Hashed to Hold AI Service Hackathon 'OBA.RUN 2nd' With OpenAI, SK Telecom

Hashed, a global digital-asset and frontier-tech venture capital firm, said on November 2 that it will jointly host the AI-based service development hackathon "OBA.RUN 2nd" with Marketfit Lab on November 7 at Hashed Lounge in Seoul's Gangnam district.

The event will focus on building services that go beyond understanding user commands to actually carrying out tasks and processing payments. Up to 50 developers and product builders will take part and showcase products built with technologies and development tools provided by participating companies.

OpenAI will participate as a founding sponsor, while SK Telecom will serve as the main sponsor. Shinhan Card, F&F, vooy, maroo, Guuey and Seoul AI Hub will also back the event. The program will begin with keynote speeches by OpenAI and SK Telecom, followed by introductions to development challenges proposed by participating companies and application programming interfaces, or APIs, available for use. OpenAI's development tools will also be provided to participants.

Participants will be free to choose their development topics, including finance- and fashion-related assignments proposed by Shinhan Card and F&F. Teams will be limited to no more than three members. Confirmed participants will be able to exchange ideas and recruit teammates through Nitro Discord ahead of the event.

OBA stands for Open Builders Alliance, a program that opens companies' technology resources and real business challenges to developers so they can build products together. In a survey conducted after the first event in May, 42 respondents gave it an average satisfaction score of 9.6 out of 10.

The event will consist of three product development sessions and two participant-led networking programs called "LETS." During LETS, participants will choose discussion topics themselves and share AI use cases, service launch experiences and ways to solve problems that arise during development. After submissions are turned in, the event will move to participant voting, networking and an awards program called the "OBA Awards."

The event will begin at 9:30 a.m. and there is no participation fee. Meals will also be provided. The first round of applications closed on November 1, and second-round applications will be accepted through November 4 on the official Luma page. Final participants will be notified separately.

"Until now, companies' technologies and data have remained closed off, while developers had to build on their own from the outside," Hashed Chief Executive Officer Kim Seo-jun said. "OBA is a venue for collaboration where companies open up their technologies and data, and developers use them to build products. We hope a culture of companies and developers building together will take root in Korea's AI and open-API ecosystem."