Rahul Unnikrishnan Nair, Intel Liftoff’s Technical Director and AI Architect, joined the Code Together podcast for the second time. He and host Tony Mongkolsmai talked about hackathons, and how generative AI is driving an unprecedented wave of innovation at these events.
They discussed the role of GenAI in accelerating the idea-to-startup pipeline, as well as the impact these technologies have on the way that people learn to code.
Shortening the Distance Between Ideation and Reality
With 4 hackathons under his belt as a judge, Rahul has been able to witness how AI technology is transforming the way innovation happens. Students are now able to automate the creation of wireframes, initial code and even optimization - a whole series of steps that would have taken weeks before the advent of GenAI.
In Rahul’s experience as a hackathon judge, this is raising the bar on the quantity and the quality of projects that are emerging. As an example, he mentioned a brain-wave device that a group of students managed to build at a low cost through AI. In the past, cost was the main barrier to adoption for devices like this. But student-led innovation like this could make these devices more accessible to a wide range of applications in VR and machine-brain interaction.
AI: Accelerator or Eraser of Memory?
In light of these developments, Rahul and Tony discussed the interesting question of whether the unprecedented availability of AI is erasing our ability to recreate systems from scratch.
Rahul reflected on the fact that the impressive rate of innovation he’s seeing isn’t limited to AI - he has also seen open source projects enjoying success through hackathons. With respect to AI in particular, Rahul commented on how, in the past, students learned about machine learning and neural networks through theory and math. At the end of that cycle, they “knew” what would work and would not work - and that was the problem, because it resulted in an aversion to risk. In his view, the new crop of students is freer to speculate, try new things, and break out of conventional wisdom.
Intel Liftoff for Startups: Supporting the Most Daring AI Startups
It’s this risk-taking that Rahul believes is driving the innovation wave - and he’s excited to play his part as an Intel Liftoff mentor.
At hackathons supported by Intel, participants receive the very best technological and material support to supercharge their innovative projects. This includes access to the Developer Cloud and Jupyter notebooks powered by Intel Data Center Max GPUs Intel’s technical staff are also on-site to assist with technical challenges and insights into career opportunities.
About the Code Together podcast
Code Together, hosted by Tony Mongkolsmai, explores the rapidly changing software landscape. The podcast interviews industry leaders, developers, entrepreneurs, and technologists developing solutions for the modern, accelerated computing world.
Check out Tony’s full conversation with Rahul to learn more about how hackathons are shaping the future of innovation.
I'm a proud team member of the Intel® Liftoff for Startups, an innovative, free virtual program dedicated to accelerating the growth of early-stage AI startups.