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Confronting AI Injustice, Creating Ethical Futures
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A Hybrid Tech and Policy Hackathon
February 6 - 20, 2026
Registration opens in November!
Online hate is on the rise, leading to real-world devastating effects on individuals and communities around the world. Join Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, Pitt, and other undergrad and grad students from Pittsburgh at a multidisciplinary hackathon to develop new tech and policy solutions that mitigate online hate and create safer communities.
What is Hacking4Humanity?
Hacking4Humanity is a tech and policy hackathon for undergraduate and graduate students, which offers students a new way to engage with real-world social problems that can be improved with novel technical and policy solutions.
Who can participate?
Any undergraduate and graduate student currently enrolled at a college or university in the greater Pittsburgh area can participate! No experience needed or special knowledge of "online hate" needed!
Is this an individual or team thing?
Students can compete in teams of 1-4 people can compete in either the tech track or the policy track, with multiple CASH prizes available in both tracks! Prizes will be announced closer to the event.
You said tech AND policy, what does that mean?
The 2025 hackathon will have two tracks, tech solutions and policy solutions in which teams will address challenges under the general topic of online hate. When you register, you will pick one of the tracks to compete. Each track will have its own set of requirements, guidelines, and judges. Tech teams will be building new tech, like websites, apps, robots, plugins, etc. Policy teams will be creating/writing new policies, improving on old ones, or coming up with new policy guidelines.
How does a hybrid hackathon work?
We will have a virtual kickoff on Feb 6 and the work of the hackathon will be done individually by each team between Feb 6 and Feb 20. On Friday, February 20, all teams and judges will come together IN PERSON for the competition and presentation at Duquesne University's Power Center. There will be good food and many prizes!
What if I've never done anything like this before?
You should sign up anyway! There's even a spot on the registration form for people that don't have teams yet. And on top of that, not everyone needs to be a programmer or a policy wonk! Good tech requires people of lots of skills to come together--graphic designers, communicators, writers, scientists, and more. We'll be providing lots of resources to help people develop great projects...
I'm in! How do I sign up?
Great! Register opens soon!! But before you register, talk to your friends--hackathons are ALWAYS more fun with a team!
Hacking4Humanity is a collaborative effort from the following organizations:
The Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology, and Law at Duquesne University
Pitt Cyber: The Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security
The Sara Fine Institute at the University of Pittsburgh
Center for Applied Research on Targeted Violence
Community College of Allegheny County
The Center for Informed Democracy and Social-cybersecurity Research Group at CMU
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