Hugging Face doubles Open Together capacity again as waitlist hits 150

Hugging Face has doubled capacity for its "Open Together" event in San Francisco for the second time after the waitlist reached roughly 150 people ten days before the scheduled date. The event, set for Friday, October 16, serves as the official kickoff for Open Source AI Week and targets developers and researchers working with open models.

The program runs in two distinct phases. From 18:00 to 21:00, a community gathering will feature community demos, light food and drinks. At 21:00 the venue switches to a dance party with DJs running until midnight. Admission is free, and organizers say the aim is to "celebrate open models" and demonstrate strength in numbers under the slogan "The AI revolution will not be centralized."

Arcee AI and Reflection AI are sponsoring the event. The first 500 attendees will receive collectible Hugging Face merchandise. An official organization on the platform has been set up to manage the community around the event, allowing participants to share photos, submit pull requests for the music playlist and apply for a demo slot.

Demo stations are capped at 36. Each presenter must bring their own laptop and run the project through a Hugging Face Space. The application deadline for demos is October 2, two weeks before the event.