Build with AI: From Chatbots to Autonomous Operators with Gemini & Function Call

Generative AI is rapidly evolving from conversational Q&A chatbots into proactive, autonomous software operators. Instead of parsing brittle, unstructured markdown text, production applications now rely on models to reason, select tools, and trigger deterministic backend APIs.

Join GDG Tampa Bay for an interactive, practical Build with AI virtual session. In this 60-minute workshop, we will break down how to transition from basic prompt engineering to building end-to-end multi-agent systems using the latest Google developer technologies.

We will feature a complete live-coding demonstration building an autonomous customer service and return-verification agent from scratch—running entirely on the Google AI Studio Free Tier with zero cloud costs.

What You’ll Learn

The Operator Pattern: Why single-prompt wrappers fail in production and how agentic execution loops work under the hood.

Deterministic Function Calling: How to declare OpenAPI/JSON schemas that enable Gemini to choose and parameterize external tools reliably.

The Full Loop: Intercepting model tool calls, executing backend business logic, and feeding responses back to synthesize natural user answers.

Architectural Guardrails: Safe practices for distinguishing autonomous read operations from critical write operations.

Zero-Cost Prototyping: Setting up and executing agent workflows locally via Google AI Studio and Node.js/TypeScript without credit cards or surprise bills.

Agenda (60 Minutes)

00:00 – 00:10: Welcome, Community Updates & The Shift from Chatbots to Operators

00:10 – 00:20: Deep Dive: Function Calling Mechanics & Tool Schema Architecture

00:20 – 00:45: Live Code Demo: Building an Autonomous Agent Step-by-Step

00:45 – 00:52: Production Guardrails, Safety Checks & Scaling Best Practices

00:52 – 01:00: Live Q&A & Open Community Discussion

Who Should Attend?
Developers of all skill levels—from curious beginners interested in seeing real AI agent code in action to experienced full-stack engineers looking to integrate structured function calling into their current applications.

Prerequisites (If You Want to Code Along)

A laptop with Node.js (v18+) installed.

A free Google AI Studio API Key (grab yours in seconds at aistudio.google.com).

Starter repository link and setup instructions will be shared at the start of the call.

Agenda

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Hosted By

Carol Bolger, GDG Organizer

Web and Mobile application developer, with a focus a Laravel and Flutter.
Google Cloud Certified Associate Cloud Engineer.

Complete your event RSVP here: https://gdg.community.dev/events/details/google-gdg-tampa-bay-presents-build-with-ai-from-chatbots-to-autonomous-operators-with-gemini-amp-function-calling/.