Building An AI Agent | Phoenix Cultivate Academy

What this masterclass covers

AI AGENTS MASTERCLASS (RAG) Training Objective To equip campus learners with practical, end-to-end skills to understand, build and deploy AI agents — covering: How modern AI works, and how to direct it effectively through prompting Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG): grounding AI...

Format

Expert-led live session

Duration

Aug 8, 2026 - Sep 3, 2026

Status

Upcoming

Payment

Standard fee

AI AGENTS MASTERCLASS (RAG)

Training Objective

To equip campus learners with practical, end-to-end skills to understand, build and deploy AI agents — covering:

How modern AI works, and how to direct it effectively through prompting
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG): grounding AI in your own documents and data
Building AI agents that use tools and memory to take real, multi-step actions
Connecting agents safely to real apps — email, spreadsheets and the web
Automating multi-step work that runs in the background, 24/7
Packaging, pricing, deploying and showcasing AI solutions to earn from them

By the end, participants will independently build, automate and publish a live, portfolio-ready AI agent of their own.

Delivery Days: Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday (Live Sessions).

Why It Matters

From 3% to the other 97%: Most people only ever chat with AI. This course moves you into the 97% — AI that reads, decides and acts — where the real leverage and income live.
Build, don't just learn: From day one you create real, working things rather than theory you forget. You leave with a deployed agent, not just notes.
RAG fixes AI's biggest flaw: Off-the-shelf AI makes things up. You'll learn to ground it in your own documents so its answers are accurate, trustworthy and genuinely useful.
One project that compounds: A single real project grows week over week — assistant to agent to automation to live app — so every session builds on the last.
Skills that pay: We cover finding clients, pricing your work and showcasing what you build, so your new skills translate into freelance work, jobs and your own products.

Prerequisites

Device: A laptop with a stable internet connection (any operating system — Windows, macOS or Linux).
Software: No paid software required — every tool used in this class is free. Accounts are set up together during the early sessions.
Technical literacy: Basic comfort using a computer (files, folders, a web browser). No prior AI, coding or data experience is needed.
Accounts: A working email address, used to sign up for the free AI tools and to publish your final project online.
Commitment: Willingness to complete short take-home tasks between live sessions — the off-days are for practice and content review.

Course Structure & Schedule

Six modules delivered across 12 live sessions. Off-days between sessions are reserved for take-home practice and content review.

Day & Time	Date	Session Objectives	Delivery
MODULE 1 · UNDERSTAND AI
Saturday 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM	Sat, 8 Aug 2026	Lesson 1 — The big picture: what AI really is A plain-language tour of how modern AI actually works — no maths, no jargon. Lesson 2 — The story of AI: past, present & future Where AI came from, what changed recently, and where it is heading. Lesson 3 — Talking to AI like a pro Prompting fundamentals: how to ask so you get useful, reliable answers.	Online (Live Session)
Tuesday 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM	Tue, 2026 11 Aug	Lesson 4 — What AI can — and can't — do Real strengths, real limits, and how to spot when AI is wrong. Lesson 5 — Hands-on: make AI work for you First practical session — set up your free tools and complete guided tasks. Take-home: a short prompting challenge to complete before the next session.	Online (Live Session)
MODULE 2 · GIVE AI KNOWLEDGE (RAG)
Thursday 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM	Thu, 13 Aug 2026	Lesson 6 — Why AI makes things up — and the fix Understand hallucinations, and meet Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). Lesson 7 — Teaching AI your own information How to feed AI your notes, PDFs and documents so it answers them.	Online (Live Session)
Saturday 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM	Sat, 15 Aug 2026	Lesson 8 — Build: chat with your documents Build a working assistant that answers questions from your own files. Lesson 9 — Making answers smart & accurate Improve quality, cut errors, and keep responses grounded in your sources. Lesson 10 — Mini-project: a knowledge assistant Mini-Project: assemble your first RAG-powered knowledge assistant.	Online (Live Session)
MODULE 3 · BUILD YOUR FIRST AGENT
Tuesday 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM	Tue, 18 Aug 2026	Lesson 11 — From answering to doing: giving AI tools The leap from a chatbot that talks to an agent that acts. Lesson 12 — What an AI agent really is The anatomy of an agent: goals, tools, decisions and actions. Lesson 13 — Build your first AI agent Create a simple agent that completes a real task on its own.	Online (Live Session)
Thursday 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM	Thu, 20 Aug 2026	Lesson 14 — Giving your agent memory Let your agent remember context across steps and sessions. Lesson 15 — Mini-project: a task-doing assistant Mini-Project: an agent that completes a multi-step task end to end.	Online (Live Session)
MODULE 4 · CONNECT AI TO THE WORLD
Saturday 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM	Sat, 22 Aug 2026	Lesson 16 — Plugging AI into real apps (the easy way) Connect agents to everyday tools without heavy coding. Lesson 17 — Agents that use email, sheets & the web Give your agent the ability to read and act across real services. Lesson 18 — Making agents reliable & safe Guardrails and testing to keep an agent's actions safe and predictable.	Online (Live Session)
Tuesday 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM	Tue, 25 Aug 2026	Lesson 19 — Teams of agents working together Coordinate multiple agents to tackle bigger jobs. Lesson 20 — Mini-project: a multi-step agent Mini-Project: a connected agent that runs a real, multi-step workflow.	Online (Live Session)
MODULE 5 · AUTOMATE EVERYTHING
Thursday 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM	Thu, 27 Aug 2026	Lesson 21 — The automation mindset Spotting work that can run itself, and designing for it. Lesson 22 — No-code & low-code automation Build automations visually using free tools. Lesson 23 — Build an automation that runs 24/7 Set up work that runs in the background, without you.	Online (Live Session)
Saturday 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM	Sat, 29 Aug 2026	Lesson 24 — Simple automation vs full agent Choose the right approach for each job. Lesson 25 — Mini-project: end-to-end automation Mini-Project: a complete automation that runs start to finish on its own.	Online (Live Session)
MODULE 6 · TURN SKILLS INTO INCOME
Tuesday 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM	Tue, 1 sep 2026	Lesson 26 — What people pay AI builders for The services and products that clients and employers actually buy. Lesson 27 — Package your agent as a product Turn what you've built into something you can sell or showcase. Lesson 28 — Find clients & price your work Where to find work, and how to price it fairly.	Online (Live Session)
Thursday 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM	Thu, 3 Sep 2026	Lesson 29 — Deploy & showcase your AI online Publish your project with its own link for your portfolio. Lesson 30 — Capstone Demo Day: launch & earn Capstone: present your live AI agent. Final project submission is due on this date (Thu, 23 Jul 2026).	Online (Live Session)

Capstone Project

Throughout the masterclass each participant develops one real project that grows week by week — from a document-aware assistant, to a tool-using agent, to a 24/7 automation, and finally to a live AI app published online.

Demo Day & final submission: Thursday, 23 July 2026. Participants present their live AI agent and submit their completed project on this date.

Meet our Trainer

Meet your trainer

1 trainer

Augustine Mugendi

I'm an AI builder and trainer who builds and deploys real, working AI systems — not just slides and theory. I've built an AI CV-screening tool that reads and scores CVs automatically, and I run my own self-hosted AI models on my own servers. My teaching style is practical, build-first and free of jargon. “I won't just teach you about AI — I'll show you how I build it, and help you do the same.”