Welcome to the BigCommerce X Google BigAI Hackathon! 🚀

We’re stoked to have you join us for our first EVER AI-focused hackathon! We hope this resource provides you with everything you’d need to have success in this event & we can't wait to see what you build!

Happy Hacking!

🎒 Hack Pack

This is your "Hack Pack," a hackathon resource to help you navigate this competition.

Please take some time to get familiar with the content here and reach out to the BigCommerce SMEs above in the #bigai-hackathon channel in Slack if you have any questions as you review this resource.

It contains all details, pertinent information, and content to help you succeed in the BigAI Hackathon!

Hackathon Details

💥 Kickoff Date: Monday, August 7th @ 10am CST

💥 Days of Hacking: 10 days

💥 Closeout Date: Wednesday, August 16th @ 11:59pm CST

🔋 Summary:

In the BigCommerce x Google BigAI Hackathon, you’ll explore the intersection of artificial intelligence and ecommerce to design and build an innovative AI solution for the BigCommerce ecosystem that’s powered by Google’s AI solutions.

The goal is to improve the ecommerce experience for BigCommerce merchants and/or shoppers with Google’s AI solutions in a unique way!

🚀 BigAI Hackathon Prompt:

Using Generative AI in Google Cloud along with the BigCommerce platform, develop an AI-driven solution with large language models and Vertex AI that enhances the customer experience, efficiency, personalization, and/or profitability for BigCommerce merchants.

💡 Project Idea Suggestions:

Use these ideas to get your wheels turning! This is not a comprehensive list - ideas that are on this list and creative ideas that are not on this list are fair game.

AI-Powered Fashion Stylist
Real-time Price Negotiation
AI-Enhanced Augmented Reality
AI-Driven Dynamic Pricing
Pricing Optimization
Optimized Inventory Management
Customer Support Chatbot
Fraud Detection
Leverage AI to Improve or Generate Product Images
Analyze Customer Review Sentiment
Enhance the UI and Overall Shopping Experience
Product Recommendations
AI-Enhanced Accessibility Features
Image Recognition for Visual Search

🤝 Stay Connected

BigCommerceDevs, our Developer Slack Community Workspace, is where we are hosting the communication channel for the BigCommerce X Google BigAI Hackathon, #bigai-hackathon (opens in a new tab).

Twitter is where we will be sharing updates during and after the Hackathon! If you don't already follow @BigCommerceDevs (opens in a new tab), be sure to do so!

Youtube is where we'll be hosting events during the Hackathon! If you're not already subscribed to BigCommerceDevelopers (opens in a new tab), be sure to do so!

Get familiar with the names of our Hackathon SMEs, below or in our pinned Slack message (opens in a new tab), & say hello to fellow hackers in the channel!

💥 BigCommerce SMEs:

@Heather Barr (opens in a new tab) - Developer Community Programs Manager
@Katie Hoesley (opens in a new tab) - Senior Developer Advocate
@Patrick Williams (opens in a new tab) - Solutions Engineer
@George FitzGibbons (opens in a new tab) - Sales Engineer

💥 Google SMEs:

Live Speaker Events: Lineup & Links

Date	Topic	Description
Monday, August 7th @ 10 am CST	BigAI Hackathon Kickoff 🎉 (opens in a new tab)	Event Kickoff! Hosted by BigCommerce DevRel and joined by KeyNote speakers from Google + BigCommerce. Join us to hear why we're excited about this opportunity, what to expect during the next 10 days, as well as what resources and tools we've prepped for you! Bring your questions and let's hack!
Monday, August 7th @ 11am CST	Leveraging the BigCommerce Platform + Getting Started (opens in a new tab)	BigCommerce's Katie Hoesley, Sr Developer Advocate, & Nathan Booker, Director of Product Management - Platform, to discuss potential on the BigCommerce platform with your hackathon projects + a walk through of your Hack Pack.
Monday, August 7th @ 12pm CST	VertexAI & PaLM Deep Dive (opens in a new tab)	Google's Vertex & PaLM SMEs to demonstrate Vertex AI and PaLM API support in LangChain.
Monday, August 7th @ 12:30pm CST	Prompt Engineering with Vertex AI (opens in a new tab)	Join Google's team to discuss advanced prompt engineering and fine tuning in Vertex AI.
Tuesday, August 8th @ 10am CST	Generative AI Apps, Prototyping & Deploying (opens in a new tab)	Join SMEs from Google as they share insights on prototyping and deploying interactive generative AI apps with various web frameworks.
Tuesday, August 8th @ 11am CST	Vertex AI's Garden of Foundation Models (opens in a new tab)	Google's Vertex AI SME will review what it's like to work with Foundation Models in the Vertex AI Model Garden.
Tuesday, August 8th @ 12:30pm CST	Building BigCommerce Apps with App Extensions (opens in a new tab)	Things to remember (TTR) with building BigCommerce apps, installing on stores, testing, as well as working with app extensions. Q&A to follow -- Bring your questions!
Wednesday, August 9th @ 10am CST	LLMS + Search (opens in a new tab)	Part 1 of 2 Google sessions for the day to talk all things LLMS -- This session will dive into LLMs and embeddings for custom search with Vertex AI and Gen App Builder.
Wednesday, August 9th @ 10:30am CST	LLMS + Chat (opens in a new tab)	Back for part 2 -- Join the Google team as they discuss the potential with LLMs to create better customer chat/voice support experiences
Wednesday, August 9th @ 5pm	AI Considerations & Lessons Learned, Panel (opens in a new tab)	BigCommerce Panel, hosted by Katie Hoesley, Sr. Developer Advocate & joined by BigCommerce folks to discuss what we've learned through working with AI and tips on what to consider.
Thursday, August 10th @ 9:30am CST	Check-in & Q&A (opens in a new tab)	Join BigCommerce & Google DevRel teams for a touch base before the weekend so we can help you get ready for head's-down time!
Thursday, August 10th @ 11:30am CST	A Look Inside: What BigCommerce has been doing with AI (opens in a new tab)	BigCommerce's Heather Barr, Developer Community Program Manager, will be joined by BigCommerce folks as they share an inside look into what we, BigCommerce, have been doing with AI and why we're excited for the future of AI + Commerce.
Monday, August 14th @ 10am CST	Generative Imagery (opens in a new tab)	Join to hear from Google's SMEs as they share insights on generative imagery and text-to-image generation in Google Cloud.
Tuesday, August 15th @ 9:30am CST	BigAI Hackathon: Closeout Tips + What's Next (opens in a new tab)	Final session! Hosted by BigCommerce's DevRel team, this is time to discuss tips and must-knows for wrapping up your project, what to expect as we close out the event tips for recording your demos & answering any final questions you may have.

Official Rules

Please review our official rules.

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