ELSA represents at the Global Artificial Intelligence Hackathon

Last week, ELSA’s CEO Vu Van was on the judge panel for the Global AI Hackathon, hosted at Google LaunchPad, San Francisco California. At the event, ten startups were selected to present their solutions to the panel of judges.

Upcoming Global AI Hackathon, San Francisco

What is a hackathon?

For those of you who do not work in software development, the term “hackathon” might be new to you. Hackathons are events that bring together software programmers and designers to work in small groups on a particular topic. A hackathon usually lasts for one to two days. During that time, the participants build prototypes of their ideas.  At the end of the event, they present their projects to the judges and prizes are awarded to the winners.  At the Global AI Hackathon, the topic is AI. So the attendees built prototypes that involved AI technology.

What were cool AI projects at the hackathon?

Here are a couple projects that caught our attention:

Moo DJ is a mobile phone app that uses AI to detect people’s emotions through chat and voice conversations.  Moo DJ then plays songs that match the user’s emotions. Imagine it is after work on Friday, you’re chatting with your girlfriend about meeting for drinks. You then turn on Moo DJ, and which then plays you a soft Taylor Swift song, just in time to set the mood for a romantic evening.

AIDA is building an AI solution for babies. Infants between zero to six months old can cry a lot. Parents often have a difficult time interpreting what their baby is crying about. AIDA uses machine learning to decodes a baby’s crying voice for their parents. When the baby cries, AIDA can tell if the baby is communicating  “I’m hungry” or “My diaper is itchy” or “I just want you to play with me.” If AIDA becomes a reality, it can definitely remove some fear from being a new parent.

Hackathons are popular in Silicon Valley but are also becoming more popular in major cities around the world. Next time there’s a hackathon in your area, you’ll know what it means!

And if you are interested in Global AI Hackathon, the next event will be held on June 23-25, 2017 in San Francisco.