🤖

AI Usage Policy

Build smart. Build honest. Build yours.

✓ ALLOWED
  • 💬
    Reference & Learning Use AI to understand concepts, syntax, or debug errors
  • 🔍
    Debugging Assistance Get help identifying bugs or understanding error messages
  • 📖
    Documentation Lookup Ask AI to explain library functions or API usage
  • 💡
    Brainstorming Use AI as a sounding board for ideas (not implementation)
⚠ DISCOURAGED
  • 🚫
    Bulk Code Generation Generating entire components or features via AI prompts
  • 🚫
    Copy-Paste Without Understanding Using AI code you cannot explain or modify
  • 🚫
    Excessive Dependence Relying on AI for majority of your codebase
  • 🚫
    Misrepresenting Work Claiming AI-generated code as original work
🎯

The Explain Test

If a judge asks about any part of your code, every team member should be able to explain what it does and why it's there. If you can't explain it, you shouldn't submit it.

⚖️

Why This Matters

Hackathons are about learning, growing, and demonstrating your skills. Using AI as a crutch undermines the experience and makes it harder for judges to evaluate your actual abilities. Your code should reflect your understanding.

🏆

Fair Competition

We want to reward creativity, problem-solving, and technical skill — not prompt engineering. Projects with evidence of excessive AI-generated code may be penalized or disqualified at the judges' discretion.

📋 TL;DR

Use AI sparingly as a helper, not a coder. Understand every line you submit. If you can't explain it, don't ship it.