Michigan DevFest + AI Hackathon 2026

The Detroit, Ann Arbor, Toledo, UofM Dearborn and Windsor GDGs are teaming up with Compass Detroit to bring you the 12th Michigan DevFest on November 13-14, 2026.

Join us on Friday, November 13th for an AI Hackathon followed by Michigan DevFest sessions on Saturday, November 14th at Hollywood Greektown Casino Hotel. With this year's DevFest, we aim to put together a great weekend of networking, innovation, and knowledge sharing for all involved.

This years sponsors include Google, IBM, DTE Energy, Little Caesars, and Compass Detroit.

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor for Michigan DevFest, email us at sponsors@midevfest.com

You can view the Michigan DevFest + AI Hackathon Schedule (below) on midevfest.com.
Build with AI:

Design to Production with Google Stitch: Ida Delphine, Google Developer Expert

Spring Boot Gemini Demo: Jayashree Ravi, Google Developer Expert

Self Refining Agents That Earn Their Own Upgrades On Google Cloud: Kiruthika, Google Developer Expert

Who Evaluates the Evaluator? Building Reliable LLM-as-a-Judge Evaluations with Gemini: Pragya Keshap

AI Foundations:

Curiosity as an Engine: Timothy Moore

AI With Heart: Building Technology That Solves Human Problems Without Losing Humanity: Terranie Clarke

Beyond the Chatbot: Building Immersive AI Learning Environments for the Next Generation: Christine Burkette

Meet Sophia: A semi-autonomous Hermes Agent: QueenTesa Fuggett

When AI Agents Should Stop: Testing Tool Failures Before Production: Veera Ravindra Divi

AI in Tax Software: Mohammad Arjamand Ali

Assemble The Investigators: Shugmi Shumunov

Innovation:

UX of AI: Life after the prompt: Bryce Howitson, Google Developer Expert

The UX Cost of Security: When Authentication Breaks Accessibility: Greg Miller

From Coding Agents to Engineering Systems: Justin Beaudry

Android AppFunctions: Exposing Your App to AI Agents: Navjot Singh, Google Developer Expert

Ethical Hacking 101: Breaking In the Right Way: Mattalynn Darden

Open Data Is Not Agent-Ready (Yet): Saeb Ahsan

Leadership:

Beneath the Burnout: Diagnosing the Hidden Human Dynamics Behind High-Performing Tech Teams: Dr. Bernadette Atanga

Teams Calls To Keynotes: Communication that makes leadership listen: W Scott Richardson

Leading Through Resilience: Hispanic/Latinos Engineers Shaping the Future of STEAM: Hernando Gonzalez Malabet

AI Advanced Us Back to Basics: Building Products in the Microwave Solution Era: Justin Coleman

Strategist, Systems Builder, Customer Whisperer: The Product Leader in the AI Era: Rupali Sharma

From Code to Conscience: Operationalizing AI Auditing for Fairness and Accountability: Gbenga Olumolade

Hire Your First AI Employees Without Handing Over the Keys: Boris-Wilfried Nyasse, Google Developer Expert

Level Up:

Teach While You Grow: Making an Impact Early in Your Tech Career: Devante Frisco

The Power of Relationships in Tech: Why Customer Success Is Really Human Success: Jamar Jones

HumanOS: Build Systems That Multiply Your Productivity Across Life, Business & Service: Kelli Williams

Basics of Vibe Coding Your Own Games: William Bowen

The Future of Software Is Personal: Jon Yablonski

Rapid AI MVP Development: Adkham Zokhirov

How to be Detail-Oriented, as Taught by Monster Hunter: Robert Yates

Additional information is available on our dedicated website.

Michigan DevFest attendees agree to follow the Code of Conduct.

This is a hybrid event. Join the event virtually at https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-detroit-presents-michigan-devfest-ai-hackathon-2026/
or in person at

Hollywood Casino Hotel at Greektown - 1200 Saint Antoine Street, Detroit, MI 48226

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Agenda

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Hosted By

Dave Koziol, GDG Organizer

Dave is a Director, Software Engineering at Little Caesars.Dave believes strongly in trying to foster and grow the tech community in Michigan and is a meetup organizer for GDG Ann Arbor, GDG Detroit, and the Korean / English Language Exchange.

Jenna Ritten, Chief Developer Advocate & Architect

Jenna Ritten (@jritten) is the Chief Developer Advocate & Architect for InnerSource@IBM at IBM Research. She is committed to expanding the reach of AI, open source and cloud-native technologies to global communities. Her areas of expertise include platform, community, hackathons, design-thinking workshops, AI/ML, blockchain, cloud-native, and innersource and open source. Jenna is an advocate for non-traditional people in tech, much like herself, and provides support by building and fostering communities for underrepresented people in tech.

Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-detroit-presents-michigan-devfest-ai-hackathon-2026/.