Map the 4 Layers of AI Engineering

Hosted by Aki Wijesundara and Manu Jayawardana

Mon, Aug 24, 2026

5:30 PM UTC (30 minutes)

Virtual (Zoom)

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AI Engineering Bootcamp and Certificate: Build and Ship Production AI Agents
Dr. Aki Wijesundara and Manu Jayawardana
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What you'll learn

Diagnose which layer your problem lives in

Run a short diagnostic on your own system and place it on the right layer.

Spot a prompt fix masking a context problem

Recognise the symptoms that mean more instructions will never solve it.

Plan the move up a layer without a rewrite

Sequence the change so each step ships value rather than breaking what works.

Why this topic matters

Prompt, context, loop, graph. Each layer solves what the one below it cannot, and mostteams stall because they are trying to fix a layer three problem with a layer one tool.Months get spent rewriting instructions when the real issue is that the system has nomemory or no structure. Naming the layers tells you which fix will actually work.

You'll learn from

Aki Wijesundara

AI Advisor | Educator | Google AI Accelerator Alum

Aki Wijesundara is an AI leader with a PhD in Machine Learning and extensive experience mentoring startups at Google’s AI Accelerator. With a career spanning both research and applied AI, Aki has taught 5,000+ students worldwide how to design and deploy production-ready AI systems.

He has worked across cutting-edge areas of applied AI, from LangChain and RAG pipelines to observability and large-scale deployment. As a researcher and educator, Aki bridges the gap between theory and practice, making complex systems approachable and actionable for engineers, founders, and product leaders.

Aki is also a frequent speaker and advisor to organizations adopting AI, helping them transition from experimentation to production at scale.

Manu Jayawardana

AI Founder | CEO at TAI Labs | Co-Founder of Snapdrum

Manu Jayawardana is a serial entrepreneur with multiple AI startup successes.

He is also the Co-Founder of Snapdrum, an AI consultancy helping companies integrate and automate their businesses using AI. Through Snapdrum, Manu has worked with top startups and enterprises across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, advising on automation, product development, and AI strategy.

Currently, Manu is the Co-Founder & CEO of Krybe, an AI voice agent startup in London transforming how businesses automate customer interactions. His experience spans fundraising, scaling products, and leading teams to deliver production-grade AI solutions adopted globally.

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