Kazakhstan to Host World's Largest AI Hackathon HackAlem AI With OpenAI on September 23

On September 23, Astana will host HackAlem AI, one of the world's largest AI hackathons, bringing together thousands of developers, students, and IT enthusiasts from Kazakhstan and abroad. For the first time, OpenAI will serve as the event's official partner, giving local teams building AI agents and AI solutions direct exposure to a global industry leader.

Participants will get access to OpenAI's technology resources worth up to $1 million for building and launching their own AI solutions. Winners will additionally receive $100,000 in OpenAI API tokens, while the hackathon's total cash prize pool stands at $100,000 — $1.1 million in prizes and resources combined. Support at this scale from one of the AI industry's biggest names signals that Kazakhstan is becoming a visible point on the regional map for AI startups and AI agent development.

For a business owner, this is a reason to keep an eye on the teams and developers coming out of the hackathon — some may become future partners for bringing AI into your own operations. At 1Cifer, we see a direct benefit in this kind of activity: the more skilled developers building AI agent solutions the country has, the faster ready-made skills and integrations appear for the real tasks Kazakhstani businesses face.