IIIT Hyderabad and Swecha.org organized AI Hackday, a massive hackathon designed to foster people-centric AI development. The event saw participation from over 20 colleges, 60+ faculty members, and 100+ industry mentors, guiding more than 600 teams and 2000 students who worked on creating AI solutions aimed at benefiting society.
This AI Hackathon is the first stage of a three-part series, ultimately leading up to AI Days 2025′ Spark Camp, where 100 AI applications will be developed to address challenges unique to India. During the launch, Bhavesh Mishra, IAS, emphasized the importance of early adoption of AI and the potential for India to build its own context-driven AI models, drawing inspiration from successful non-Western models like DeepSeek LLM.
The hackathon focused on using AI to solve real-world issues, bridge societal gaps, and create a more inclusive tech-driven future. Students worked on a variety of innovative prototypes, including AI-based audio tools, story generation, and image AI.
Notable speakers and mentors included Prof Ramesh Loganathan from IIIT Hyderabad, Chaitanya Chokkareddy (Co-founder and CTO of Ozonetel), Kiran Chandra (Head of Viswam.AI), and Pradeep Kumar Jilagam from Micron Technology. AI Hackday is part of a larger initiative aimed at building deep AI skills and encouraging students to engage with local communities. This includes a program that encourages the creation of culture-specific datasets to train AI models in various Indian dialects, promoting localized AI solutions.
Swecha, an open-source community, has been instrumental in training students and professionals on community-driven technologies. Founded in 2005, the organization has developed impactful projects such as BalaSwecha, which supports school education in government schools across the Telugu states. IIIT Hyderabad (IIITH) is a leading research university focused on advancing Information Technology, with research in areas like computer science, data engineering, robotics, and more, all aimed at addressing social challenges through interdisciplinary solutions.
