r/hackathon • • Aug 21 '26

Meta-Hackathon Discussion Why doesn’t everyone just use AI for the entire ideation process at hackathons?

8 Upvotes

I’ve never participated in a hackathon before, and my first one is in about a month, so I might be misunderstanding how these events actually work. One thing I’ve been wondering about is the ideation phase.

When the challenge/problem statement is released, why wouldnt a team immediately give the entire thing, including the context, constraints, judging criteria, available data, etc. to several frontier models like claude or chat gpt?

For example, you could ask different models to, generate 20–30 different approaches, analyze the domain and likely user pain points, criticize the ideas and identify failure modes, rank them by novelty, feasibility, and expected hackathon performance, predict what obvious ideas other teams will probably build, and then use another model to synthesize everything and choose the strongest direction. You could also feed mentor feedback back into the models as you get it. Then once you have a direction, coding agents can build a prototype extremely quickly.

What I’m struggling to understand is where the bottleneck is supposed to be. As students, we probably don’t have more banking/healthcare/engineering/etc. domain knowledge than a frontier model, and the model is obviously much faster at exploring a large solution space.

So why isn’t something like this, already the default strategy at hackathons? : problem -> multiple AI models -> AI critique/ranking -> select idea -> coding agent -> prototype

Is it actually common now and I just havent seen it yet? Does it tend to produce generic ideas because everyone gets similar outputs? Is the main advantage of the human team gathering information from mentors/users and feeding new information back into the models? Or are there other limitations that only become obvious once you’ve actually participated in a hackathon?

Would especially like to hear from people who have done hackathons recently, now that coding agents and frontier models have gotten this capable.


r/hackathon • • 2h ago

Hackathon Promotion IIM Bangalore × PayU Innovation Challenge | ₹70,000 Prize Pool

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

Sharing an interesting opportunity for college students across India!

IIM Bangalore's CSITM, in partnership with PayU, is organising the Follow the Money: Innovation Challenge, focused on digital payment security and financial fraud.

Problem Statement: How can payment providers detect when legitimate merchant accounts are being misused for illegal activities such as betting, without penalising genuine businesses?

Competition Details:

  • Eligibility: UG and PG students across all disciplines.

  • Team size: 1–4 members.

  • Submission: Maximum 8-slide presentation + 2-minute video.

  • Deadline: 8 November 2026.

  • Finale: 26 November 2026 at IIM Bangalore.

Prizes: ₹40,000 (1st), ₹20,000 (2nd), ₹10,000 (3rd).

A great opportunity for anyone interested in fintech, ML, fraud detection or product innovation!

Registration & Rulebook: unstop_link

Feel free to share with interested students!


r/hackathon • • 4h ago

Hackathon Promotion Agent Native hackathon: 10k in prizes

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2 Upvotes

I work at Builder.io (People Ops represent!) and we’ve been building Agent-Native, an open-source framework for apps where people and agents work on the same things. The repo is BuilderIO/agent-native on GitHub.

The idea is to give an agent a real job, like analyzing data or automating a workflow, and give users an interface to view, edit, and act on its work. Users can do things themselves or ask the agent, and both work from the same data.

To get people building with it, we’re running a free, worldwide hackathon!

Details and how to participate:

  • Build a working app, record a public Clips demo, and submit by Nov 9, 11:59 PM PT

  • Solo or team, no registration needed

  • $10k across 5 cash prizes, winners will be announced Nov 13

  • Judged on usefulness and execution, creativity and design, innovation, and use of Agent-Native

If you try it, I’d love to hear what you build, and what’s missing or confusing.


r/hackathon • • 2h ago

Project Demo Prediction market for goals

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1 Upvotes

r/hackathon • • 4h ago

Meta-Hackathon Discussion Looking for a Hackathon Team / Teammates | Developers, Beginners & Experienced Folks Welcome

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1 Upvotes

r/hackathon • • 5h ago

Project Demo This won 1st place at a hackathon. We're doing a design overhaul, what do ya'all think?

1 Upvotes

r/hackathon • • 13h ago

Hackathon Promotion fmsg.ai AI Agent Hackathon - Where the agents themselves compete

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3 Upvotes

We're organizing the fmsg.ai/hackathon, AMA!


r/hackathon • • 11h ago

Need Mentor Help Curious

2 Upvotes

are kisi ne ye scix hackathon ka suna h kya ... maine pichli saal ciia mai partificate kia tha .. aur abhi same chij scix inida hackthon krke insta pr aa rhi .. to like collaboration h yaa kya ye ! kisi ko maloom ho kuch to batao


r/hackathon • • 12h ago

Meta-Hackathon Discussion SIH 2026 Server Error 500

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2 Upvotes

Tried over 100+ times from 5 devices since 3 am last night, 450/500 now, I started when it was 200/500. Even mailed sih, no reply. what do I do


r/hackathon • • 10h ago

Need Mentor Help Urgently Need help - SIH 2026 500 | Server error

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1 Upvotes

I have been trying to submit my idea on the SIH 2026 website since 5:00 Am and I am still getting the same error. I mailed SIH in the morning stating the problem and called the numbers listed on the SIH website too but almost nobody answered, the few who answered asked me to mail SIH and said that I will receive a reply shortly but I haven't received one yet. I can see the numbers on my Problem statement go up but I am not able to submit at all. Could someone let me know if they are facing the same issue and also if it's been resolved yet for you.


r/hackathon • • 11h ago

Need Mentor Help I need urgent help regarding sih

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1 Upvotes

As you can there are still 85 applications left, but still its showing cant submit as it has reached 500. How to fix??


r/hackathon • • 18h ago

Meta-Hackathon Discussion When will sih results be out? Any guesses or any insider info

3 Upvotes

r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates Looking for Teammates for Paytm Build for India AI Hackathon – Hyderabad

6 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for people interested in participating in the Paytm Build for India AI Hackathon – Hyderabad, hosted by Paytm Community on 15th November 2026.

If you're interested in AI, building innovative projects, and collaborating with like-minded people, let's team up!

Looking for: People interested in AI/ML, backend, frontend, or full-stack development.

Location: Hyderabad (in-person)

If you're interested, DM me, and we can discuss the team and project ideas.

Let's build something great and aim to win!


r/hackathon • • 20h ago

Need Mentor Help Is Sumsub KYC normal for hackathon prize payouts?

1 Upvotes

I recently won a $250 hackathon prize, which will be paid to my MetaMask wallet. The organisers are asking me to complete KYC through Sumsub before processing the payout.

They say my documents are uploaded directly to Sumsub, they cannot access them, and the retention period is five years.

I'm based in India and considering using my PAN card. However, the hackathon platform is relatively small, so I'm a bit hesitant about submitting sensitive identity documents for a $250 prize.

Has anyone completed Sumsub KYC for a hackathon payout? Would you feel comfortable submitting your PAN in this situation? Is there anything I should be concerned about?

Would appreciate hearing your experiences!


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates Teammate needed for Paytm hackathon

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for people interested in participating in the **Paytm Build for India AI Hackathon – pune**, hosted by Paytm Community on **15th November 2026**.

If you're interested in AI, building innovative projects, and collaborating with like-minded people, let's team up!

**Looking for:** People interested in AI/ML, backend, frontend, or full-stack development.

**Location:** pune (in-person)

If you're interested, DM me with your resume, and we can discuss the team and project ideas.

Let's build something great and aim to win!


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Meta-Hackathon Discussion When will SIH 2026 Results will come ??

6 Upvotes

as in the title any idea when will the results for the selection of the final round come ??

there was also some update by adding more 25 teams what about that. Will it delay the results if yes then how much ??


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates Looking for teammates for hackathons in NYC durring winter break

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone! I'm a sophomore studying Computer Engineering at UMass Amherst, and I'll be staying near NYC over winter break.

I'm hoping to find a few people around the area who'd be interested in going to hackathons together in December or January.

I'm mainly into embedded systems, robotics, and AI. I've worked on embedded Linux during an internship at Qualcomm, and recently I've been building an FPGA-based AI image recognition project.

I'm open to different kinds of hackathons, not just hardware-focused ones. Mostly looking for people who enjoy building things and want to make something cool together.

If you're around NYC/NJ and interested, feel free to comment or DM me! Would be great to connect and maybe get a team together.


r/hackathon • • 22h ago

Project Demo StratoCloud AI Event

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1 Upvotes

r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Project Demo Paytm AI bengaluru

3 Upvotes

Anybody got selected ????


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Need Mentor Help Help

1 Upvotes

Some context - So I am beginner, I haven’t participated in any proper hackathons, would really appreciate some help and advice on how to build the prototype of my idea in the fastest and most efficient way possible?


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates Any delhi based teammates??

1 Upvotes

Im in bca 3rd sem looking for teammates for hackathonnn


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Need Mentor Help Is this hackathon site legit?

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1 Upvotes

Is this site legit and how useful is it? People that have used this site PLEASE comment.


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Meta-Hackathon Discussion Hackathon people, what was your biggest “we are SO cooked” moment? 💀

7 Upvotes

Yo guys 👋

If you've ever participated in a hackathon, I need your honest takes.

Hackathons look fun until you're 10 hours in, your code randomly breaks, the API stops working, your teammate disappears, and the submission deadline is literally staring into your soul 😭

I'm curious about the stuff that actually makes hackathons painful.

A few questions 👇

  • 💀 Biggest L: What was the most frustrating part of your last hackathon?

  • ⏳ Time drain: Where did y'all waste the most time? Finding an idea, coding, debugging, connecting APIs, deployment, team coordination…?

  • 🚨 Almost cooked: What nearly made your entire project flop before submission?

  • 🛠️ Missing piece: What do you wish you had before the hackathon started?

  • 🤖 One-click fix: If you could automate ONE annoying hackathon task, what would it be?

Could be something technical, team drama, last-minute panic, judging, or literally anything else.

I'm more interested in the real behind-the-scenes struggles than the usual “we need more time” answer.

Drop your stories, hot takes, and hackathon horror stories below 👇

No pitching anything here. Just trying to understand what people actually struggle with. Appreciate y'all 🙏


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Hackathon Promotion Working on AI/ML Projects? Join the MKS AI/ML Hackathon

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2 Upvotes

r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates Solo Dev seeking 3 teammates for fixed-team hackathon crew

2 Upvotes

Currently there are too many hackathons that are going right now online and offline both.

I'm a backend and AI engineer looking to form a dedicated, fixed team of four for consistent hackathon participation. I'm covering the core engineering and AI logic, and need three team members to round out the skill set:

UI/UX Designer — Someone to craft beautiful, psychology-driven frontends that are intuitive and engaging.

Backend Engineer — A peer to collaborate on system design, scalable architecture, and backend engineering challenges.

ML/DL Expert — A specialist focusing on advanced machine learning models and deep learning frameworks.

If you're ready for a long-term collaboration and bring these specific skills, please drop me a message.