Practitioners set the agenda.
In 2006, the live question in the software community was how to handle twin disruptions of agile development and "internet time". The change of practices and pace disrupted the working relationships between developers, testers, and ops. CITCON was created to tackle that question — not through keynotes and slide decks, but through Open Space: a format where the attendees propose the sessions, vote on what matters, and have the conversations that count.
Twenty years later, AI has raised all those questions anew. Who reviews the AI's pull request? What does your CI/CD pipeline look like when half the commits come from an LLM? How do you test code your team didn't write? What happens to team dynamics when AI is your most prolific committer? Who answers the page when the LLM broke production?
These questions are too new and too important to be answered by someone on a stage. They need to be worked through by the people doing the work. That's what CITCON:AI is for.
- What: OpenSpace event on integrating AI into the software development process
- Where: Kuntatalo, Toinen linja 14, 00530 Helsinki map
- When: May 22 & May 23, 2026
- Who: Developers, testers, ops engineers, platform engineers, engineering managers, ML engineers — anyone responsible for software in a world with AI on the team
- Cost: Free
Space is limited to 150 registrants. Register here.
What to Expect
CITCON:AI is not a typical conference. There are no pre-set speakers or presentation tracks. Here's how it works:
Friday evening — You arrive at Kuntatalo at 6:00 PM. Over finger food and drinks, you meet the other attendees — developers from Helsinki startups, testing leads from Nordic enterprises, ops engineers who flew in from across Europe. At 7:00 PM, anyone who wants to lead a session writes their topic on a card, stands up, and pitches it to the room in 30 seconds. Others pitch theirs. The group votes. By 8:30 PM, Saturday's entire schedule exists — five parallel tracks, created by the people in the room. The evening continues with a social hour.
Saturday — Five one-hour sessions run through the day. Each is a facilitated conversation, not a lecture — you're there to share what you know and learn from others. If a session isn't working for you, you get up and join a different one. That's not rude; it's expected. They call it the "Law of Two Feet." Breakfast, lunch, and beverages are provided throughout the day, and the evening ends with dinner together.
What gets discussed depends entirely on who shows up. At CITCONs in 2024 and 2025 AI was an increasingly dominant topic, but attendees also proposed sessions on "Failure Stories That Became Success (or Not)" and "Cat Color Genetics." That range is the point: Open Space surfaces what people actually care about, not what a program committee guessed they'd care about six months ago.
Don't Take Our Word for It
- "I was somewhat skeptical about the open spaces... After the sessions, I am sold on the format and only wish it went on longer." — Matthew Stevenson
- "You really feel like you're participating in the conference rather than just being talked at by some spruik with a PowerPoint deck." — Mike Cannon-Brookes
- "The conference adheres to the Open Spaces idea and I have to admit I was pretty skeptical. Sounded pretty touchy-feely and a little too hippy for me... but I have to say that I found it to be significantly more informative." — David O'Hara
- "My experience at CITCON was overwhelmingly positive. Despite my initial concern that the topics might be too technical, I found the conference accessible and engaging." — First-time attendee, CITCON Zagreb 2024
For a quick look at CITCON in action, watch the CITCON Paris video.
Get Involved
Volunteer: A successful CITCON:AI Helsinki takes planning and hands-on help. If you'd like to volunteer, email volunteer@citconf.com.
Spread the word: Know someone who should be in this room? Please invite them! Personal invitations are how CITCON fills — and how the best conversations happen.