solutions, with coaches and mentors available to help as needed. Throughout the hackathon, there are plenty of prizes, swag, and other fun surprises.
At the end of the hackathon, teams submit a five-minute video presentation, along with code and other artifacts, for judging. When reviewing each team’s presentation, our judges look at four criteria: Innovation, Strategic Value, Technical Achievement, and One Autodesk. After the first round of judging, final teams are selected by a panel of AI Core Team members and other experts. One representative from each of the top five teams is invited to our annual TechX conference where they will present to senior leadership at the Final Judging and Showcase.
The AI/ML Hackathon is part of our annual “Month of Machine Learning,” which takes place in March and is a time for AI/ML practitioners both seasoned and new to uplevel their skills through a series of AWS-sponsored Generative AI workshops covering topics such as AWS Bedrock, Sagemaker Studio, Training & Fine Tuning, Jumpstart, Q and Codewhisper. Each virtual, two-hour-long workshop is free and open to all full-time Autodesk employees and interns. Our workshop and hackathon activities are an ideal way for Autodeskers to continue to up-skill in the most important aspects of this new generation of technology.
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From ideas to impact
Initiatives like the AI/ML Hackathon and Month of Machine Learning contribute to employee engagement and professional development within the company by providing global, cross-organization collaboration, mentorship, and executive visibility and support for new ideas.
Teams and audience members have a front-row seat to valuable insights and guidance from experienced AI/ML leadership. These discussions continue to encourage innovative thinking and drive enthusiasm for technical creativity. The opportunity for teams to present to senior leadership is an exciting and enticing one for participants, and the value of executive insights will be immense to them and to the audience in attendance. Teams are encouraged to include various roles and levels of experience, allowing specialists and new practitioners to work together and learn from each other.
These events also reflect Autodesk’s commitment to innovation and investment in AI/ML technology. By providing the opportunity for teams to use the AI/ML Platform and other tools/capabilities, we are democratizing and standardizing AI/ML across the company. The hackathon powers innovative ideas and projects that align with our company priorities and technical strategies. Last year’s top projects significantly impacted research and product development. The 2023 winning project is now an important model that is being incorporated into the future work in AI at Autodesk. Another project from last year’s event will be released as a 2025 feature for one of Autodesk’s hero projects, and a third served as the basis for a scaled-up data ingestion platform powering a strategic project.
Diverse perspectives, unified goals
Here’s what some of this year’s participants had to say about their experience and why they wanted to get involved:
“Collaborating with my team members had a significant impact on our problem-solving approach throughout the hackathon. Engaging in brainstorming sessions allowed us to pool together diverse skill sets and perspectives. Witnessing everyone’s willingness to contribute their specialized knowledge fostered a sense of camaraderie and propelled us toward a unified goal.”
– Ashish Kumar, Technical Support Specialist – Global Product Support
“I wanted to stretch my thinking about the possibilities we can unlock for Autodesk users using machine learning.”
– Pankesh Bamotra, Senior Machine Learning Engineer
“I was motivated to apply new techniques, especially large language models (LLMs). Focusing on computer vision tasks in my projects, I was curious to open new possibilities of LLMs and enhance my capabilities in this field.”
– Marina Petzel, Machine Learning Engineer
“It was really fun to bring a UX perspective to a largely engineering-driven project, learn what could be possible, and consider how it could be presented most intuitively — especially since I knew it was solving a frequent pain point for customers in a potentially scalable way.”
– Elizabeth Yount, Sr. User Experience Designer
“Curiosity fuels creativity. Where AI meets human intelligence, sparks fly.”
– Sachin Menon, Implementation Consultant – Global Delivery Hub
Autodesk is at the forefront of AI/ML feature development across all our products and services. Data and AI/ML are at the core of Autodesk’s strategic vision, and it is important to establish a culture that encourages scalable growth and innovation in this space.
Our AI initiatives are founded on strong principles of trust, encouraging employees to grow their technical proficiency and awareness of what benefits our end users the most. We partner with teams across the company to realize the full potential of AI regarding productivity and innovation, all with being a trusted partner front and center.
Ready to join the AI revolution? Explore your future with Autodesk!