Hi Deep Learners,
We are happy to announce the next Vienna Deep Learning Meetup on November 25 at Fiskaly. Our Agenda:
*** Agenda:
- 18:15 Arrival
- 18:30 Welcome by the meetup organizers
- Introduction by the hosts
- 18:45 Talk 1: From Metadata to Labelled Imagery: MaskGIT for Land Cover Synthesis and ControlNet-Guided Diffusion for Earth Observation Images by Lydia Abady and Sebastian Ratzenböck (Another Earth)
- 19:30 Announcements
- Networking Break
- 20:00 Talk 2: Inside TED AI by Jakob Reiter (Mimirio)
- 20:30 Networking
- ~22:00 Wrap up & End
***
Talk Details: -------------- Talk 1: From Metadata to Labelled Imagery: MaskGIT for Land Cover Synthesis and ControlNet-Guided Diffusion for Earth Observation Images Pixel-level labels for Earth observation are expensive to produce and unevenly available across regions, classes, and resolutions. What if we could generate the labels first and then the images to match them? In this talk, we present a two-stage approach to generating synthetic image-label pairs. First, a MaskGIT-style masked token transformer synthesizes land cover maps conditioned on metadata such as class distribution, ecoregion, city, and ground sample distance. These conditions guide the composition and geographic characteristics of the generated scenes. Second, a diffusion model generates corresponding optical imagery, using ControlNet to incorporate the land cover map alongside metadata conditioning. Because the image is generated from the map, every sample comes with labels aligned pixel by pixel. Through a visual walkthrough of generated land cover maps and their matching images, we show how changing the metadata reshapes a scene, how the same layout looks across different regions and resolutions, and how this approach can produce labelled data on demand for rare classes and under-represented areas.
About the speakers: Lydia Abady is an AI Engineer and researcher specializing in generative AI, machine learning, and computer vision. She holds a PhD from the University of Siena, Italy, where she researched the generation and detection of synthetic satellite imagery. Her experience spans academic research and industry, with a focus on developing innovative AI solutions for remote sensing and digital image forensics.
Sebastian Ratzenböck is an applied machine learning scientist developing generative models for Earth observation imagery. His work focuses on diffusion models, efficient generation, and scalable training and evaluation. He holds a PhD in Data Science and previously held postdoctoral positions at Harvard and the University of Vienna. His background spans generative AI, probabilistic machine learning, and simulation-based inference, with applications in astrophysics. He enjoys combining research with practical engineering to make models work with complex real-world data.
Talk 2: Inside TED AI On October 28-30, 2026 TED AI is taking place in Vienna for the third time. It features high profile speakers such as Geoffrey Hinton, Peter Steinberger and a range of others. The talk topics range from AI & the brain, world models, drug discovery, security to AI & war. Jakob Reiter is one of the main organizers of TED AI Vienna and will share insights from this year's edition of TED AI: a wrapup and summary of the main talks with key findings, as well as insights behind the scenes of "how to organize TED AI".
About the speaker: Jakob Reiter is the CEO and Co-founder of Mimirio, a secure enterprise platform for knowledge and context management. Mimirio enables organizations to access trusted, AI-powered knowledge while keeping privacy at the forefront. As a tech entrepreneur with extensive technical experience, Jakob transforms complex concepts into practical, GDPR-compliant solutions. As a member of the core team at TED AI Vienna, Jakob helps shape the conversation around responsible AI in business and society. He inspires leaders to approach digital transformation with clarity and responsibility.
We are looking forward to welcoming you at this meetup! Please note that we have a max capacity of 85 persons at this meetup. Your VDLM organizer team