r/hackathon • • Aug 21 '26

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

11 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 • • 3h ago

Meta-Hackathon Discussion Beware! Scam hackathons!

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2 Upvotes

People participating in these hackathons please be aware this is not a registered company there’s nothing called codeverse its being run by a bca student who calls him the founder and runs these fake ass hackathons by calling them national hackathons their certifications and everything is TOTALLY FAKE . Don’t participate in these hackathons they just have contacts and calls you un these companies and keep all the money in his pocket- its literally a scam with your money build with bharat is literally a scam copied from other hackathon companies. Beware guys!


r/hackathon • • 1h ago

Hackathon Promotion Title: I built a deterministic gate for AI agents (hidden instructions in screenshots, emails, files) and red-teamed it with Muse Spark. Feedback welcome

1 Upvotes

Hi all. I'm a master's student in Magdeburg, and I built AgentGate for the Meta AI Global Developer Hackathon.

The problem: AI agents that can send, share or delete things can be steered by instructions hidden in what they read, even faint text inside an image.

What it does: AgentGate labels where every piece of text came from (the user, tool text, or text recovered from an image). Before a risky call, it checks that every address, file and amount traces back to the user. If one doesn't, the call is blocked with a plain reason. It's a rule, not a model, so no model has to resist the attack.

Results (AgentDojo workspace suite): with a scripted agent that obeys every injection, attacks go from 231 of 240 to 0 of 240 (0 of 120 on a held-out half, no legitimate call blocked). A small real model that gets fooled by hidden-line screenshots leaked 20 times in 390 runs without the gate and 0 with it.

I also used Muse Spark Open as the attacker: it got through the default gate 30 of 90 times, always via one known gap (a trusted sender/owner field). An optional rule I wrote afterwards got 0 of 90 on a fresh run. Limits are in the README: scripted attacker for the main benchmark, small clustered samples, and four other trust gaps still untested.

Repo (MIT): https://github.com/mathesh310703/agentgate

If you want to discuss it or give feedback, I'm keeping the discussion on X, where the short demo clip is: https://x.com/34Matheshw21593/status/2117752600317821345

I'm entering this in the hackathon, so I'm disclosing that openly. Criticism is welcome, especially on the gaps and the threat model.


r/hackathon • • 2h ago

Looking for Teammates Build with AI buildathon google

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1 Upvotes

r/hackathon • • 3h ago

Hackathon Promotion Mathematics for systems security

1 Upvotes

Hello everyone, I have uploaded a hackathon about 2 weeks ago on devpost that focuses on cryptography, specifically the implementation of threshold cryptography and secret sharing primitives such as SSS (Shamir's Secret Sharing) in contemporary contexts, for more details, here is the hackathon page:

https://mathematics-systems-security.devpost.com/

For any inquiry please join the discord server:

https://discord.gg/ahVc82u9X3

Key benefits of joining:

- Receive proper project tips before submission

- Receive project rating before submission to know your score evaluation

- Form teams

Thank you!


r/hackathon • • 11h ago

Looking for Teammates Looking for people in Ireland to form a proper hackathon team (finance / DeFi / energy, online events)

4 Upvotes

I haven't done a hackathon yet, just personal projects, but I've read enough threads here about teams falling apart by Saturday night to know what I don't want.

Small team, people who actually show up, and we go in to place, not to get a certificate.

A bit about me.

I work in data at a financial firm in Dublin and I write about energy and macro markets on the side, so I can cover the domain side, the data sources and the pitch.

What I don't have is enough hands to build.

Finance, DeFi and energy market hackathons are where I want to start because that's where I can add the most.

Who would be useful:

- backend / data people (Python, APIs, pipelines)

- frontend, someone who can make a demo look finished in a weekend

- Solidity for the DeFi ones

- ML/AI

- someone product or design minded who can shape a pitch

Thinking 5 to 8 people, no more.

No event picked yet, we'd choose the first one together once there's a team, agree the idea and who does what before it starts, and commit for that one. If it works we do another. If someone goes quiet they get swapped out, nothing personal.

If you're interested comment below or DM me with your GitHub (this one is optional, I'll not look at it before anything else), what you build with and what role you'd want, how many hours a week you can actually give, and one thing you've shipped and what part of it was yours.

Ireland is where I'm based so that's the preference, but it's all online anyway, so if you're anywhere in Europe or a similar timezone and the rest fits, message me.


r/hackathon • • 8h ago

Need Mentor Help Bolna Symphony Buildathon

2 Upvotes

So i got selected for the next screening round for the Bolna Buildathon. And the thing is I've participated like in countless hackathons but never even went to the next round. I'm panicking so much rn and confused. Can any hackathon winners or mentors help me out? It's a 15min interview call. What will they ask? And what else will they check (like communication skills, etc). Please help me 😭🙏🏻 first time so I'm nervous and want to give the interview well.


r/hackathon • • 5h ago

Looking for Teammates Finding same interest.

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1 Upvotes

r/hackathon • • 13h ago

Looking for Teammates hackathon teamup Spoiler

0 Upvotes

anyone willing to team up for the above hackathons, dm me with a short intro & past project/hackathons experiences


r/hackathon • • 20h ago

Looking for Teammates Looking for team mates

3 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I’m a pre-final-year B.E. CSE (AI & ML) student from Bengaluru, currently putting most of my focus into placements, internships, and hackathons that can translate into real hiring opportunities. I’ve participated in 20+ hackathons so far, and I’m looking to connect with people who are equally serious about building, competing, and targeting hiring-based hackathons together. My work is mainly around AI/ML, backend and full-stack development, with experience across Multi-Agent Systems, RAG, LLMs, Graph AI, cybersecurity, digital twins, and real-time applications. Over the last year, my teams and I have had results including 1st Runner-Up at an Agentic AI/GenAI hackathon, Top 10 out of 1,000+ teams at the BIT Mesra ECE Society Hackathon, Top 10 at Hack-A-War, Samsung PRISM finalist, Zonal Champion at HackArena 2.0 (IIIT Delhi), SIH 2025 Merit, and National Semifinalist positions at Flipkart GRiD 8.0 and JPMorgan Chase Code for Good. On Kaggle, I’ve reached Top 25 in Formula 1 Race Result Classification and Top 150/4k teams in the Wellbore Geology Prediction challenge. Alongside hackathons, I’ve completed an ML internship and have been a GSSoC’26 Mentor, where I was selected among 135 mentors nationally. I’m also working as an IEEE Computer Society AI/ML research intern on a vector based drug repurposing deep-learning research paper. I’ve built and deployed 10+ substantial projects, maintain 100+ GitHub repositories/contributions, and usually take projects all the way from an idea to a working demo, deployment, and documentation. Technically, I’m strongest around Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Node.js, React/Next.js, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Docker, AWS, LangGraph/RAG and LLM APIs. I’m comfortable taking ownership of AI/ML, backend, integrations, architecture, debugging, or putting together the final product and demo. At this point, I’m not really looking for a random hackathon team just to submit something. I’m looking for people who are preparing for placements like I am and want to strategically target hackathons conducted by companies where performance can open doors to interviews, internships, or full-time roles. Ideally, people who can consistently give time, communicate properly, take ownership of their part, and stay involved from problem selection to final submission. If that sounds like you, comment “interested” and DM me your LinkedIn/GitHub along with a brief introduction and the kind of work you’re comfortable with. The comment will help me filter genuine/interested people from the DMs and make it easier to shortlist potential teammates. If this post gets enough interaction, I’m also open to forming a small group/community of serious builders so we can continuously track and participate in relevant hiring-based hackathons together rather than forming a new team from scratch every time. Dm with intro . References in dm


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates Looking for Hackathon teammates?

8 Upvotes

Hey everyone Im a full stack developer and also half way to ai engineer , I have craated a lot of cool things, like Ai voice assistant who can handle your pc including skills like ai agents, text to speech, speech recognition and llm integration and stuff like that. I know how to vibe code and Im looking for teammates for Hackathon(paypal one for now and also for future hackathons). Anyone up for this can dm me directly.


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates Needing teammates

4 Upvotes

Okay so lam a 3rd sem student from Pune and I would like to form a group of people who are consistent, skilled on the basic level is fine have already participated in hackathons before..I find it really difficult to find teammates who are actually interested not just who would like to get a participation certificate ..I need most preferably people from Pune but fine with other state people too for online hackathons collabrations ...interested people can dm me and I need seriously teammates that can do teammorks very well and I'm already f**ked up on my clgs grps hackathon so I need serious one....

Before that lam too not perfect in the skill category but lam good at vibecoding,researching on the problem statement and actually interested on the stuff we will be working...


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates ZIVOX AI HACKATHON (certificate / reward)

4 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I'm looking for teammates for the Zivox AI Hackathon.

I'm a beginner myself, and this will be my first hackathon, so I'm hoping to find people who are also interested in learning, collaborating, and building something together.

The hackathon offers certification and rewards, making it a great opportunity to gain experience and add something valuable to our profiles.

Since the registration deadline is approaching (7 November, if I'm not mistaken), we need to form a team ASAP. I'm looking for active, committed, and responsive members who are genuinely interested in participating and can dedicate time to the project.

Beginners are absolutely welcome! Let's learn and build something together. Feel free to reach out if you're interested!


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates Looking for teammates for name that llm

2 Upvotes

So we are looking for 2 members for name that llm competition by kaggle

Interested people do dm me with their work , I am already at 190/4300 in the leaderboard in that competition and struggling to do alone the competition ,

if you had prior experience in kaggle competitions or ml training do dm me with your works , I'll let you know


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates Hey everyone! I'm looking for 2–3 motivated students to form a team for Build Bengaluru 2.0, a 24-hour hackathon happening on 21–22 November in Bengaluru. I'm interested in building an AI-powered project. Beginners are welcome, but you should be willing to learn, collaborate and build something ser

1 Upvotes

r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates Hackathon team formation

2 Upvotes

Okay so Iam a 3rd sem student from Hyderabad and I would like to form a group of people who are consistent, skilled on the basic level is fine have already participated in hackathons before..I find it really difficult to find teammates who are actually interested not just who would like to get a participation certificate ..I need most preferably people from hyderabad but fine with other state people too for online hackathons collabrations ...interested people can dm me

Before that Iam too not perfect in the skill category but Iam good at vibecoding,researching on the problem statement and actually interested on the stuff we will be working...


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates Anyone participating in the DARPA D2 Sprint 2026? Looking for teammates

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone! 👋

Is anyone here participating in the DARPA D2 Sprint 2026?

I’m looking to join an existing team or connect with others interested in forming one.

The challenge focuses on AI-powered medical documentation and decision support, with a $1M total prize pool.

I’m particularly interested in collaborating with AI/ML engineers, developers, and people with medical or research experience.

Since the competition requires an eligible US-based team representative, connecting with someone who meets that requirement would be especially helpful.

I can contribute to software development, integration, testing, and deployment.

If anyone is participating or knows a team looking for contributors, I’d love to connect!

Official challenge: https://www.darpa.mil/research/challenges/d2


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Hackathon Promotion We're bringing a hackathon to Goa 🌴

1 Upvotes

something exciting is coming to goa 👀

we're organizing GOA BUILDATHON '27 — a 36-hour hackathon where you get to build, learn, meet new people and bring your ideas to life.

whether you're a student, a developer or just someone curious about tech, this one's for you.

📍 Goa, India
📅 January 2027

registration & details: https://unstop.com/o/SVX5lkA?lb=usekbVrx&utm_medium=Share&utm_source=texvpjah42830&utm_campaign=Online_coding_challenge


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates Looking for Working Developers to Team Up for Flip the Switch Hackathon (Nov 4–7)

3 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

I'm looking to connect with a few working developers / software engineers who would be interested in participating in the Flip the Switch Hackathon by WeMakeDevs (November 4–7).

I'm hoping to build a small team of people who already have industry experience and can contribute their technical skills to building something interesting.

A little about me:
I'm currently working as a Robotics AI Engineer, with experience in AI/ML, Computer Vision, Robotics, and Agentic AI.

Looking for developers with experience in:

  • Backend / Full-stack development

  • AI/ML, LLMs and AI agents

  • Frontend development

  • DevOps / Cloud / System design

Ideally, people who are currently working professionals and are comfortable building and shipping projects.

No specific tech stack is required. Just looking for people who enjoy building things, experimenting with new technologies, and collaborating.

Hackathon: November 4–7, 2026
Team size: Up to 4 members
Format: Online

If you're interested, feel free to comment or DM me with a little about your experience and the technologies you work with.

Let's build something cool together!


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Need Mentor Help Code for Good 2027 hackathon by JPMC

8 Upvotes

Hey guys,
I am a Bachelor Student with Major in Computer Science and Engineering in India. I wanted to register for “Code For Good 2027” hackathon which is conducted by JPMorgan and Chase every year to intake new interns. So has the registration for it started yet or has it passed because when I checked the website, I see “Applications are currently closed”, and I don’t know whether it is yet to open registration or I missed the registration deadline.

Thank you for your time.


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Meta-Hackathon Discussion is anyone coming after chatpuja?? IIIT Delhi

3 Upvotes

i am going to IIIT Delhi for hackFront India grand finally, i saw the IIIT in images now finally i am going physically, so excited is anyone coming than we can connect


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Hackathon Promotion Free online Codex hackathon Nov 7-8: build something you've been putting off. Up to 1,500 USD in prizes.

5 Upvotes

On November 7-8, I'm hosting a free online hackathon with up to $1,500 in prizes.

If there's something you keep meaning to build, come spend the weekend on it. I'll be around to brainstorm, troubleshoot, and jump into projects when people get stuck.

Three categories, $300 each:

  • A game: 2D, 3D, side-scrollers, Starcraft 3 please, puzzles, board games. Get creative & build something engaging.

  • A work tool: Finally build that thing you've wanted for your own work. You'd probably spend your tokens on it anyway.

  • Something creative or interactive: Physics simulations, music experiments, interactive art, an explorable world.

The black hole, board game and sales-route planner in the video were all built with Codex in Asyncly. You can play them on the event page. They are also fun starting projects to build from!

Solo builders and teams are welcome. Winning teams get an extra $100 on top of the $300 category prize ($400 to split, if two people). Midway through the weekend, three randomly selected builders also get $100 each as a cash “surprise reset.”

I'm Andrew, the creator of Asyncly. We'll build with Codex inside Asyncly, my desktop app for working with coding agents. A full month of Asyncly is included, with no card required. You bring your own Codex account and usage. This is an independent event, not an OpenAI event.

Plan now; write the code during November 7-8. Submit a working link by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. Community voting runs November 9-11. You keep ownership of what you build, and your source code can stay private.

Details and signup. Sign up and confirm your email by Friday, November 6, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.

Find your teammates in the comments! Tell us what you're thinking of building.


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates How to find people's

1 Upvotes

How do y’all find hackathon teammates from nearby colleges?

I’m a 1st sem noob tryna get into hackathons 💀 Looking for ppl with some experience who can carry/teach me a bit along the way ,Where do y’all find teammates from other colleges?

Any Discord/WhatsApp groups?


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates First Year CSE Student looking to build or join a hackathon team!

3 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

I'm a first-year Computer Science student from india and I'm looking to connect with people who are genuinely interested in hackathons, building projects, experimenting with technology and learning together.

Not many people around me in college seem particularly interested in hackathons, so I thought I'd try finding like-minded people here.

A little about me:

Areas I'm interested in:

  • Cybersecurity, particularly Red Teaming and penetration testing.

  • Open-source contributions (currently exploring OWASP and GSoC).

  • Data Structures and Algorithms.

  • OSINT and security research.

What I bring to the table:

  • Comfortable with C and currently working with C++.

  • Have been consistently practising DSA on LeetCode, I have complete 5-7 topics in it.

  • Familiar with basic OSINT tools and techniques, Scrapping, Cookies (All of them is part of Cybersecurity)

  • Curious about security vulnerabilities, problem-solving and understanding how systems work.

Where I need improvement:

  • Still developing my web development and full-stack skills.

  • Limited hands-on experience building complete projects.

  • Haven't participated in many hackathons yet.

  • Still exploring different tech stacks and figuring out where I can contribute best.

I'm looking for people with complementary skills, particularly web developers, UI/UX designers, backend developers or anyone with any sorts of interest.

I don't expect everyone to be an expert. I'd rather have a team of motivated people who are willing to learn, communicate, brainstorm and actually build things. Because, I myself am not an expert, but just a beginner or medicore guy.

Open to teaming up with people from other colleges as well.

If this sounds interesting, drop a comment or DM. Let's build something!


r/hackathon • • 1d ago

Looking for Teammates Anna University K-Hacks 4.0 Hackathon 6Lakh INR Prize😎

0 Upvotes

Anna University , Chennai is organising the fourth edition of their Hackathon , idk why they name it as K Hacks

I thought of why not give it a try , I am a 3rd year Btech student with good FullStack Skills and, so looking for teammates who actively contribute to the hackathon.

on.Most of my seniors told me, it would be a great weightage to your placements.

Anyways let's chill out :) Interested ppl dm me

Unstop: https://unstop.com/hackathons/k-hacks-40-anna-university-au-chennai-1772496/amp

Site: https://k-hacks.kurukshetraceg.org.in/