*Featured in FastForward.cy on 14 May 2024
Ivan, it's nice to have you on FastForward. Can you explain the main idea behind the HackAIthon and how this event helps with the widespread integration of AI into fintech solutions?
Certainly—but to do so, I would have to reflect on the successes of past internal QuadCode hackathons and ones we have supported, such as the HackAdTech Hackathon 2023. In these events, we saw an endless amount of creativity, hard and relentless work, and innovation. The focus on Artificial Intelligence emerged naturally, with many teams electing to focus their efforts on including Machine Learning models as the "brain" of their ideas.
Thus, the main idea for the HackAIthon was born.
We flip the script—focus the participants' creativity on specifically using AI to innovate in the personalization and education in FinTech.
Instead of working on a specific business case with the possibility of using AI, we flip the script—focus the participants' creativity on specifically using AI to innovate in the personalization and education in FinTech. Of course, wildcard entries are permitted for the brave and the bold, as well as an opportunity to innovate in the Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality spheres, but the main theme still remains AI.
What impact do you hope the HackAIthon will have on participants and on the broader fintech industry?
We strongly believe that the HackAIthon will become the melting pot of innovation in our industry for the entire region. By bringing our radical approach to the forefront, we hope to lead by example, and challenge the status quo. For us, this is much more than a simple event - we are approaching this hackathon strategically, with long term planning, with the goal of causing a paradigm shift in the fintech industry. We are already seeing an outpouring of support from giants like Google and TikTok participating in our event as keynote speakers. Especially considering that this is the first HackAIthon, only the beginning. What comes next is anyone’s guess, but one thing is certain - our vector is only up.
Could you discuss the role of mentors in the HackAIthon? Why are they important, and what do they bring to the table for participants?
As the HackAIthon is a very ambitious undertaking, with its simple main idea come a variety of technical challenges. AI is still a computationally resource-intensive challenge. Mentors will be on-site to assist with providing access to valuable resources, APIs, and documentation.
Mentors will help keep teams motivated and focused on the tasks at hand, guiding them to the finish line.
But that is not all. We have assembled a truly remarkable team of experts in the field of AI, who are able to assist with choosing a suitable approach and provide guidance based on many years of experience in the field. As well as that, other mentors are brilliant public speakers who can take the participants’ pitches to the next level. Last but not least, mentors will help keep teams motivated and focused on the tasks at hand, guiding them to the finish line.
You mentioned that AI has recently become accessible to a broad audience and is no longer a "gated community." Can you elaborate on what has changed to make AI more accessible to the general public?
In my mind, this can be traced back to one 2017 academic paper: “Attention Is All You Need” by Vaswani et al, researchers at Google. This paper introduced a simple new model architecture, called The Transformer. It removes all complex mathematical transformations in favor of attention mechanisms. To quote the paper directly: "Even our base model surpasses all previously published models and ensembles, at a fraction of the training cost of any of the competitive models". From this revolutionary discovery, there was an explosion of innovation. LLMs like ChatGPT3/ChatGPT4 (the T stands for Transformer) allowed anyone with an internet connection to turn their creative ideas into code with 0 programming skills.
And as naturally AI was an emergent phenomenon in our hackathons, so it was in the creative process of many users of applications like ChatGPT. This created a positive feedback loop of websites, apps, snippets of code including seeds of ML techniques. Now, in 2024, it is no longer necessary (although it is encouraged) to sift through countless academic papers to make a mock-up of an AI model to solve a business problem - one can just refer to another AI model for a helpful starting push.
As the Business Unit Chief AI Officer at Quadcode, what are the most challenging and most rewarding aspects of your role?
The role of the Chief AI Officer is quite a recent one - as per the data of LinkedIn, the number of CAIOs tripled in the past five years. Combined with the fact that the main concern of this position is a new and developing field, the responsibilities and tasks are not yet well-defined. This ambiguity presents itself precisely as the biggest challenge while also being the biggest reward.
On one hand, one must find a healthy balance between time spent in meetings and working directly with the technology we are assigned to. On the other hand, one is free to explore and develop the company with a variety of strategies, whether it be growth in the existing business channels supported using AI, or introducing a new revenue stream. To put it in another perspective, I believe that companies that introduce this role to their corporate structure are cementing their dedication to progress and innovation.
Any final message for potential participants considering joining the HackAIthon?
As we wrap up this interview, I urge you not to miss out on this incredible opportunity. Seize the moment and be part of the innovation revolution. Head over to the HackAIthon website now to submit your groundbreaking idea and secure your spot at The Warehouse by IT Quarter on June 15th and 16th.
Don't just imagine the future—help create it.