By Grant Kurz / Founder, DeepStation.AI
Sergey Brin, Co-Founder of Google, made a surprise visit to the Google Hackathon in Miami on March 20th. The event was organized by DeepStation.AI and powered by Miami Dade College, The LAB Miami, and OutRival.
The Google & DeepStation Hackathon marks Sergey’s first engagement at a local tech community event since he began his move to Miami in late 2025.
His appearance is historically notable, as several other tech giant leaders such as Larry Page of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Larry Ellison of Oracle, and Peter Thiel have all recently moved to the Miami area, signaling what’s to come.
The two-day hackathon brought over 200 industry professionals from leading AI companies, as well as students from Miami Dade College and local universities. Community partners included Hello Miami, The AI Collective, AI Builders, Software Internals, Kaufman Rossin, and Miami Tech Works.
The hackathon focused on building agentic AI solutions for the community and public good using Google Antigravity, Google Agent Developer Kit (ADK), and Gemini API, with over 50 teams competing for prizes and 1:1 career mentoring with Google staff.
On March 20th at around 6:30 PM, Sergey made a surprise entrance, introduced by the lead organizers Pipe Martina and Miguel Suarez from Google, and me from DeepStation.
Sergey first asked the hackathon participants what they were working on. Folks shared for a few minutes, and then he updated the format to become a Q&A with the attendees.
Asked about deeper integration between Google’s AI efforts and Google Cloud Platform, Sergey emphasized how fast things are moving. While teams operate independently and quickly, they share models and always end up using each other’s work.
On world models and when developers might expect Genie 3 through Vertex AI, Sergey was coy but optimistic. He declined to give a timeline but teased that what’s coming could surpass expectations: “even better than Genie 3, in not that long.”
When asked whether the industry is shifting from SaaS toward “Agents as a Service,” Sergey was candid about the difficulty of forecasting. He pointed out that no one was seriously discussing AI agents just two years ago and questioned whether the conversation might evolve beyond agents entirely within months. Predicting these shifts, he said, is “kind of an impossible task.”
A question about anxiety among students drew a more personal response. Sergey pushed back, noting that young people who actively use AI tools tend to be excited rather than fearful. While he admitted uncertainty about the future workforce, he observed that kids are adapting fastest.
The conversation also turned to OpenClaw, the open-source AI agent framework that has drawn industry attention. Sergey offered measured praise, calling it “very well put together,” but downplayed the technical barrier: “you don’t even have to code” [it because of code assistance] and the frameworks are so easy to build, he remarked. He noted Google maintains internal frameworks and hinted some could be released publicly. “Stay tuned for new releases,” he added.
When one attendee asked how he’s liking Miami, Sergey didn’t hesitate — “I love Miami,” he said to thunderous applause, adding that his girlfriend used to live here and would bring him often.
Perhaps the most notable moment came when Sergey compared Miami to the Bay Area: “San Francisco has got nothing on you. Seriously, I see similar things in the Bay area, and nothing like this level of enthusiasm or this energy so I am sure you will do great stuff.”
I believe the Google Hackathon marks an inflection point. Let’s keep growing and building Miami, together!
Miguel Suarez and Pipe Martina shared: “Thanks to Grant Kurz from DeepStation and the team of amazing volunteers, The LAB Miami, Miami Dade College, OutRival, the Miami Googlers, the many teams behind Google Cloud Startups (especially Jacqueline Ojeda for always helping us organize these events!), all the local tech communities, participants and startups that continue to show up for Miami, and of course all of the winners!”
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Hackathon Winners
1st place: FloodWatch AI by Macrohard
- Mash Zahid
- Nilesh Tailor
- Louis Rodriguez
2nd place: MIACompass by Buidl
- Luana Cantuarias
3rd place: Fresh Fridge by Prompt Pirates
- Muntaser Syed
- Michael Friedberg
- Anthony Mauceri
- Brandon W
- Katherine Burge
- Amanda Kuff
Scenes from the Hackathon
Photo at the top of this post: Sergey Brin with Grant Kurz, founder of DeepStation. Below are scenes from the hackathon. Photos provided by Grant Kurz
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