Humane Tech Hackathon: Frameworks for Humanity
Humane Tech Hackathon: Frameworks for Humanity
Join us for a full day of collaboration, coding, and co-designing practical tools that put humanity back at the center of technology — here in San Francisco's SOMA district.
This isn’t your typical hackathon. Instead of chasing the next viral app, we’ll be building actionable frameworks that anyone can use to design, measure, and scale technology with human well-being in mind. Our work will directly contribute to the open-source Humane Tech Framework — a living library of practices, principles, and playbooks for ethical and responsible tech.
What is Humane Tech?
Humane tech is about more than avoiding harm — it’s about creating technology that helps people, relationships, and cultures thrive.
Human first: Products that see users as whole people, not just data points.
Connection over extraction: Tools that deepen meaning and belonging, not just engagement metrics.
Care in design: Systems that reflect empathy, ethics, and responsibility.
Culture repair: Technology that supports healing and resilience, not just speed and scale.
What to bring:
Need to have
Your laptop & charger
Hope, can-do, and a willingness to engage
Nice to have
Extension cord or longer charger for your laptop if you have one (no stress if you don't)
Logistics
🚗 Street parking is available
Public transportation
Caltrain: 4th & King Street Station — your main Caltrain access.
Muni / Light Rail: T Third Street line along 3rd Street, with stops like 3rd & Mission Rock.
BART: You’ll likely have to walk or transfer to get to Powell, Montgomery, or Embarcadero stations.
🌸 Please avoid strong fragrances to keep the space clear for everyone
What You’ll Do
Co-create frameworks: Draft, test, and refine playbooks that can be published in our open-source repo.
Collaborate with values-aligned peers: Work with developers, designers, ethicists, researchers, and product leaders who care about the same things you do.
Learn and apply humane design principles: Explore methods that bring ethics, well-being, and sustainability into product practice.
Showcase your work: Present your framework to the community and judges, contributing to a shared resource that others can use immediately.
Celebrate impact: Prizes and recognition will go to the frameworks with the greatest potential to shape real-world tech practices.
For context, check out our humane tech hackathon in June.
Who Should Join
Developers & engineers
Designers (UX/UI, product, graphic)
Researchers & academics
Product managers & founders
Policy thinkers & ethicists
Anyone passionate about shaping a healthier digital future
Judges, Mentors, & Hosts
A diverse group of technologists, researchers, and community leaders will guide the day and celebrate your work, including:
Meet our judges:
Daniel Bashir, safety researcher @ OpenAI
Sébastien Kerbrat, tech lead @ PicnicHealth
Nikola Jurkovic, AI safety researcher @ METR
Meet our mentors:
Christine Zhang, Customer Success @ Daylight Computer
Kshama Nitin Shah, AI Algorithm Developer @ Stoneridge
Sarah Ladyman, Experienced Designer
Meet our hosts:
Andalib Samandari, AI & Data Science Architect @ Georgia State University
Erika Anderson, Co-Founder @ Storytell.ai, Founder @ Building Humane Tech
Jack Senechal, Founder @ Mirror Astrology
Logistics support:
Sharmaine Padua (see "hosts") in the event listing
Resources
Our Open-Source Repo: Our OSS is your starting point. Teams will build on its foundations and add new contributions.
Mentors & Guides: Experts in ethical tech and humane systems will be available throughout the day.
Community Slack: Connect with other participants and keep contributing after the hackathon.
Logistics
Location: Bobyard in SOMA/downtown SF (3rd and Bryant)
Schedule: 8 AM check-in, context setting, team formation, demos at 4pm, judging at 5pm
Food & drink: Snacks, refreshments, and a nourishing lunch provided
Capacity: Limited to 40 participants
Prizes — huge thanks to Toolhouse and GMI:
250 Toolhouse.ai credits for instant use of agents
GMI inference to build without limits
Sponsors & Support
Thank you to UpHonest Capital for sponsoring and Bobyard for hosting us
👉 Guidelines: We are committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all participants. All attendees are expected to adhere to our community guidelines, found here.
👉 By attending this event, you consent to being photographed and to having your insights shared in post-event acknowledgments and a Substack feature
Let’s build frameworks to make humane tech the default, not the exception.
Hosted by Building Humane Tech