about this event
🔐 Build City × NEAR Legion: Private AI Hackathon NYC — Build with AI. Protect Your Data. Ship Something Real. Join developers, AI engineers, founders, researchers, and entrepreneurs for a full day of learning, technical discussions, collaboration, and hands-on building with Private AI in New York City. Explore how confidential computing, private AI inference, data ownership, and agentic applications can shape the next generation of AI products. Whether you're an experienced engineer, startup founder, student, or curious builder, come with an idea or find a team and build something real.
🎟️ Ready to Build with Us? Spaces are limited. Reserve your spot and join NYC's builder community for a day of learning, collaboration, and hands-on Private AI development. Register now to secure your place! Come with an idea, bring your laptop, find your team, and let's build something real.
🚀 What Is Private AI? Most AI applications send information to cloud servers for processing. But what happens when that information is sensitive, confidential, or personally identifiable? Private AI introduces a different approach. Using Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), AI workloads can run inside hardware-isolated environments, helping keep sensitive data confidential—even from the infrastructure provider. At this hackathon, we'll explore: Private AI inference through NEAR AI Cloud; Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs); confidential computing and data protection; privacy, data ownership, and secure information sharing; building AI agents and applications using private inference. The goal is to move beyond discussing possibilities and start building practical applications.
🌎 Be Part of the Global NEAR Hackathon. Global Hackathon: November 1–14, 2026. Join the worldwide NEAR builder community and turn your ideas into real products. $250,000 global prize pool; 13 building tracks; solo builders and teams welcome; two weeks to build, experiment, and submit projects. 🔗 NEAR HACKATHON — Build What's Next: https://share.google/tUZDeF5CMBCaguZ34. One day in NYC. Two weeks to build globally. The NYC event is an opportunity to learn, connect with fellow builders, explore the technology, and kick-start projects that can continue throughout the global hackathon.
🗓️ Event Schedule: 9:00–9:45 AM — Registration, Breakfast & Networking; 9:45–11:30 AM — Welcome, Introduction & Technical Talks; 11:30 AM–1:00 PM — Team Formation & Initial Building; 1:00–1:30 PM — Lunch & Networking; 1:30–4:30 PM — Building & Mentorship; 4:30–5:30 PM — Project Demos & Showcase; 5:30–6:00 PM — Closing & Networking.
🎤 TECHNICAL TALKS & SESSIONS. Hear from builders and industry practitioners exploring emerging technologies, practical applications, and new ideas across AI, privacy, security, and agentic systems. 1. Build with ICM & Introduction to the Builders Cafe Community — Tony Singh: explore Interpretable Context Methodology (ICM), how structured folders and plain-text files can make AI workflows more transparent, inspectable, and easier to build, and learn about the Builders Cafe community. 2. Confidential Computing — Navneet Shrivastava: understand confidential computing, Trusted Execution Environments, and how private AI inference can protect sensitive information during computation. 3. Privacy, Data Security, Ownership & Sharing — Vikas Malhotra: explore the principles of data privacy, secure information sharing, data ownership, and building applications that respect user control. 4. Agentic Commerce — Sathya Krishnasamy: explore how AI agents can participate in commerce, coordinate transactions, and enable new possibilities for autonomous and intelligent business workflows. These sessions are designed to provide practical context for the hands-on building activities.
🛠️ BUILD & EXPERIMENT. Turn ideas into working prototypes. Build applications using private AI inference through NEAR AI Cloud. Potential project directions: Healthcare & Personal Data — AI applications that handle sensitive information privately; Finance & Legal — tools that work with confidential documents and workflows; AI Agents — agents that handle private information, credentials, or transactions; Agentic Commerce — AI-powered transactions, intelligent commerce workflows, and autonomous agents; Community & Nonprofits — open-source tools addressing real-world problems; Business Automation — AI-powered workflows with privacy and human oversight. Work independently or form a team of up to four participants. Solo builders are welcome. Mentors will be available to help with NEAR AI Cloud, ICM, private inference, and project development.
🏆 DEMO & SHOWCASE. Show the community what you've built. Present your project to fellow builders and mentors. Showcase working prototypes. Share your approach, technical implementation, and learnings. Selected finalists present their projects. Get feedback and explore opportunities to continue building. Your project can also be submitted to the global NEAR Hackathon.
👩💻 Who Should Participate? Whether you're experienced or just getting started, you're welcome. Software developers and AI engineers; AI agent builders and researchers; startup founders and entrepreneurs; students and aspiring developers; data engineers and technology professionals; designers, product thinkers, and problem solvers; anyone curious about the future of Private AI. You don't need a fully formed idea. Come with curiosity, find collaborators, and build something together.
🎒 What to Bring: laptop and charger; your preferred AI coding assistant such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, or another tool; a NEAR AI Cloud account (recommended to create before the event); an idea, or simply the willingness to collaborate and experiment.
📍 Event Details. Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2026. Time: 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM ET. Venue: The Wilson. Address: 132 W 27th St, New York, NY 10001. Hosted by: Build City × NEAR Legion City Node.
🤝 About Build City. Build City brings together developers, founders, researchers, and entrepreneurs to learn, build, and connect. Through technical discussions, hands-on workshops, research-driven meetups, and hackathons, we create opportunities for people to exchange ideas, experiment with emerging technologies, and build meaningful products together. Our focus is simple: Meet, Learn & Ship. Come Learn. Build Privately. Build Together. One day of learning and experimentation in NYC. Two weeks of global building with NEAR. Let's turn ideas into working products and explore what's possible with Private AI. 🎟️ RSVP Now — Join Us in NYC on November 11! Hosted by NEAR Legion City Node: Build City.
tracks
Healthcare & Personal Data
AI applications that handle sensitive information privately.
Finance & Legal
Tools that work with confidential documents and workflows.
AI Agents
Agents that handle private information, credentials, or transactions.
Agentic Commerce
AI-powered transactions, intelligent commerce workflows, and autonomous agents.
Community & Nonprofits
Open-source tools addressing real-world problems.
Business Automation
AI-powered workflows with privacy and human oversight.
when
NEAR Private AI Hackathon NYC
Full-day program: registration and breakfast, welcome and technical talks, team formation and building, lunch, building and mentorship, project demos and showcase, closing and networking.
◍ The WilsonGlobal NEAR Hackathon
Two-week global NEAR Hackathon with a $250,000 prize pool and 13 building tracks; projects started at the NYC event can be submitted.
◍ Onlinetickets
| tickets | price | Fee | Status | description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Admission | Free | None | Available | Free RSVP; spaces are limited, so reserve your spot in advance. |
prizes
| # | PRIZE | price |
|---|---|---|
| Global NEAR Hackathon | $250,000 global prize pool across 13 building tracks | $250,000 |