PyCon JP 2025 Chair's Daily Report Back to Home

AI Utilization in Chair Duties

2025-06-15

This is a personal report by PyCon JP 2025 Chair @nishimotz.

PyCon JP 2025 will be held September 26-28 at Hiroshima International Conference Center. The final day is for development sprints.

We are recruiting organizing members. Please apply through our Organizing Member Application Form.

日本語版 / Japanese version

Introduction

As we approach 100 days before the event, I reflect on the “verbalization” process I started in November 2024.

AI tool utilization has become a natural part of our daily work. As chair, I collaborate with various AI tools including ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Cline, Devin, and Claude not only for daily tasks but also for chair-specific responsibilities. This article is being written together with Claude Code.

I decided to try a different approach from traditional handover documents because I wanted to do something new. Rather than simply following previous procedures exactly, I wanted to explore methods that would allow different regions and new members to understand the principles and flexibly adapt the organization.

In organizational development, it’s important to follow the sequence of first clarifying “why we do it” (purpose and principles), then “how we do it” (methods and processes), and finally “what we do” (specific tasks).

By documenting in this order, new teams and different locations (like Hiroshima for our event) can understand the underlying principles and flexibly adapt the organization to their context. What is written becomes the rule for what should be written next, and an activity that started with one person becomes a team of dozens. This is the foundation of management and is becoming the new common sense in software development in the AI era.

“Being able to use many AI tools doesn’t make someone capable of being chair.” What matters is finding issues, thinking of solutions, and collaborating with the team. AI is merely a tool to support this process.

I believe AI utilization will become an essential skill for future organizing members. However, “the ability to find the right questions” and “teamwork” are far more important than technical knowledge.

AI Utilization Philosophy

Why We Promote AI Utilization

  1. Efficiency: Significantly reduce time spent on routine tasks and document creation
  2. Quality Improvement: Gain insights and suggestions from perspectives humans might overlook
  3. Learning Effect: Acquire new viewpoints and knowledge through AI dialogue
  4. Transparency: Record work processes for later verification and review

Balancing Speed and Quality

Work sometimes requires both speed and quality. AI not only increases speed but also helps humans with quality.

For example, the English versions of these chair reports have consistently used AI assistance. While I acknowledge they aren’t perfect, AI collaboration is essential for rapid communication with the international community.

The key is not demanding perfection from AI, but achieving better results in less time through human-AI collaboration.

New Relationship with Writing

I enjoy writing, but perhaps I really just want to type, and maybe I’m someone who would be satisfied just typing prompts. Simply giving rough instructions about what I want to write, and readable text appears before my eyes. This brings back the sensation I felt when I first encountered Japanese word processors decades ago.

If AI suggests something “I don’t want to write,” I reject it. If it’s something I want to write, I use it. That’s all there is to it. Of course, it sometimes produces mundane words, but that’s the same when I write myself. I don’t care about the means when it comes to spinning the words I seek.

Proofreading written text is another matter. Reading through my own writing from every angle, finding problems, and improving them. This might have been possible without AI, but I’m gradually being freed from the pain and loneliness. The same might be true for programming.

The Power to Find Questions

Work requires not answers but “questions,” which I deeply realize through my chair duties.

For example, while writing this article, the question “Does this article make unexperienced people want to try being chair?” came to mind. When I posed this question to AI (Claude), the article’s issues became clear, and the direction for improvement emerged.

AI is an excellent responder, but setting appropriate questions is the human role. In chair duties, I face issues without clear answers daily, but finding “what the real problem is” is what I realize is crucial. In AI collaboration too, this “power to find questions” greatly influences the quality of collaboration.

Experimental Field for AI Possibilities and Limitations

For me, chair duties serve as a testing ground for what AI can and cannot do.

For example, I once commanded Devin via Slack while traveling to correct errors in published articles. Such agile responses represent new ways of working that were unimaginable before.

On the other hand, I discover daily the areas where AI struggles and situations requiring human judgment. These trial-and-error experiences will also be valuable insights for the 2026 team.

Specific Use Cases

Specific Applications in Chair Duties

In actual chair duties, I use Devin and Claude Code for updating these chair reports. This includes Jekyll site updates and markdown file organization.

For editors, I use Visual Studio Code’s Copilot, though it sometimes has limitations for non-programming tasks. While I initially used Cursor for various purposes, it has recently taken on a more supplementary role to other AI tools.

Organizational and Team Management Applications

International Communication Support

I frequently conduct online meetings via Zoom, and I want to somehow accommodate organizing members who struggle with Japanese. I currently have a contract for Zoom’s translation add-on, and using my license, Japanese speeches should be viewable with English subtitles.

While I’m unsure if the accuracy is sufficient, English support will be an ongoing challenge until the event day, and AI assistance is promising. As an international community event, we continue efforts to lower language barriers.

Meeting Minutes Revolution

Online meeting minutes are also an important issue. We have a culture of writing meeting minutes through collaborative editing while discussing. However, to supplement this, I’ve found that passing Zoom transcription files to AI can create relatively detailed meeting minutes, which I personally want to use actively.

Meeting minute takers are becoming “people who confirm and correct” rather than “people who write.” This allows for more focus on discussion during meetings while maintaining more accurate and detailed records.

Expectations for Organizing Members

We expect the following AI utilization from organizing members we are currently recruiting:

Challenges and Considerations

Cost Considerations

Since I run a company alone, I don’t resist paid services depending on the cost. However, I think money-solving approaches might be difficult for organizing members without economic flexibility to emulate.

Therefore, I want to propose diverse options including free tools and preferential plans for students and open source. AI tool utilization doesn’t necessarily require expensive investment.

Privacy and Security Considerations

AI usage involves privacy and security considerations. I want people to use tools appropriately after taking basic precautions like not sending personal or confidential information to AI services and reading terms of service carefully. I believe this is the stance engineers should generally maintain.

Future Prospects and Legacy

Legacy for 2026

These AI utilization experiences should be valuable assets for the PyCon JP 2026 organizing team. We will record and accumulate know-how about where AI was helpful and what usage methods were effective.

Future Prospects

AI tools continue to evolve daily, and we continue to explore new possibilities. Together with organizing members, we want to explore new approaches to AI-era event management through PyCon JP 2025.

To Future Chair Candidates

Some readers might think “I want to try being chair” after reading this article. Ultimately, when it comes to wanting to be chair, it’s about enthusiasm over ability. The impulse to “want to do it” is something AI cannot possess.

I also started as chair without experience. I was also learning AI tool usage through trial and error. But if you have the feeling of “wanting to make PyCon JP successful” or “wanting to contribute to the Python community,” AI and team members will compensate for any lack of technical skills or experience.

What’s important is that you don’t need to be perfect. When problems arise, think about them then. Search for solutions together with AI. Cooperate with the team.

If you have the feeling “I want to try it,” that’s sufficient qualification.

Chair’s Mindset for Caring for Organizing Members

What I most want to convey to future chairs is that organizing members are the main characters. The chair is “the person who teaches how to fish,” while organizing members are the ones who actually catch the fish.

However, I sometimes end up catching the fish myself or find myself standing around holding the fishing rod, not knowing what to do. I have such failures too. Even now. I’m not a perfect chair, but I still want to remember that organizing members are the main characters.

Creating opportunities for organizing members to shine and feel fulfilled is a crucial role of the chair. For example, the Python tutorial retreat we conducted this year was a very meaningful experience for participants. Even though it’s difficult to reward them financially, it’s important to actively create opportunities where they can think “I’m glad I participated.”

At the same time, we must not pressure or treat coldly those who inevitably cannot continue activities or need to take breaks. Understanding that people have various life circumstances and that there are diverse ways to engage in volunteer activities, we need to maintain a respectful attitude.

Organizations where organizing members are enjoying themselves naturally attract people. Chairs are required to prioritize the happiness of each member and create an environment where they can participate naturally within reasonable limits.

From an AI utilization perspective, I continue to learn through dialogue with AI to understand the difficulty and depth of human relationships. Through conversations with AI, I can gain new insights into the complexity of human communication and the essence of teamwork. This is also an important learning process for building better relationships with organizing members.

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