New York City · By invitation only

The World of
AI Product & Data
Hackathon

An in-person flagship at 30 Hudson Yards, New York — convening a global audience of world-class data and AI engineers. Four days where the field's most capable builders come together to design, train, and ship production-grade intelligence. No tutorials. No filler. Only builders operating at the frontier.

00Days
00Hours
00Minutes
00Seconds
August 26–292026
4 DaysContinuous build
30 Hudson YardsNew York, NY
VettedEngineers & judges only
LLM SystemsAgentic WorkflowsRetrieval & RAGData EngineeringInference at ScaleEvaluation LLM SystemsAgentic WorkflowsRetrieval & RAGData EngineeringInference at ScaleEvaluation
The Event

A room engineered for the top 1%.

This is not an open hackathon. It is a curated gathering of world-class data and AI engineers — industry experts, international professionals, founding engineers, research leads, and CTOs — brought together in New York to push what AI products can do across four intense days.

Every participant is reviewed before being admitted. We protect the bar relentlessly, because the quality of the room is the entire point. You will be building beside people whose work you already respect.

Eligibility is strict. Admission is reserved for professionals with a demonstrated track record in production AI and data systems. CTOs, senior and staff engineers, and recognized international experts are encouraged to apply.

Who belongs in this room

If you see yourself here, you should apply.

  • Staff, principal & founding AI / ML engineers
  • CTOs and VPs of Engineering shipping AI products
  • Data platform & infrastructure leaders
  • Research engineers & applied scientists
  • Recognized international experts in AI & data
Build Tracks

Six frontiers. Pick your fight.

Teams choose a track on day one and ship a working system by the close. Cross-track ambition is welcome — the only rule is that it must run.

01
🧠

Autonomous Agents

Multi-step, tool-using agents that plan, act, and self-correct on real tasks. Reliability and guardrails over demos.

02
🔎

Retrieval & Knowledge

Next-generation RAG, hybrid search, and knowledge graphs that stay grounded, fresh, and verifiable at scale.

03
⚙️

Data Engineering & Pipelines

Streaming, transformation, and lineage systems that make AI trustworthy — the unglamorous layer that decides everything.

04
🚀

Inference & Serving at Scale

Low-latency, cost-aware model serving: quantization, batching, caching, and routing across heterogeneous hardware.

05
📊

Evaluation & Observability

Rigorous eval harnesses, red-teaming, and live observability for AI products you can actually trust in production.

06

AI Product & UX

Human-facing intelligence: interfaces, copilots, and experiences that turn raw model capability into real product value.

The Format

Four days. August 26 – 29, 2026.

In person at 30 Hudson Yards, New York, NY 10001. A continuous build window from open to demo. We keep the schedule deliberately light — the work sets the pace, not a timetable.

DAY 01 · AUG 26

Convene & Form

Doors open at Hudson Yards. Teams assemble, tracks are chosen, problem framing and architecture sprints. The build begins.

DAY 02 · AUG 27

Deep Build

Heads-down engineering. Mentor and judge office hours throughout. Systems take shape and get stress-tested.

DAY 03 · AUG 28

Build & Harden

Integration, evaluation, and hardening. Teams push their systems toward production reliability.

DAY 04 · AUG 29

Ship & Judge

Final commits, live demos, and a rigorous judging round. Winners announced and celebrated.

The Bench

Judges are vetted, not invited.

Our judging panel carries as much weight as our participants. Every judge passes a rigorous, multi-stage interview process before they are allowed to evaluate a single project.

How judges are selected

  1. 1Written application and credential review, including verified track record in AI and data systems.
  2. 2A heavy round of technical interviews assessing depth, judgment, and fairness.
  3. 3Reference and background vetting with peers in the field.
  4. 4Calibration session to align scoring standards across the full panel.
Apply to Judge →

What teams compete for

Grand Prize
Best overall production-grade system
$25K
Track Winners ×6
Top build in each frontier
$5K
Engineering Excellence
Cleanest, most rigorous system
$5K
The Whole Room
Access to a vetted global network of AI & data leaders
Apply to Build

Interested to participate?

Admission is competitive and reviewed individually. Tell us who you are and we'll be in touch.

Open to Judges

If you have the depth to evaluate world-class AI and data work, we want to meet you. Selected applicants enter our vetting and interview process.

To be considered as a judge, email stephen@aiprodatahack.com with why you want this judging spot and your bio.

Selected judges are then contacted to begin the interview and vetting process.

Past Editions

Where it began.

The inaugural edition set the bar. Here's what the community built before we brought the flagship to New York.

Inaugural Edition

✓ COMPLETED

July 8–10, 2026 · Virtual · Global

Our first edition ran fully online, proving the format: a tightly vetted room of world-class engineers shipping production-grade AI in 72 hours. It seeded the network that now convenes in person at 30 Hudson Yards, New York.

By the numbers

Vetted engineers
Across 18 countries
240+
Teams shipped
Working systems at demo
58
Acceptance rate
Applications reviewed individually
9%
Judges on the bench
Interviewed & vetted
22