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CNBC correspondent Ernestine Siu attends an AI hackathon.
Courtesy of Ernestine Siu
I like to spend most of my weekends taking exercise classes with friends, checking out new restaurants, or relaxing on the couch with a movie on. However, this past weekend was unique. Instead of the usual routine, I chose to immerse myself in a 24-hour vibration coding hackathon.
I attended one of the biggest in-person hackathons in Singapore ever, which was sponsored and supported by AI Heavyweight from around the world, including OpenAI, Cursor, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and more.
The event was held on a university campus from around 9am on Saturday until noon on Sunday. Over 400 people participated, ranging from very experienced engineers to beginners. The goal was simple: to build something from scratch using artificial intelligence.
“Use your imagination… build something untethered. Build something wacky,” said Agrim Singh, one of the organizers of the event and co-founder of Niyam AI.
A few teams really took this advice to heart.
Some notable projects include F**Yu.AI, an AI productivity app that “bullies you into greatness” by calling users on their cellphones to yell at them to complete tasks, and RizzedIna dating site that helps connect “career minded individuals”.
Some members of the winning teams with CNBC correspondent Ernestine Siu (right).
Courtesy of Nicholas Cheng
By the end of the weekend, about 150 projects had been submitted. The winnerSritam Patnaik, have created an AI-based whiteboard tool that allows users to draw using only their hand movements tracked via a webcam. He took home prizes worth over S$50,000 (about $39,000).
The second and third place winners created a human vs. artificial intelligence speed game and a “Netflix for Corporate Learning” tool that makes compliance training videos more engaging for employees.
Within a 24-hour hackathon
As someone with no technical background, I was nervous going into the event, but excited to meet the hackathon community. I knew I needed to optimize my chances of building something successful by teaming up with people who were much more technical than I was.
Through Discord, I found my team for the hackathon: Gabrielle Ong, who has a background in product development, Aung Maung, who has a deep technology background, Nina Kao, who has a background in product design, and Jay Chen, who has a background in software engineering. What did I suggest? Ideas, my storytelling abilities and mood.
Participants filled a lecture hall at the Singapore University of Technology and Design campus during the hackathon.
Courtesy of Nicholas Cheng
We bonded over a shared desire to preserve the legacy of our grandparents. So we built Legacy — a digital time capsule that can be used to capture and preserve family stories and recipes so they can be passed down for generations to come.
We spent an entire Saturday working to turn our idea into a product. Some of us stayed up all night working on the project — while others (me) unfortunately didn’t have the stamina to do so.
We were trying to count a bit… And we found people in random lecture halls. It was just the funniest (thing) … It was like catching wild Pokemon.
Sherry Jiang
Co-founder, Peek
When I returned to campus on Sunday morning, I saw people sleeping on benches, on the floor and just about everywhere, while others were still making last-minute adjustments before submitting their projects for judging.
About 70 people stayed overnight to work on their project, said Sherry Jiang, one of the event’s organizers and co-founder of fintech app Peek.
“We were trying to count a little… And we found people in random lecture rooms. It was the funniest (thing)… It was like catching wild Pokemon,” Jiang said.
Richard Lee, who created a habit-learning game app Orbs along with teammate Amanda Lau Shernin, slept for only about half an hour on the floor of a lecture hall. He has previous experience as a developer and knows coding languages such as Python and SQL.
Hackathon participants ranged from experienced engineers to beginners.
Courtesy of Nicholas Cheng
When asked why he chose to join the hackathon, he said, “I took it as a personal challenge to see (what) can actually be done within 24 hours … (and) see how far Vibe coding has come,” Lee said. He also thought it would be a great place for inspiration.
“It’s like a gathering of builders … who don’t just learn, but do,” Lee added. “It’s almost like training for a start-up, isn’t it? Efficient, you just have to focus and get something done.”
By the end of the weekend, Lee says that even though the hackathon was only 24 hours, he felt like he’d “upgraded” his skills “a lot.”
Reclaiming the spirit of the builder
Organizers of the hackathon said their goal was to revitalize Singapore’s builder community. There’s a sense among many in the space that the hackathon scene has faded from its heyday, co-organizer Jiang said.
Fellow organizer Singh agreed, writing on LinkedIn post that “Singapore’s hackathon scene has lost its soul.”
Singh, who has been attending hackathons since 2013, noted that such events have focused on hackers and builders making “something that works” instead of “panels or sponsored tests or photos.”
“Now? Most AI events here feel hollow. Panels of people who have never touched the technology. ‘Thought leadership’ with no practical weight. People pretending to build, or worse, extracting ad revenue without caring about the ecosystem,” he wrote.
Main conclusions
With the advancement of AI, the startup landscape and the software engineering industry have changed significantly—it’s now easier for people with non-technical backgrounds to build tech products themselves.
Of all the participants, about half of them were completely new to hackathons, Jiang said.
Jiang also pointed out that some participants who learned how to code vibe only a few weeks ago placed “pretty high” in the event rankings, beating experienced engineers.
“That’s a bit of a hypothesis that I have… I feel like people who (have good) product sense and good taste and know how to position their products are starting to do really well at these hackathons because the engineering is so much easier now,” she said. “We took down the barrier, but we raised the bar.”
Build time is much shorter than (before). I think it’s really much easier for developers or technical people, or even non-technical people, to build a prototype and get it to market effectively.
Richard Lee
Participant in the hackathon
“The build time is much shorter than (before). I think it’s really much easier for developers or technical people, or even non-technical people, to build a prototype and get to market effectively,” hackathon participant Lee said.
Additionally, Lee and Jiang agree that both startup and enterprise development teams are likely to become smaller now that these AI-assisted coding tools are on the market.
“It’s improving so quickly that if (you) don’t use (these tools) every day … I think you (will) be at a high risk of being eliminated.”
Richard Lee
Participant in the hackathon
With that said, it is still very helpful to have some experience in software engineering as this will get you to the finish line. People will still need to know how to evaluate code in terms of its fundamental logic and understand how to address problems in the code, hackathon participant Lee said.
After all, AI models are improving so quickly that if engineers aren’t consistently upskilling the tools and keeping up with what’s new, they’re at risk of becoming redundant, he added.
