AI & Hackathons | CEO & co-founder at @LayerXlab (AI studio) and @taikainetwork (hackathon platform)
Porto, Portugal
Joined March 2011
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The best detail of any event is the people you build it with.
Thank you @SpaceXSI, @StartupPortugal,@IAPMEI and InvestBraga. We worked like a Swiss watch.
Congrats to all the SME teams who spent 2 days building with AI 🫡
That’s a wrap on the SpaceXAI Digital Transformation Lab! 🏆
215 people, 79 teams and two days of building at Fórum Braga.
Congrats to MAKE IT product R&D (1st), Erakulis (2nd), and ByTheLaw (3rd), and to every team that took on a real business challenge. Congrats @SpaceXSI, @StartupPortugal, @IAPMEI, and InvestBraga for bringing this to life. Onto the next one!
Two hours left in the @SpaceXSI Digital Transformation Lab ⏳
217 builders. 80 projects. 48 hours.
Portuguese SMEs turning real business problems into AI solutions: mold validation, invoice automation, factory energy monitoring, legal AI fact-checking.
AI off the slides, into the factory floor 🚀
“Não somos uma empresa tecnológica.”
É a frase que mais ouço quando falo de hackathons com empresários.
É precisamente por isso que são para vocês. O empresário traz o problema, quem sabe construir traz a IA.
Escrevi sobre isto no The Next Big Idea. Link no comentário.
O meu primeiro ano na PwC foi a reconciliar folhas de cálculo e a formatar slides.
Hoje a IA faz isso melhor do que um júnior.
Só que era ali que se aprendia o ofício.
Se a IA ocupa o lugar do júnior, onde vão aprender os líderes de daqui a 10 anos?
Escrevi sobre isto na Human Resources Portugal. 👇
Mario retweeted
Entry-level work was never really about the work. It was where people learned the job.
So what happens when AI does it instead? @hypermarioal shares his view in his latest @HR_Portugal article.
Been using @instinct a lot and love it.
Biggest lesson: no need to use a huge AI Lab agent for it to be effective.
Five AI assistants launched in five months, but only two work in Portugal.
Google, Meta, OpenAI, xAI and Instinct (a startup growing fast) all shipped an assistant that does the work instead of describing it. Most of them haven’t reached Europe yet.
That gives companies here a head start to decide what to delegate, and under whose rules.
We didn't win HackLayer 6, our internal hackathon at @LayerXlab.
But @ritafsim and myself shipped something we'll actually use: AI Mirror.
20 questions. 8 dimensions. Your AI archetype, closest peers and a 90-day plan.
Where does your company really stand on AI?
ai-mirror-lx.vercel.app
Mario retweeted
👉 @taikainetwork provides the platform, @spacexai brings the expertise, and Portuguese SMEs bring a real challenge from their business.
That's the SpaceXAI Digital Transformation Lab, powered by @IAPMEI, @StartupPortugal, and Invest Braga, happening on 26-27 October in Braga: 48 hours to turn a problem into an AI solution worth implementing.
Applications close 16 October. If you run an SME, this is worth your time. 👇
A real business challenge and 48 hours: that's all it takes to start building something new for your SME. 🙌
The SpaceXAI Digital Transformation Lab is now live on our platform, an initiative by @spacexai, @IAPMEI, @StartupPortugal, and Invest Braga , built to bring AI and hands-on problem-solving to Portuguese SMEs.
Mario retweeted
This is what a day of building with AI looks like. 👇
Big thanks to sponsors @dhworkspaces, HackMeridian (@StellarOrg), YLD, and Blip.pt, community partners @lisbonaiweek, Innovation X Hub, Center for Responsible AI, and @NovaSBE Data, Operations & Technology Knowledge Center, and the teams who kept the room fed, Vital Shots, Smoo.ch, Sinner Smash, and Gleba.
🎥 Gonçalo Portugal Guerra
Mario retweeted
Portuguese SMEs, bring us your toughest business problem. 🇵🇹
On 26 & 27 October, the @spacexai Digital Transformation Lab takes over Forum Braga, with @IAPMEI, @StartupPortugal and Invest Braga. Two days, one real challenge from your company, and an AI solution you can put to work.
SpaceXAI brings the mentors and Field Engineers, and TAIKAI powers the whole Lab. What you need to know:
• Up to 2,000 USD in Grok Build or Cursor credits
• A free month of Enterprise for every participating company
• Teams of 1 to 5, Lab runs in English
Mario retweeted
This Thursday, @hypermarioal, @heldervasc and @ickasdev will lead the "AI for Industry & Logistics" masterclass at ANJE's Nexo Conference 2026. 🤖
An afternoon at Antiga Fábrica Vasco da Gama, Matosinhos, on how AI is moving from buzzword to real impact on the factory floor and across the supply chain.
See you there!
Onboarding people to the dark side 🌑
AI Hacker House: Equinox Edition is on. A full day of vibecoding at @dhworkspaces Picoas, with sweet prizes on the line.
Organised by @LayerXlab, powered by @StellarOrg, backed by YLD and Blip(.)pt. Part of @lisbonaiweek.
Demos later. Let's see what ships.
Mario retweeted
PT | 🔁 O que acontece quando o mercado muda drasticamente?
No EP.10 de Founder Tales, Mário Alves fala sobre o pivot da @taikainetwork para a @LayerXlab, AI agents, modelos locais e o desafio de manter a equipa motivada em momentos de mudança.
🎧 youtube.com/watch?v=61I3c3nT…
My X Feed Today:
Jev Jev Jev in my factory...
After co-inventing ChatGPT, I kept asking myself: why have superhuman chat models not led to AGI?
I’ve spent the last 2 years in stealth building a new way to train models (RLCD), and a new type of frontier AI model that we are releasing today: Jev
• 20-200x faster
• 40-400x cheaper (w/ output tokens free)
• Frontier composable intelligence optimized for decisions
AFAICT the shortest path to AI-based economic revolution
When I started TAIKAI in 2018, the goal was to one day run NASA hackathons.
Then came ESA. Now @SpaceX and @spacexai.
But what excites me most is the work on AI adoption in Portugal. That one hits closer to home.
If you're a Portuguese SME, this is for you!
The SpaceXAI Digital Transformation Lab is happening on TAIKAI!
Turn a real business challenge into an AI solution in 48 hours, on 26-27 October, in Fórum Braga.
Powered by @IAPMEI and supported by @StartupPortugal, the applications open until 16 October. Come alone or bring your teammates!