May 31, 2025 – Makati – GDG Manila brought together developers, technologists, and AI enthusiasts for Build with AI Manila 2025, hosted at the Makati Palace Hotel. The half-day event zoomed in on practical applications of Generative AI, with a strong focus on Gemini 2.0 and Google’s latest Gen AI tools.
Shikaniah Castillo, Corporate Relations Associate, opened the event with an energizing message on the evolving landscape of Generative AI. She emphasized the collaborative nature of building this future—where human creativity meets machine intelligence.
Cleo Credo, CTO at Full Scale, delivered a compelling keynote on Generative AI and Gemini 2.0. She painted a clear vision of the “Agentic Era”—where AI doesn’t just generate but acts, assists, and amplifies human potential through real-world, contextual responses.
Led by Weiyuan Liu, Senior Engineering Manager at Ascenda, the first codelab offered a hands-on intro to the Google Gen AI SDK. Attendees learned how to authenticate via API keys, make prompt calls to Gemini models, and understand the basics of prompt-response cycles—including multimodal inputs.
In the second session, Loys Talip, Customer Engineer at Google, demonstrated how to orchestrate Real-Time Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) using structured data, natural language, and vision inputs—all through the Multimodal Live API. The codelab focused on practical retail use cases where AI-powered insights can be dynamically generated.
The final codelab was facilitated by Toni-jan Keith Monserrat, Senior Principal Engineer at Kollab. Participants explored how Gemini 2.0 can combine multiple real-time tools—like maps and plot data—to generate responses grounded in the real world, bridging the gap between generative output and live contextual data.
Nhi Nguyen, Community Manager at Google, closed the event with a message of gratitude and encouragement. She acknowledged the volunteers and speakers and invited attendees to keep building and learning—together as a community.
From foundational tools to advanced real-time integrations, Build with AI Manila showed that Gen AI is here—and it’s actionable. Developers walked away not just inspired, but equipped to start building AI-powered solutions today.
BuildWithAI #GenAI #Gemini2 #GoogleAI #GDGManila
About the Author
John McLem Adan is the technical co-founder of Atin.ph and an incoming Software/Application/Cloud/Tech Support Senior Analyst at Accenture. He is a software engineer, technologist, and technopreneur, passionate about bridging technology, strategy, and people. With over 6 years of experience spanning web development, software testing, and customer support across local startups and SMEs, he is a firm believer in human-centered tech. A 2024 PH100 Under 30 awardee recognized by StellarPH, he actively contributes to the local tech and startup community through knowledge-sharing, community building, and cross-functional collaboration.
