Claude Builders Club @ MIT  ·  Spring Hackathon

Spring Sprint Hackathon

Date May 3, 2026
Time 12:00 – 5:00 PM
Location Stata 32-141
Team Size 1 – 3
Register on Luma →

Open to MIT students with a valid @mit.edu address  ·  Food & Boba provided

Sponsored by

Anthropic Jane Street HRT

The Theme

Machines of Loving Grace

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wrote an essay titled "Machines of Loving Grace" about a future in which AI helps eliminate disease, expand opportunity, strengthen democracy, and help people find meaning.

At this hackathon, we're hoping you'll build something that moves the needle, however small, toward a more humane world. Read the essay.

"Many of the implications of powerful AI are adversarial or dangerous, but at the end of it all, there has to be something we're fighting for, some positive-sum outcome where everyone is better off, something to rally people to rise above their squabbles and confront the challenges ahead. Fear is one kind of motivator, but it's not enough: we need hope as well."
Dario Amodei, Machines of Loving Grace (2024)

Challenge Tracks

Challenge tracks will be revealed at the opening ceremony.

Schedule

12:00 PM
Check-in opens + Boba
12:30 PM
Opening ceremony & Track Reveal
1:00 – 3:00 PM
Hack
3:00 – 4:00 PM
Lunch while judges deliberate
4:30 – 5:00 PM
Award ceremony

Prizes

First Place

$1,000

+ $750 in Anthropic credits

Second Place

$500

+ $500 in Anthropic credits

Third Place

$250

+ $250 in Anthropic credits

Free Claude Pro & API Credits

Anthropic requires participants to have attended at least one CBC meeting this semester to receive free Claude Pro and $25 in Claude API credits.

Haven't attended a meeting yet? Drop in to any of our office hours through Thursday to qualify. Fill out the attendance form carefully by Thursday night — you can stay as briefly as you like.

If you miss the Thursday deadline, you can still compete. You just won't have free Claude Pro or credits.

Already have Claude Pro?

Once you receive your activation code for the Free Pro Plan, you'll need to cancel your active subscription and let it expire before the code can be applied successfully.

Office Hours

Drop-in and unstructured. Most sessions are at the 3rd floor open space of iHQ, or join via Zoom.

If you need help installing Claude Code, please attend in person. It's much easier to troubleshoot live. Zoom is perfect if you just need to activate perks and can set up on your own.

View office hours schedule →

How to activate your perks

  1. Attend at least one CBC meeting or office hours session before Thursday
  2. Fill out the attendance form by Thursday night. Make sure you carefully follow the instructions for finding your org ID as described in the form.
  3. Your $25 API credits will be processed on Friday and applied directly to the org ID you submitted in step 2.
  4. Receive your Claude Pro activation code via email (this might take a while)
  5. Apply your activation code to unlock Free Claude Pro.

Format & Guidelines

Eligibility

  • Team sizes can be anywhere from 1–3 people
  • All team members must be MIT students with valid @mit.edu emails
  • All team members must have had their registration approved in advance on Luma
  • All members must be checked in at Stata 32-141 by 12:30 PM

Judging

  • Judges will evaluate valid submissions using the same rubric, which will be shared with all participants during the opening ceremony
  • Judging may occur via live or submitted recorded demos. We're still figuring this out based on RSVPs and volunteer availability.

Submission Rules

  • To ensure fairness, all submissions must be new builds
  • Submissions that build off of team members' other projects or past hackathon projects will be disqualified

Sponsors