"Flare & Google Cloud Unveil $100K AI Hackathon: Decentralized AI Meets Blockchain"

Flare, a layer-1 data network, has joined forces with Google Cloud to host an AI hackathon, marking a significant step in the integration of decentralized AI and blockchain technology. The Verifiable AI Hackathon, taking place from March 7-9 at UC Berkeley, will offer a total prize pool of $100,000, with $60,000 allocated for in-person participants and $40,000 for virtual participants.

The hackathon will focus on Trusted Execution Environments, enabling complex AI tasks to be processed off-chain while maintaining Flare's blockchain stack. Google Cloud's Confidential Compute will be available to help developers experiment with integrating AI and decentralized systems. This collaboration is a first-of-its-kind initiative that combines Google Cloud's Confidential Compute technology with blockchain, opening up new possibilities for verifiable AI to reshape industries and drive innovation.

Participants can choose from four tracks, each exploring different AI and blockchain applications. Social AI Agents focuses on AI that mimics human interaction, while RAG Knowledge Systems deals with AI working with structured data. DeFAI (DeFi x AI) combines AI with decentralized finance, and Consensus Learning focuses on AI models trained in decentralized networks.

This initiative is the result of a multi-month partnership between Flare and Google Cloud, which began in January 2024 when Google Cloud became a validator and data provider for Flare. Flare CEO Hugo Philion commented on the hackathon, highlighting the collaboration's potential to set new standards in the intersection of blockchain and confidential computing.