1. Eligibility.
Open worldwide to anyone 18 years of age or older. Government restrictions may apply in certain jurisdictions.
2. Team composition.
Teams of 1–5 participants. Every team member must register individually. Only one submission per team. A person may only be listed on a single team.
3. Tracks.
Choose one of four tracks: Anticipate & Disrupt, Assist & Amplify, Accountability & Justice, or Art Against Trafficking. Art Against Trafficking is also a cross-track special recognition.
4. Submission requirements.
- Project title, tagline, and 200-word description
- Problem statement + proposed solution + expected impact
- How your solution centers survivors and respects consent
- Public or private repo link (private repos must add the judge account)
- Short demo (video or live URL, ≤ 3 minutes)
- Optional: slide deck (PDF), screenshots, cover image
5. Judging.
Two stages.
Stage 1 — Technical review (Jul 9–18). Every valid submission is scored by 2–3 technical reviewers on: works as described, originality, technical depth, and ethics.
Stage 2 — Panel judging (Jul 18–27). Top projects per track advance to a panel that evaluates impact, feasibility, survivor-centered design, and presentation.
5.1 Winner structure. 3 Top Winners. Three strongest projects across all four tracks, picked on overall merit. The top 5 teams (the 3 winners plus 2 more standout teams) advance to our 6-month AI Hub Incubator with dedicated mentors, milestone-based progress, and a pilot deployment pathway with NGO partners. All finalist teams that advance to Panel Judging receive public Finalist Recognition.
6. Intellectual property.
Participants retain full ownership of their project IP. By submitting, you grant Austin AI Hub a non-exclusive license to display and discuss your project for promotional purposes.
7. Ethical use.
Projects must follow UN Do No Harm principles. Solutions involving survivor data must demonstrate consent-first design, privacy-preserving architecture, and human oversight. Any solution scraping facial images, re-identifying victims, or bypassing bot/identity protections is automatically disqualified.
8. AI model use.
Any language, framework, or AI platform is permitted. You must be transparent about model providers and any training data sources. Generated content that could deceive viewers about real people or events must be clearly labelled.
9. Free tools & resources.
Participating partners may offer free credits on select AI platforms. Details posted in the Discord #resources channel once the hackathon opens.
10. Prizes & post-hackathon.
Top teams enter the AI Hub Incubator — a 6-month mentorship and pilot pathway designed to move projects from prototype to responsible real-world deployment.
11. Code of Conduct.
All participants, judges, and reviewers agree to behave respectfully. Harassment, discrimination, intimidation, or survivor re-traumatization is grounds for immediate removal. Reports can be made anonymously to team@austinaihub.org.
12. Disqualification.
Submissions may be disqualified for plagiarism, deceptive representation, violation of ethical guidelines, or breach of the Code of Conduct. The organizer's decisions are final.
13. Legal terms.
By participating you affirm you have the right to contribute your submission, that it does not violate any third-party rights, and that you accept the final decisions of organizers and judges.
Questions? team@austinaihub.org