--- title: README emoji: 🏃 colorFrom: green colorTo: indigo sdk: static pinned: false ---

_{HOSTED BY Gradio · Hugging Face SPONSORED BY [ TBD ]}

Making AI Fun Again

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

#### 🏡 Backyard AI _{Chapter One} ***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. _{**JUDGED ON** · problem is specific and real · the person actually used it · honest fit between problem, solution, and the small-model constraint · polish of the Gradio app}

#### 🍄 *An Adventure in Thousand Token Wood* _{Chapter Two} ***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. _{**JUDGED ON** · genuinely delightful (would you show a friend?) · AI is load-bearing for the experience · originality of concept · polish of the Gradio app}

## The Constraints

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

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

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

## How to Join

1. Register — join this org. No application, no waitlist.

2. Find your people — hop into the Gradio Discord. Office hours, AMAs, teammates live there.

3. Build & ship — build your Gradio app and host it as a Space under this org.

4. Submit — drop your Space link, a demo video, and a social post by the deadline.

## Bonus Quests

*None required. Each one bumps you up the leaderboard. Stack them like badges on a scout sash.*

🔌 Off the Grid No cloud APIs. The whole thing runs on the model in front of you.	🎯 Well-Tuned Your app uses a fine-tuned model you've published on Hugging Face.	🎨 Off-Brand A custom frontend that pushes past the default Gradio look.
🦙 Llama Champion Your model runs through the llama.cpp runtime.	📡 Sharing is Caring You shared your agent trace on the Hub.	📓 Field Notes You wrote a blog post or report about what you built. _tentative

## Timeline

| | 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 |

## Build something *small.* *Two weekends. Two tracks. The model on your laptop. The neighbor next door.* ### → [**Register on Hugging Face**](#) ← _{*↳ placeholder link for now*} _{Made with care by the Gradio team · questions? Find us on Discord · vol. III · mmxxvi}