Band of Agents Hackathon

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Band of Agents Hackathon

Starts Jun 12, 2026

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AI GENESIS

The Largest AI Hackathon In The Middle East

Join the next edition of our flagship AI hackathon — now featuring Google, AppliedAI, and Qdrant as official partners, with over $45,500 in prizes and exclusive partner challenges.


After an incredible launch earlier this year, we’re back with the next edition of our AI hackathon series leading up to the /function1 AI Conference & Exhibition in Dubai. Tap into the power of AI to innovate, build, and take your AI skills to the next level in this high-impact hybrid experience.


📅November 14–19, 2025


• Nov 14–18: Collaborate and build online with AI enthusiasts from around the world. All projects must be submitted by end of day on November 18

• Nov 18 (Dubai): An exclusive on-site build day at Festival Arena Dubai for selected participants.

• Nov 19 (Dubai): Live on-stage pitching & winners announcement at the /function1 Conference.


🌟 Get support from expert mentors throughout.


👥 Go solo or team up.


📍 Please note: On-site participation is by invitation only. Travel and accommodation will not be covered.


🧑🏻‍💻 Secure your spot now—sign up before the Kick-Off Stream!

AI GENESIS event thumbnail

Hackathon Overview

Our AI hackathon brought together a diverse group of participants, who collaborated to develop a variety of impressive projects based on:

4841

Participants

602

Teams

259

AI Applications

Winners and Finalists

  • We are in the process of selecting the finalist teams.
  • Your voice matters! Vote on your favorite projects in the section below.
  • Join us for the winner announcement stream, which will be streamed live on Twitch.

This event has now ended, but you can still register for upcoming events on lablab.ai. We look forward to seeing you at the next one!

Check out Upcoming Events →
About /function1

/function1 is a curated global Conference & Exhibition dedicated to bringing together 10,000+ minds from diverse communities: founders, developers, researchers, investors, students, and policymakers

Driven by this ultimate goal, /function1 is seeking solutions for the industry’s pressing issues, unveiling the new generation of AI talents, driving innovation, and building a world where AI is for everyone - one event at a time. 


Media & Community partners

CHALLENGE
CHALLENGE

The future isn’t waiting - it’s being built.

Challenge Overview

This hackathon invites participants to go beyond the basics and develop impactful, real-world AI projects. Whether you're enhancing human productivity, solving complex industry problems, or reimagining creative workflows — this is your chance to build what’s next.

Industry & Technology partners' Challenges


Participants will have the opportunity to choose which partner’s technology they want to build with — unlocking unique opportunities to innovate and compete for exclusive prizes.


💡 Each partner challenge focuses on real-world applications of their technology, but participants are encouraged to bring their own bold ideas and creative implementations within that framework.


🔔 Partner challenges and resources will be shared before the hackathon kickoff — stay tuned for the full reveal!


How It Works


🔹Teams will decide which partner’s technology to use during the hackathon and build their project around it.


🔹Projects will be judged within that partner’s challenge category, with dedicated prizes and recognition for each partner’s top implementations.


📍 On November 18, selected participants will be invited to join an exclusive in-person build day at Festival Arena Dubai. This is a chance to collaborate face-to-face, make final improvements before the submission deadline, and connect with peers and mentors in a high-energy setting.

⚠️ On-site attendance is by invitation only. Travel and accommodation expenses are not covered.
 
Apply now to secure your spot!


Industry & Technology partners

Gemini is Google’s family of next-generation multimodal AI models capable of understanding and reasoning across text, images, code, video, and audio.


Google AI Studio is a browser-based environment where developers and creators can easily explore and prototype with Gemini models — test prompts, refine outputs, and experiment with different modalities before integrating them into real-world applications through the Gemini API.



Challenge
:

Build with Gemini models and Google AI Studio to create AI-powered applications or agents that use multimodal intelligence to automate reasoning, enhance understanding, or streamline real-world workflows.



Access to Technology:

Participants can explore Gemini through two main options - both include free access:

  • 🌐 Google AI Studio: A free, browser-based IDE for experimenting with Gemini. You can write prompts, test outputs, tweak parameters, and prototype without needing to set up billing or any API keys. Perfect for prototyping and rapid iteration during the hackathon.

  • 💻 Gemini API For developers ready to integrate Gemini directly into their apps. The free tier includes a monthly allowance of tokens for text and multimodal inputs/outputs, letting you test and build with Gemini’s core models at no cost. Paid usage only applies for higher-volume or production-level apps.



🚀 How to Get Started

1. Visit the Gemini Developer Hub
2. Follow the Quickstart Guide to explore Gemini in AI Studio

3. Experiment with text, code, images, video, or audio prompts
4. Build and test your multimodal agents or workflows




📘 Resources:


Opus is an AI-native workflow builder that turns plain-language prompts into executable workflows.


On a visual canvas, you drag‑and‑drop nodes for inputs/outputs, AI agents, human reviews, decisions, data connectors, REST calls, and custom Python to create your workflows.  


Workflows can then be run as Jobs, which execute with logs, metrics, and tracing so your automations remain understandable, testable, and auditable.



The Challenge

Design a reusable “Intake → Understand → Decide → Review → Deliver” automation that tackles the messy reality of multi‑format intake, mixed rule‑based + judgment decisions, and exception handling—while keeping every step traceable. Public/demo data and free external APIs are fine; enterprise integrations are not expected.


Want to stand out with your submission? 

Check out the detailed challenge guidelines here.




🛠️ What You’ll Build

Create one end‑to‑end Opus workflow that tackles a real use case in an industry of your choice. Demonstrate it with realistic sample inputs.

Required building blocks:

  •  Data import & processing: Import from an external source (file, sheet, or public API) and make processed records available downstream.


  •  Decisioning & routing: Combine deterministic rules (thresholds, required fields, format checks) with AI reasoning (categorization, summarization). Support multi‑condition logic, parallelize independent steps, and handle errors/timeouts sensibly.


  •  Review for quality & safety: Include at least two checkpointsAgentic Review (policy/guidance checks) and Human Review for low‑confidence or high‑impact cases.


  •  Provenance & audit: Generate a compact audit artifact (JSON or PDF) capturing inputs, extracted fields + confidence, rules fired, scores/rationales, review actions, timestamps, IDs, and any external source URLs.


  •  Delivery: Export outcomes (e.g., via email or Google Sheets).



🧰 Technology You Can Use:

  •  No‑code: prompt‑to‑workflow generation and the visual canvas builder.

  •  Developers: Opus Code node (custom Python), External Service node (public APIs), and Data Import/Export for supported platforms; jobs can be triggered via API.




🔑
 Access & Resources

Sign up for an Opus account and build directly in the visual canvas. New users get an in‑product onboarding, and the Help Center offers deeper guidance.

💼 Access to Opus Credits

AppliedAI is giving every participant a coupon worth 50 man-hour credits on the Opus platform to help you build, test, and launch your workflow projects.


Promo code: LABLABX50 

How to Redeem

  1. 1. Go to Opus and create a new account.

  2. 2. On the signup screen, enter the code in the Referral Code field (available for email/password signup only).

  3. 3. If you sign up using Google or another provider, go to Organization Settings → Referrals & Partners and enter the code there.

  4. 4. Once applied, your account will receive 50 man-hour credits automatically.


Note:
The promo code must be entered in ALL CAPS. It will not work if entered in sentence case.


Qdrant is an open-source vector search engine built for AI applications requiring efficient semantic search, retrieval, and recommendation. It enables developers to store, index, and query high-dimensional vector embeddings — powering intelligent systems that understand context and similarity beyond keywords.




Challenge
:

Build an AI agent or application that uses Qdrant's vector search engine to power Search, Memory, and Recommendations over multimodal data (code, images, audio, video, etc.) to address a societal challenge.



Access to Technology:

Participants can use Qdrant Cloud or Local Installation, both available for free through the Qdrant documentation.



🚀 How to Get Started & Access Qdrant

Participants can deploy Qdrant either via the Qdrant Cloud or  Locally — both free options.



Steps to Get Started
:

1. Visit qdrant.tech
2. Explore the Quickstart Guide to set up your environment
3. Integrate embeddings from your AI models and start querying your vector data



📘
Resources:


Qdrant 

Topic: Qdrant Essentials Course

📘Start Course

Thanks to our partner AI/ML API, you now have the chance to get exclusive free credits to experiment with cutting-edge models for your projects.


We’re giving away 250 coupons — each with $20 in AI/ML API credits to supercharge your builds.


Promo code: 2GENAIDUB


Use this promo code at checkout to unlock a free subscription week with access to 100+ AI models across text, image, and vision tasks. ✨

With AI/ML API, you can tap into:

• Advanced language models for reasoning and creativity
• Multimodal models
like LLaMA, Qwen, Flux and more
• A
single API for all your AI needs




How to Redeem:


• Register on the AI/ML API website, choose the Startup plan, and enter the promo code.

• Access will be available for one week starting from the hackathon Kick-off.

• Monitor token usage — larger models are more costly per token, so for quick tests consider smaller ones before scaling.

 For the technical support, visit AI/ML API Discord.   
 Please note that the AI/ML API is a subscription-based service. If you do not plan to continue using it after the

hackathon, please remember to cancel your subscription to avoid any charges.





⚠️ Important Notes:


 Credits are provided by AI/ML API and are subject to their delivery.


 Lablab is not responsible or liable if AI/ML API  does not provide the credits.


 Please note that the AI/ML API is a subscription-based service. If you do not plan to continue using it after the hackathon, please remember to cancel your subscription to avoid any charges.


Surge - Tokenising startups. Democratising decentralised seed-funding.


Surge is a multi-chain AI Native ICM launchpad where startups can raise early capital directly from the public, powered by lablab & NativelyAI. Based on $SURGE.
The token fueling 
decentralized AI native and Web3 startups. Built for builders and communities, and all chains.


Technologies & Workshops

Gemini AI

Gemini AI by Google DeepMind is a powerful multimodal model built for intelligent, seamless performance across diverse platforms and devices.

AI/ML API

AI/ML API provides advanced AI—text, image, and speech—with seamless integration, high performance, secure key management, and scalable deployment.

AppliedAI (Opus)

Opus is an enterprise automation platform that transforms workflows into AI-driven, human-supervised processes powered by AppliedAI’s Large Work Model (LWM).

Qdrant

Qdrant is a high-performance, open-source vector database for fast, scalable similarity search and hybrid semantic applications across diverse datasets.

🎓 Workshops


Get inspired and boost your skills with exclusive sessions from our partners and experts. Watch them anytime!

AppliedAI

Speakers: 
Lara Shahin - AI Solutions Consultant & Mohamed Ibrahim -
AI Implementation Engineer

Topic:
 Opus Training | AI Genesis Hackathon 2025

▶️ Watch Video Tutorials
Qdrant

Speaker: Thierry Damiba - Developer Advocate 




Topic:
 An Introduction to Agentic Vector Search

▶️ Watch Video
 AI/ML API

Speaker: Sergey Nuzhnyy - Head of Developer Relations




Topic: How to activate the Promo 

Promo Code: 2GENAIDUB

▶️ Watch Video
AI/ML API

Speaker: Sergey Nuzhnyy - Head of Developer Relations

Topic: How to remove billing details

▶️ Watch Video
Prizes

⭐Best use of Gemini

🥇 1st place☁️ $10,000 in GCP credits

🥈2nd place
☁️ $10,000 in GCP credits

🥉3rd place
-  ☁️ $10,000 in GCP credits

⭐Best Opus Workflow 
🥇1st place - $3,000 in Cash, 1000 Man-Hour credits worth $1500

🥈2nd place - $2,000 in Cash, 500 Man-Hour credits worth $750

🥉3rd place -  $1,000 in Cash, 300 Man-Hour credits worth $450
🥇1st place - $3,000 in Cash, 1000 Man-Hour credits worth $1500

🥈2nd place - $2,000 in Cash, 500 Man-Hour credits worth $750

🥉3rd place -  $1,000 in Cash, 300 Man-Hour credits worth $450
🏆Most Innovative use of Opus
🥇 1st place - $500 in Cash, 100 Man-Hour credits worth $150
🥇 1st place - $500 in Cash, 100 Man-Hour credits worth $150
🏆Most Auditable Opus Workflow 
🥇 1st place - $500 in Cash, 100 Man-Hour credits worth $150
🥇 1st place - $500 in Cash, 100 Man-Hour credits worth $150
⭐Surge prizes 
🥇1st place - $3,000 in Cash, 1000 Man-Hour credits worth $1500

🥈2nd place - $2,000 in Cash, 500 Man-Hour credits worth $750

🥉3rd place -  $1,000 in Cash, 300 Man-Hour credits worth $450
🥇1st place - $2,500 in $SURGE Tokens + connection with the Surge team and a chance to be incubated/accelerated on the Surge platform

🥈2nd place - $250 in $SURGE Tokens

🥉3rd place -  $250 in $SURGE Tokens

🏅 4th place -  $250 in $SURGE Tokens

🏅 5th place -  $250 in $SURGE Tokens
🏆First 4 posts on X with 10K+ views
🥇 1st place - $500 in Cash, 100 Man-Hour credits worth $150
🥇 1st place - $500 in $SURGE Tokens
🏆First LinkedIn post with 200+ likes
🥇 1st place - $500 in Cash, 100 Man-Hour credits worth $150
🥇 1st place - $500 in $SURGE Tokens
🏆First tech YouTuber with 100k+ subscribers to feature the solution

⚠️ Disclaimer on $SURGE token: Surge Tokens ($SURGE) are NOT vested. 

🥇 1st place - $500 in Cash, 100 Man-Hour credits worth $150
🥇 1st place - $500 in $SURGE Tokens

⭐Best Opus Workflow 

🥇1st place - $3,000 in Cash, 1000 Man-Hour credits worth $1500

🥈2nd place - $2,000 in Cash, 500 Man-Hour credits worth $750


🥉3rd place -  $1,000 in Cash, 300 Man-Hour credits worth $450

🏆Most Innovative use of Opus

🥇 1st place - $500 in Cash, 100 Man-Hour credits worth $150

🏆Most Auditable Opus Workflow 

🥇 1st place - $500 in Cash, 100 Man-Hour credits worth $150

⭐Best use of Surge 

🥇1st place - $2,500 in $SURGE Tokens + connection with the Surge team and a chance to be incubated/accelerated on the Surge platform


🥈2nd place - $250 in $SURGE Tokens


🥉3rd place -  $250 in $SURGE Tokens


🏅 4th place -  $250 in $SURGE Tokens


🏅 5th place -  $250 in $SURGE Tokens

🏆First 4 posts on X with 10K+ views

🥇 1st place -  $500 in $SURGE Tokens

🏆First LinkedIn post with 200+ likes

🥇 1st place -  $500 in $SURGE Tokens

🏆First tech YouTuber with 100k+ subscribers to feature the solution

🥇 1st place -  $500 in $SURGE Tokens

⭐Best use of Qdrant:

🥇 1st place - $500 Apple Gift Card, Meta Ray-Ban Glasses (Gen 2), AirPods Pro (3rd Gen), Qdrant Swag
🥈2nd place - $250 Apple Gift Card, AirPods Pro (3rd Gen), Qdrant Swag
🥉3rd place - $100 Apple Gift Card, AirPods Pro (3rd Gen), Qdrant Swag

Please be aware that participation in lablab.ai hackathons is voluntary and subject to the specific rules and conditions outlined for each event. While we strive to provide a fair and rewarding experience for all participants, we cannot guarantee entry or success in securing prizes. All prizes and opportunities are subject to availability and participants must meet the established criteria to qualify. lablab.ai is not responsible nor held liable for any commitments or offers - including programs, giveaways, or prizes - made by third-party sponsors or partners of the hackathon. The availability and delivery of third-party prizes or benefits are solely at the discretion of the respective sponsors and are not guaranteed by lablab.ai. We reserve the right to make amendments, modifications, or cancellations to any part of the hackathon (including full cancellation of the event itself), including prizes and terms of participation, at our sole discretion. Whenever possible, we will endeavor to notify participants of significant changes within a reasonable timeframe. All submissions by participants must be original work, open source, and compliant with the MIT License unless specified otherwise. By participating, you agree to these terms, the overall event terms, and the lablab.ai general terms and are encouraged to review all event-related information carefully. Prize Distribution: lablab.ai and its partners reserve the right to distribute all prizes within a 90-day period following the end date of the hackathon. This period allows for the proper processing and verification needed to award prizes appropriately.

What to submit?

📋 Basic Information

• Project Title

• Short Description

• Long Description

• Technology & Category Tags

📸 Cover Image and Presentation

• Cover Image

• Video Presentation

• Slide Presentation

💻 App Hosting & Code Repository

• Public GitHub Repository

• Demo Application Platform

• Application URL

For further details and guidance, please visit Submission Guidelines


Important: Please make sure you select the correct tag when submitting your project so it can be properly evaluated. Use the tag that corresponds to the technology you worked with (e.g., Opus, Gemini, Qdrant, etc.).
lablab.ai

Topic: Hackathon Submissions Process

▶️ Watch Video
Judging Criteria
Application of Technology
How effectively the chosen model(s) are integrated into the solution.
Presentation
The clarity and effectiveness of the project presentation.
Business Value
The impact and practical value, considering how well it fits into business areas.
Originality
The uniqueness & creativity of the solution, highlighting approaches and ability to demonstrate  behaviors.
Important: Please make sure you select the correct tag when submitting your project so it can be properly evaluated. Use the tag that corresponds to the technology you worked with (e.g., Opus, Gemini, Qdrant, etc.).

Hackathon Details

Join lablab.ai hackathon and innovate using the latest models in the market. Discover all the relevant details below.

🗓️ Where and when

The start date of the hackathon is mentioned according to the date specified on the hackathon page, cover and schedule. The hackathon will take place on the lablab.ai platform and lablab.ai Discord server.

🦸🏼‍♂️ Who can join?

Everyone is welcome to participate, regardless of previous AI or coding experience! We encourage anyone with a passion for AI or an interest in exploring how it can be used in their field to join.

😅 What about teams?

If you don't have a team, don't worry! You can connect with other participants from all over the world on our dashboard or Discord server. We also recommend checking out our Discord server to find teammates and bounce around ideas. You can join the server here.

🛠️ How to participate

The hackathon will take place online on lablab.ai platform and lablab.ai Discord Server. Please register for both in order to participate. To participate click the "Enroll" button at the bottom of the page and read our Hackathon Guidelines and Getting Started Guide.

🧠 Get prepared / Use Lablab.ai to Learn About AI

To get ready for the hackathon, visit our AI Tech pages and read up on all the available technologies. You can also check out our tutorials page for more information on how to use them. Get a head start on your project by using the resources on lablab.ai!

Speakers, Mentors & Judges

Pawel Czech
Pawel Czech
Founder
NativelyAI
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Head of Developer Relations
AI/ML API
Addy Crezee
Addy Crezee
Founder & CEO
/function1
Neil Kanungo
Neil Kanungo
Head of DevRel
Qdrant
Victoria Neiman
Victoria Neiman
Co-founder & COO
AI/ML API
Thierry Damiba
Thierry Damiba
Developer Advocate
Qdrant
Andrea Marazzi
Andrea Marazzi
Founder and CCO
NativelyAI
Kirstin Taufertshöfer
Kirstin Taufertshöfer
DevRel
Qdrant
Kacper Lukawski
Kacper Lukawski
DevRel
Qdrant
Shaurya Singh
Shaurya Singh
Product Manager
AppliedAI
Mohamed Ibrahim
Mohamed Ibrahim
AI Implementation Engineer
AppliedAI
Sasha Aptlin
Sasha Aptlin
Founding AI Engineer @ ReachRx.ai
lablab.ai
Vishal Paul
Vishal Paul
Senior Software Engineer, AITech Team
PayPal
Manas Chopra
Manas Chopra
Community Manager
Qdrant
Akash Manilal
Akash Manilal
Head of Engineering
AppliedAI
Mahmoud Sharshira
Mahmoud Sharshira
AI Implementation Engineer
AppliedAI
Tingting Lin
Tingting Lin
Lead Product Manager
SAP
Dheeraj Chakilam
Dheeraj Chakilam
Product
Shapeshifter Technologies
Tal Yakar
Tal Yakar
AI and Strategy Expert
DeepGreenX
Omar Busaileh
Omar Busaileh
Head of AI Solutions
AppliedAI
 Lara Shahin
Lara Shahin
AI Solutions Consultant
AppliedAI
Mark Bain
Mark Bain
Founding AI Engineer @ ReachRx.ai
lablab.ai
Theodoros Ampas
Theodoros Ampas
Mentor & Judge
lablab.ai
Muhammad Inaamullah
Muhammad Inaamullah
Technical & Business Mentor
lablab.ai
Paige Bailey
Paige Bailey
AI Developer Relations Lead
Google
Banani Mohapatra
Banani Mohapatra
Senior Manager, Data Science
Walmart
Bhavnish Walia
Bhavnish Walia
Sr. Risk Manager AI/ML
Amazon
Ian I. P. Arden
Ian I. P. Arden
AI Advisor, founder
lablab.ai
Pawel Czech
Pawel Czech
Co-Founder
New Native
Andrea Marazzi
Andrea Marazzi
CCO
New Native
Pawel Czech
Pawel Czech
Founder
NativelyAI
Victoria Neiman
Victoria Neiman
Co-founder & COO
AI/ML API
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Head of Developer Relations
AI/ML API
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Head of Developer Relations
AI/ML API
Addy Crezee
Addy Crezee
Founder & CEO
/function1
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Sergey Nuzhnyy
Head of Developer Relations
AI/ML API
Junnan Li
Junnan Li
Research Lead
Rhymes.ai
Gus Martins
Gus Martins
Staff Developer Relations Engineer
Google
Philippe Brulé
Philippe Brulé
CTO
Restack
Pawel Czech
Pawel Czech
Co-Founder
New Native
Andrea Marazzi
Andrea Marazzi
CCO
New Native
Andrea Marazzi
Andrea Marazzi
Founder and CCO
NativelyAI

Event Schedule

  • To be announced

Winner Submissions 🏆

Submitted concepts, prototypes and pitches

Submissions from the teams participating in the AI Genesis event and making it to the end 👊

Band of Agents Hackathon

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Band of Agents Hackathon

Starts Jun 12, 2026

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