Singapore – Choose any topic. When artificial intelligence generates trivia questions, participants compete to answer with one word faster than the AI model. This was one of the online game challenges that tested how humans could fare against AI models.
The game was the winning project in a 24-hour cursor hackathon, along with a video generator that makes corporate training feel like a Netflix show and an art generator that turns random doodles into brushstrokes.
The competition, which began at 9am on October 18 at the Singapore University of Technology and Design campus, challenged over 400 participants to come up with anything they wanted using AI.
The event was also the first to bring together leading AI companies such as Cursor, OpenAI, DeepMind, Anthropic, and Supabase.
Participants ranged in age from 13 to 62 and ranged from teenagers to engineers to startup founders.
The top prize went to Principal Product Manager Sritam Patnaik, who built an AI art generator that turns doodles into digital art.
He received more than US$43,000 (S$55,700) in credits from the AI company and also used AI tools Manus Pro and Celebrities Pro for three months.
Brian Chew, a final year student at Singapore Management University, came second with canyoubeatgroq.com, a web game that pits humans against AI in logic, mathematics and word puzzles.
The third award went to the creators of Neuroflix, a video generator that allows users to create engaging compliance training videos featuring employees.
The team included Justin Baird, 50, co-founder of a carbon company working on climate change. Antoine Lee, 19, founder of a personalized learning platform for high school entrance exams. Sharon Lee, 35, is a co-founder of an insurtech company and serves as the organization’s chief benefits officer.
They told The Straits Times that Mr Baird and Mr Lee both experienced how tedious compliance training surveys within companies can be. The only exception was one series in which an employee was the main character of the episode.
In fact, they said, people were excited about the next module. The trio aims to develop Neuroflix into a full-fledged company.
The Cursor Hackathon was self-organized by five Singaporean startup founders and operators: Ivan Leo, Sherry Jiang, Agrim Singh, Kasper Hidayat, and Gabriel Chua.
The people behind the Cursor Hackathon: (from left) Ivan Leo, Sherry Jiang, Rachael De Foe, and Agrim Singh.
ST Photo: Arifin Jamal
“This is the first time that so many AI leaders have come together in one place, even in the US,” said Singh, the startup’s founder. “It never happens, even in the United States. They’re not just sending out logos, they’re showing up in person to teach, mentor, and champion new talent.”
Among the youngest participants was 13-year-old Usman Asif, who attended with his father Asif Saleem, 45, and sister Shanzi Asif, 18.
Usman worked on developing a tool that could provide sports guidance, while his sister developed a website that provides information on the best times and places to observe planets and other celestial bodies in Singapore.
Noting that his daughter is about to go to college, Asif worked on a website called College Leap. It allows students to upload their grades and get recommendations on which universities they can apply to based on parameters such as country/region and desired course of study.
Asif, who works in financial services at Google, told ST that while he has some experience with technology, like his two children, he had little previous experience with coding. But they were able to quickly learn it through a course on AI coding tools that enable code generation and debugging with written prompts.
“This is a great family bonding activity,” Asif said.
