India’s first girls-only AI hackathon brings young women from underserved communities into technology innovation, producing 373 working prototypes
There is a particular kind of confidence in deciding you belong somewhere before anyone officially tells you so. That is what 6,151 young women from 23 Indian states did when they signed up for WitchHunt 2026 — India’s first AI hackathon built exclusively for girls and young women. Organised by HopeWorks Foundation, AI4India, and the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, the event did not ask participants from smaller towns and overlooked villages to catch up. It simply started with them.
From a Blank Page to a Working Product
Out of 1,250 registered teams, 779 presented concepts. After working with mentors for more than a month on their ideas at a series of bootcamp-type events focused on AI literacy, design thinking, and ethics, 373 prototypes were built, resulting in an approximately 30% submission-to-prototype ratio (approximately twice that achieved by most other hackathons). This number is significant because it is not simply a count of how many participated; it represents issues that have been addressed, considered, and built.
Solutions Born From Real Life
The largest subset of prototypes (128) focused on healthcare, with 275 ideas submitted. An individual from a rural community in Karnataka created an ATM for medicines; another person in a tier two city created a system to alert emergency responders and hospitals to road accident victims. The other categories were smart cities, education, and climate action.
Same Resources, Different Backgrounds
Students from premier technology institutes competed alongside girls from villages that most people cannot find on a map, using the same mentors. The top 40 teams presented in Bengaluru on June 13–14, competing for a total prize pool of Rs 18 lakh, with winners taking home Rs 2.5 lakh.
