When I was still in college 11 years ago, I wrote a letter about the idea of creating a hacker community that connects ideas and foster collaboration, which later became a hobbyist community called DoraHacks, then a super fun global hackathon organizer (circa 2017), and now the global platform for the Hacker Movement.
Now DoraHacks has developed into a fairly mature stage as the go-to platform for the global hackathon community. It has achieved the two main goals I originally set out:
- It is now easy enough for organizations of all sizes to create their hackathons - from a single-repository open-source community to a gigantic platform technology company. Very importantly, the basic, fully functional hackathon platform remains free for all.
- It connects hackers (builders) and hackathons (technology platforms) around the world—removing geographic constraints and enabling anyone, anywhere to form a team, build, and participate in hackathons through DoraHacks' global community.
This year, the release of BUIDL AI has further accelerated progress. Many hackathon organizers are now using the full suite of BUIDL AI 3.0, enjoying its features. However, the current BUIDL AI system is still in its early stage. Therefore, it’s a good time for me to write this plan and outline what will happen at DoraHacks.
But before that, to reiterate, the most compelling reason why the global hacker movement matters is that it represents the Freedom for all. The freedom to build is the freedom to create and to know. We've ensured that this freedom is not limited — and now, we aim to accelerate it to a new level. With BUIDL AI and a more powerful DoraHacks.io platform, the hacker movement is poised to evolve into a platform for everyone, not just the top 1% of the developer community.
This evolution is not a nice-to-have, it’s a mandate. The implication of AI and general-purpose robotics is that all humans have to become hackers in order to stay in charge. This future is not guaranteed, and we can now be fairly certain that a world resembling The Matrix, Battlestar Galactica, 1984, and others not unlikely. It is, therefore, a mandate for all future generations to become hackers — because creativity will be humanity’s salvation.
This is what we will build next to fulfill our role at DoraHacks.
Build A Fully Autonomous Hackathon AI
DoraHacks.io is by far the most comprehensive and ontologically coherent hackathon platform for the hacker movement, as defined by the hacker ethos. The current BUIDL AI system (BUIDL AI 3.0) is an integrated automation layer on DoraHacks.io, which will gradually evolve into a fully autonomous system for hackathon organizers. We can call it Hackathon AI.
Hackathons are the most effective way for any technology platform to build an ecosystem, and for hackers to collaborate intensively over a short period of time. The BUIDL AI 3.0 system goes beyond simple automation — it defines the ontology and is becoming the most powerful hackathon co-organizer for organizations of all kinds. The system architecture we've designed for BUIDL AI 3.0 allows for flexible expansion. Over time, there will be more BUIDL AI agents operating on the DoraHacks platform than human operators — dramatically reducing organizational overhead and democratizing hackathons for every organization in the world.
The availability of Hackathon AI will enable every organization and community on Earth to host hackathons—potentially a large number each year. Currently, there are approximately 500 hackathons and 20,000 BUIDL teams created on DoraHacks every year, with a total of $80 million in funding distributed to the BUIDL community; ~around 3,000 organizations exist on the platform. When BUIDL AI 3.0 is adopted by 1,000 major technology platform organizations, we expect these numbers to increase 10x — resulting in roughly 200,000 BUIDLs and 1 million hackers with real problem-solving skills and ideas added each year.
Yet we shall not stop at Hackathon AI, as the most important output of hackathons is the global BUIDL community - BUIDLs from the community identify important problems and adding exciting products to the world.
Expand the Lifecycle of Hackathons and Cover/Elevate Major DevRel Tasks in Every Organization
As we expand the capabilities of Hackathon AI, we also extend the lifecycle of hackathons on DoraHacks and transform how organizations use hackathons to coordinate their ecosystem development. The traditional concept of DevRel will evolve and be empowered by BUIDL AI (4.0).
When we expand the hackathon lifecycle, it will encompass the entire journey of all the BUIDLs created during the hackathon. Currently, once a hackathon ends, organizers lack the tools to continue supporting those BUIDLs. To achieve this goal, we will develop BUIDL AI 4.0 to focus on the final phase of a hackathon — the post-hackathon period. Consequently, BUIDL AI will assist with the most demanding and crucial aspects of the DevRel and DevRel/ecosystem-building experience for organizations on DoraHacks.
The automation of DevRel in all platform technology organizations will accelerate the speed of product development and increase the likelihood of incubating new generations of technology platforms.
To build on the math in section #1, when BUIDL AI 4.0 is adopted by 10,000 organizations (BUIDL AI 4.0 can be used independently of BUIDL AI 3.0, relying only on the DoraHacks platform), and each organization connects with an average of 100 BUIDL teams (a rather conservative estimate), this creates an opportunity to grow 1,000,000 BUIDL teams alone — moving us toward 1% of the global population becoming hackers over the course of the next 3-5 years.
Connect the world’s hackers and BUIDLs at all times
DoraHacks.io + Hackathon AI create the first level of connection — the connection that happens on the DoraHacks platform, allowing hackers, BUIDLs, and hackathons to connect without geographic constraints. Yet, there is a deeper level of connection. This deeper connection is the constant evolution of BUIDLs and their creative Spirits.
We need to build the Cerebro for the Global Hacker Movement.
As we often tell our partners, hackathons are the manifestation of the Zeitgeist. One implication of AI is that almost everyone in the new generation will become a hacker, as creativity with purpose will come to define humanity. There is also a rapid decoupling between hackers and developers. It used to be that the global population of hackers was a small subset of developers - roughly 1% of developers motivated to create products or solve great problems. This has already changed. The cost of coding, and building more broadly (not just software), is dropping to near zero. Of course, great BUIDLs still require great engineering and many other aspects, such as inspiration and persistencethe, but the entry barrier has been removed. Ultimately, the community of hackers could surpass the community of developers.
The Cerebro BUIDL AI connects all BUIDLs in the world at all times. It is also the ultimate copilot for the world’s BUIDLs and hacker teams. It provides information, inspiration, and consolation, maximizing the probability that a BUIDL (as a team of hackers) will succeed in their building. By creating this network of BUIDLs, BUIDL AI will become the brain of the Global Hacker Movement.
So, the next steps are:
Make Hackathon AI smarter to have fully autonomous hackathons on DoraHacks;
Build BUIDL AI 4.0 and increase organization DevRel capacity/quality in all platform technology organizations;
Create the Cerebro BUIDL AI that connects the global BUIDL community at all time.