UPDATE: Excitement is building at the Gemini 3 Hackathon in Singapore as teams race against the clock to develop innovative AI applications. Participants have just seven hours to bring their ideas to life before the 5:30 p.m. submission deadline today, January 2024.
The atmosphere is electric as 189 participants compete for a share of the $100,000 prize pool, with the first-place team set to win 30,000 credits. The stakes are high, and the crowd is buzzing with anticipation as teams tackle diverse tracks from generative media to deep research.
Among the competitors is a spirited group of four friends from Malaysia who have pivoted their project multiple times during the event. Initially aiming to create a feng shui app to analyze properties, they quickly adapted their concept to develop a tool called “Feng Shui Banana.” This app promises to analyze users’ outfits and workspaces in real-time through their phone cameras.
Just after 9:30 a.m., the team gathered at the venue, fueled by their ambition to leverage AI in a creative way. Chan Wei Khjan, an accountant, leads the charge in prompting the AI, while Chan Ler-Kuan, an AI lecturer, ensures that the outputs align with traditional feng shui concepts. Loh Wah Kiang and Lee How Siem, the team’s CTO, tackle the coding aspects, making real-time adjustments as the AI generates code.
As the clock ticks, the team encounters challenges. By 11:40 a.m., they receive their initial code, but it is fraught with bugs, leading to intense troubleshooting. “For people who don’t know how to read code, it’s helpful to have people who do,” Wei Khjan explains, highlighting the importance of teamwork in this pressure-cooker environment.
Skipping lunch at 12:20 p.m., they focus on refining the app’s functionality. Wei Khjan’s strategy shifts from issuing commands to engaging the AI in discussion, resulting in a breakthrough that allows real-time analysis of camera input.
By 1 p.m., a test run of the app reveals that it successfully identifies clothing colors and suggests enhancements to improve the user’s feng shui. The team, now energized, finally takes a much-needed pizza break at 1:20 p.m., sharing laughs to relieve the stress of the looming deadline.
As the hours dwindle, they pivot once more, enhancing the app’s design and content. By 2 p.m., they create an animated landing page, and the tagline “A wisdom, not a superstition” sticks, crafted from their own brainstorming rather than generated by AI.
As the clock strikes 3 p.m., nerves rise as they film their project demo, using the Gemini API to generate a storyboard. The culmination of their hard work comes together, but not without last-minute tweaks to the AI-generated voice that narrates the project.
With only 15 minutes left, the team races to finalize everything. They hit submit just in time, feeling a mixture of relief and accomplishment. “Sometimes, the best experiences come from saying ‘yes’ without overthinking,” reflects Ler Kuan, emphasizing the essence of innovation.
Although they didn’t win a prize, the experience at the hackathon has been invaluable. The event showcases not just technological prowess but also the spirit of collaboration and creativity that drives innovation in the tech industry.
Stay tuned for more updates as the hackathon progresses and winners are announced. This event highlights the future of AI and its potential to revolutionize everyday life through innovative applications.
