Official Rules — SpartHill Hacks 2026: IBM AI Challenge

1. Event Overview

The IBM AI Challenge is part of SpartHill Hacks 2026, an in-person student hackathon hosted by San José State University and Foothill College on October 23–24, 2026.

The challenge encourages participants to develop AI-powered solutions focused on responsible innovation, business, sustainability, and societal impact.

Participation is subject to the official SpartHill Hacks event policies, the eligibility requirements displayed on this Devpost page, and the terms of service of any platforms used.

2. Eligibility

• Participants must be eligible and admitted to the official SpartHill Hacks event.
• Participants must satisfy the student, age, and geographic eligibility settings published on this Devpost page.
• Participants must be participating in the designated IBM challenge track.
• Teams may have a maximum of five participants.
• Participants must comply with all applicable university event rules.
• Event organizers, judges, and individuals responsible for selecting winners may not submit competing projects to the track they administer or judge.

Note: Devpost registration alone does not grant access to the in-person event.

The separate Saturday high-school program is governed by its own eligibility and consent requirements.

3. Teams and Collaboration

Teams may collaborate across academic disciplines, institutions, and technical experience levels, subject to official event rules.

• One project submission is permitted per team.
• Each participant may belong to only one competing IBM-track team.
• All contributing team members must be correctly identified.
• Teams are responsible for coordinating their work and accurately representing their contributions.

4. Originality and Intellectual Property

Projects must represent the participants' own work and contributions.

Participants must:

• Accurately identify work completed during the hackathon.
• Disclose any pre-existing project components or materials.
• Credit third-party code, datasets, assets, models, and services.
• Respect applicable licenses and intellectual property rights.
• Avoid plagiarism, unauthorized copying, or misrepresenting third-party work.

Any use of substantially pre-existing projects must comply with the final rules communicated by the official event organizers.

5. AI Tools and Responsible Development

Participants may use AI-assisted tools, programming frameworks, open-source software, publicly available APIs, and other appropriate development resources, subject to their licenses and the official event requirements. We highly recommend using IBM Bob.

Teams must:

• Explain the purpose of AI in their solution.
• Review and validate AI-generated content or code.
• Accurately disclose significant AI tools or external services used.
• Avoid presenting generated outputs as independently verified facts.
• Consider privacy, fairness, transparency, accessibility, and safety where relevant.
• Respect the rights and privacy of people whose information may be involved.

Projects must not facilitate unlawful activity, harassment, discrimination, exploitation, or foreseeable harm.

6. Project Requirements

Projects should align with the IBM challenge theme: Responsible AI for Business & Society.

A qualifying project should include:

1. A meaningful problem statement.
2. An AI-powered solution or proposed technical approach.
3. A functioning prototype or demonstrable proof of concept.
4. An explanation of the tools and technologies used.
5. Consideration of relevant responsible-AI principles.
6. A discussion of potential impact, feasibility, and limitations.

The project does not need to be production-ready.

7. Submission Requirements

Teams must follow the submission instructions published on this Devpost page and any official updates provided by the event organizers.

8. Judging and Evaluation

Projects will be evaluated using the following criteria:

Judging procedures, scoring methods, tie-breaking processes, and winner selection will follow the official arrangements approved by the event organizers. Judges must disclose conflicts of interest and follow the event's fairness requirements.

9. Event Code of Conduct

SpartHill Hacks and the IBM track are intended to provide a welcoming, inclusive, respectful, and safe environment for everyone.

This code of conduct applies to participants, mentors, judges, volunteers, sponsors, organizers, and other attendees throughout event-related activities, including workshops, presentations, team collaboration, online communication, and shared event spaces.

All attendees are expected to:

• Treat others with respect, courtesy, and professionalism.
• Welcome participants of different backgrounds, identities, abilities, experience levels, and academic disciplines.
• Respect personal boundaries, individual consent, and accessibility needs.
• Communicate constructively and resolve disagreements respectfully.
• Respect university facilities, equipment, event property, and other participants' belongings.
• Follow safety instructions from authorized event personnel.
• Use technology and shared resources responsibly.

The following conduct is prohibited:

• Harassment, bullying, threats, intimidation, or discrimination.
• Unwelcome sexual attention or inappropriate physical contact.
• Offensive or targeted conduct intended to demean or exclude others.
• Deliberate disruption of workshops, presentations, judging, or other activities.
• Stalking, doxxing, invasion of privacy, or unauthorized disclosure of personal information.
• Nonconsensual photography, recording, or distribution of personal information where consent is required.
• Theft, vandalism, dangerous behavior, or unlawful activity.
• Retaliation against individuals who report concerns in good faith.

10. Fair Play and Academic Integrity

Teams must act honestly throughout the competition.

Misrepresentation, plagiarism, deliberate manipulation of judging, unauthorized interference with other teams, or attempts to obtain an unfair advantage are prohibited.

Participants should be transparent about the limitations and capabilities of their submissions.

11. Prizes and Awards

Any local IBM-track or SpartHill prizes will be governed by the officially announced prize terms and eligibility requirements.

The separate IBM AI Builders Challenge – North America prize pool is not a prize awarded automatically through SpartHill Hacks.