On October 17, 2026, the Philippine Centre Canada welcomed community members to Cours Bayview Yards (7 Bayview Station Rd, Ottawa, ON) for Training #2 of our Financial Literacy Series, focused on AI Basics & AI for Small Business. ]
Facilitated by Earl Tamayo and Gabriela Alam Morales, this beginner-friendly training was designed for anyone who may have heard about AI, ChatGPT, or other AI tools, and wondered what they actually do and how they can use these for their business. With no prior AI experience, the training guided participants from the origin and history of AI to practical skills they could start using right away in daily life and in their small business.
From Ideas to Action: Understanding AI and Prompting
The session opened by breaking down the fundamentals of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Microsoft Copilot. Presenters walked attendees through how generative models operate through a four-stage cycle: training on large datasets, tuning, generating outputs based on prompts and context, and evaluating accuracy.
A core focus of the workshop was practical application across various business functions, including marketing (social media content and campaigns), customer service, research, and operations.
Participants learned the anatomy of an effective business prompt, including role, task, context, audience, constraints, output format, and examples. Participants engaged in hands-on activities, turning prompting from a trial-and-error guessing into a repeatable strategic skill.
Navigating Limitations, Responsibility, and Governance
A vital part of the conversation addressed the limitations and risks associated with AI, such as hallucinations, data privacy, bias, and the rise of low-quality misleading social media posts. Highlighting real-world examples including corporate accountability precedents like an airline’s chatbot ruling. Presenters reinforced that AI is a tool to support human judgment, not replace it, and that businesses remain fully accountable for their uses of AI.
What Participants Are Saying
Throughout the session, attendees actively participated in hands-on prompting exercises and discussions. Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive, highlighting the clarity, relevance, and practical value of the training:
"The breakdown of prompt engineering using clear structures made it so much easier to understand how to get useful results instead of generic answers."
"I really appreciated the honest discussion about AI limitations and responsibilities—knowing what not to trust is just as important as knowing what tools to use."
"The mini-activities and real-world business examples helped bridge the gap between abstract AI concepts and my day-to-day work."
"A fantastic, highly informative session that gave me the confidence to start experimenting with AI responsibly in my own workflow."
A heartfelt thank you to Earl Tamayo and Gabriela Alam Morales for generously sharing their expertise and guiding our community, and to everyone who attended and made the workshop a success!
Special thanks to the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Government of Ontario, which funds our Financial Literacy Workshop Series and helps make free, accessible financial education available to our community.
We look forward to seeing you at our next community event!
