Opportunity brief
About the Hackathon:
Anyone can build an AI demo that works once. Agents that act. Systems that answer. is about what happens when it goes wrong. It's a free, 3-day virtual hackathon for student builders, hosted by StudentChakra and co-hosted by Priyanshu Agarwal (founder of NextMove, organiser of Hackorizon).
What You'll Build:
An agentic AI system for a real person with a real task. Start with a person, not an industry: who are they, what do they hate doing, what does your agent do for them, and where does it break? Solo or in a team of up to 4. No experience required.
How Projects Are Judged:
We judge how your project behaves when things go wrong:
- Failure modes: how does it break?
- Human oversight: who stays in the loop?
- Intervention: can someone stop it?
- Reversibility: can a mistake be undone?
Plus usefulness to a real person and the quality of your working build.
Prizes:
$680 in prizes: 1st place about $500 in Apify credits; 2nd and 3rd place Cursor subscriptions.
Judges:
Experts from AI governance, cybersecurity, venture and OpenAI, including Dr. Esona Fomuso (formerly VP of Technology, JPMorgan Chase), Dr. Aleem Khalid Alvi (Professor of Cybersecurity & Software Engineering, Sheridan College), Kunal Kapoor (Venture Continuity, Katha) and Priyanshu Agarwal (ChatGPT Lab, OpenAI India).
Key Dates:
- Registration closes: Nov 27
- Hackathon: Nov 28–30 (virtual)
- Final results: Dec 8
Who Can Join:
Students worldwide, solo or in teams of 1–4. Free.