Inference-Time Compute Hackathon

​$50k top prize. $100k+ total. 24 hours to build.

​Etched, Cognition, and Mercor are hosting a 24-hour hackathon! Build something that pushes the frontier of what AI can do and walk out with prize money, compute credits, and face time with industry founders.

​This is a 24 hour hackathon with three tracks:

• ​Agents: Multi-step systems that take a goal and execute. Tool use, planning, long horizons.

• ​Real-Time and Interactive: Sub-second loops, live multimodal.

• ​Talent Marketplace + Applied AI: Systems that judge capability of a person or a model. Autograders, preference ranking, rubrics, verified-skill signals, human-in-the-loop.

​We'll provide 8x H100s per team, meals, snacks, and space for the full 24 hours.

​Judges include founders from Etched, Cognition, and Mercor, plus special guests from well-known neolabs and neoclouds.

​Apply as a pre-formed team of 2-4 or apply solo and we'll match you with teammates before the event.

​Join us to begin building the next frontier. We'll see you there.