README.md

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title: README
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<img src="./assets/banner.svg" alt="Build Small — a hackathon by Gradio &amp; Hugging Face" width="100%"/>

<sub><b>HOSTED BY</b> &nbsp;Gradio &nbsp;·&nbsp; Hugging Face &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<b>SPONSORED BY</b> &nbsp;<i>[ TBD ]</i></sub>

<h1> Making AI Fun Again </h1>

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The pace of AI over the last year has been anxiety-inducing. Labs release larger and larger models that do more of the things that make us feel human: writing, drawing, speaking, coding. 
No wonder more than [half of us](https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2025/09/17/how-americans-view-ai-and-its-impact-on-people-and-society/) think the risks of AI outweigh the benefits. 

We're sponsoring a hackathon take things back to how they felt in 2021 when models were **small enough** to tinker with and the vibe was **fun** and hopeful over how this technology could **improve** our lives.

This hackathon is different from others. Rather than using a giant LLM to ship yet another B2B SAAS, we want you to **think small**. Armed only **32 billion parameters**, we want you to solve a problem someone you know is facing or build something whimsical.



## Two Tracks

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<img src="./assets/track-backyard.svg" alt="Backyard AI" width="100%"/>

#### 🏡 &nbsp; Backyard AI &nbsp; <sub><i>Chapter One</i></sub>

***Solve a real problem for someone you actually know.*** Pick a person — a neighbor, a parent, a small business owner on your street — and build something that makes their day measurably better. 

<sub>**JUDGED ON** &nbsp;·&nbsp; problem is specific and real &nbsp;·&nbsp; the person actually used it &nbsp;·&nbsp; honest fit between problem, solution, and the small-model constraint &nbsp;·&nbsp; polish of the Gradio app</sub>

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<img src="./assets/track-wood.svg" alt="Thousand Token Wood" width="100%"/>

#### 🍄 &nbsp; *An Adventure in Thousand Token Wood* &nbsp; <sub><i>Chapter Two</i></sub>

***Build something delightful that wouldn't exist without AI.*** Wander somewhere weirder. A toy, a tiny game, a strange interactive story, an art experiment that surprises you. The AI should be doing the fun thing — not just helping you build it. Strange is good. Joyful is the bar.

<sub>**JUDGED ON** &nbsp;·&nbsp; genuinely delightful (would you show a friend?) &nbsp;·&nbsp; AI is load-bearing for the experience &nbsp;·&nbsp; originality of concept &nbsp;·&nbsp; polish of the Gradio app</sub>

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## The Constraints

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**① &nbsp; Small Models Only** — Total number of parameters must be less than or equal to **32 Billion**.

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**② &nbsp; Built on Gradio** — your app must be a Gradio app, hosted as a Hugging Face Space.

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**③ &nbsp; Show, Don't Tell** — a short demo video and a social-media post are part of the submission.

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## How to Join

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<td width="25%" valign="top"><b>1. Register</b> — join this org. No application, no waitlist.</td>
<td width="25%" valign="top"><b>2. Find your people</b> — hop into the Gradio Discord. Office hours, AMAs, teammates live there.</td>
<td width="25%" valign="top"><b>3. Build &amp; ship</b> — build your Gradio app and host it as a Space under this org.</td>
<td width="25%" valign="top"><b>4. Submit</b> — drop your <b>Space link</b>, a <b>demo video</b>, and a <b>social post</b> by the deadline.</td>
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## Bonus Quests

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<img src="./assets/merit-badges.svg" alt="Six earnable merit badges" width="92%"/>
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*None required. Each one bumps you up the leaderboard. Stack them like badges on a scout sash.*

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<td width="33%" valign="top"><b>🔌 &nbsp; <i>Off the Grid</i></b><br/>No cloud APIs. The whole thing runs on the model in front of you.</td>
<td width="33%" valign="top"><b>🎯 &nbsp; <i>Well-Tuned</i></b><br/>Your app uses a fine-tuned model you've published on Hugging Face.</td>
<td width="33%" valign="top"><b>🎨 &nbsp; <i>Off-Brand</i></b><br/>A custom frontend that pushes past the default Gradio look.</td>
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<td width="33%" valign="top"><b>🦙 &nbsp; <i>Llama Champion</i></b><br/>Your model runs through the llama.cpp runtime.</td>
<td width="33%" valign="top"><b>📡 &nbsp; <i>Sharing is Caring</i></b><br/>You shared your agent trace on the Hub.</td>
<td width="33%" valign="top"><b>📓 &nbsp; <i>Field Notes</i></b><br/>You wrote a blog post or report about what you built. <sub><i>tentative</i></sub></td>
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## Timeline

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<img src="./assets/timeline-map.svg" alt="A hand-drawn map of the hackathon timeline" width="88%"/>
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| | When | What |
|:---:|:---|:---|
| **I.** | *Week of [date TBD]* | **Registration opens** — sign up, join Discord, start sketching |
| **II.** | *[date TBD]* | **Hack window begins** — two weekends to build, ship, and demo |
| **III.** | *Mid-window* | **Live AMA + office hours** — ask the Gradio team anything |
| **IV.** | *[date TBD]* | **Submissions close** — Space, demo video, social post locked in |
| **V.** | *[date TBD]* | **Winners announced** — per track, plus bonus-quest leaderboard |

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## Build something *small.*

*Two weekends. Two tracks. The model on your laptop. The neighbor next door.*

### → &nbsp; [**Register on Hugging Face**](#) &nbsp; ← <sub>*↳ placeholder link for now*</sub>

<sub>Made with care by the Gradio team &nbsp;·&nbsp; questions? <a href="#">Find us on Discord</a> &nbsp;·&nbsp; <i>vol. III · mmxxvi</i></sub>

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