NextGen AI 2025 Hackathon - MLAI x CAIC

NextGen AI Hackathon — Kick-off Saturday 23 Aug, 1 PM

Ready to trade pitch decks for real-world building? Come spend a week with us (23 – 30 Aug) at Melbourne Connect and turn messy, authentic problems into working AI demos.

What’s Happening

• Sat 23 Aug, 1 PM – Check in, grab a name tag and welcome pack, meet the other builders.

• 1 : 30 PM – Quick intro: how the hack works, the challenges, judging, and prize details.

• 2 PM – Lightning talks from our advisors — hear what’s possible (and what’s not) from:

  • Yifei Wang – Founder @ AIBUILD, scaling AI infrastructure for a living

  • Dr Chunhua Liu – NLP researcher (Uni Melb) fighting disinformation with better models

  • Dr Donghao Zhang – Computer-vision & machine-learning specialist, lifelong hacker

• 2:30 – 4 PM – Mingle, brainstorm, whiteboard.

• 4 – 5 PM – Lock in your squad (max 5) and submit a short plan of attack.

• 24 – 29 Aug – Open venue all week: code, test, get mentor help, drink too much coffee.

• Fri 30 Aug, 11:59 PM – Upload a 3-minute pitch video + demo link.

• Sat 31 Aug – Top 5–10 teams announced.

• Thu 5 Sep @ NextGen AI Conference – Final live pitches; winner crowned.

Who Should Join

Developers, designers, researchers, students, recent grads, or that friend who can’t stop tinkering with new models. If you like turning tough problems into working prototypes (and meeting the people who care about them), this is your week.

Why It’s Worth Your Weekend

• Real challenges from real companies.

• Advice from people who’ve shipped serious AI systems.

• A shot to pitch on stage at the NextGen AI Conference.

• New friends, caffeine, and plenty of networking.
  

Brought to you by
ByteDance · Chinese AI Community · AI Development Group · MLAI

Advisors to expect:

• Yifei Wang: Founder and CEO of AIBUILD Pty Ltd. Yifei Wang is a recognised leader in artificial intelligence, infrastructure innovation, and sustainable technology, with a strong track record of delivering investment-driven growth across industry, government, and research sectors.

• Chunhua Liu: Chunhua Liu is a Research Fellow in NLP at The University of Melbourne, working with Prof Eduard Hovy on topics under the umbrella of disinformation. Interested in building more reliable, inclusive and collaborative AI systems that align with the diverse cultures and values of global human societies.

• Donghao Zhang: Dr Donghao Zhang is a self-driven learner and has a strong background in data science, machine learning, computer vision and natural language processing.

Spots are limited. Grab your ticket, bring your laptop, and let’s build something useful.