More than 300 students from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, participated in a 24-hour hackathon that challenged them to develop solutions for emerging problems in artificial intelligence, deepfakes and insurance fraud.
The ADROSONIC Build, organised by technology company Adrosonic in collaboration with BIT Mesra, was held on October 3 and 4. More than 106 teams took part, with 21 teams shortlisted for the final round.
Unlike conventional coding competitions, the hackathon was built around problems drawn from industry. The challenges focused on precision retrieval in generative AI systems, detection of synthetic identities and deepfake-based insurance claims, and the use of agentic AI in the insurance sector.
What were students asked to build?
One of the challenges involved designing a vector database for large-scale precision retrieval in Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems.
RAG systems combine large language models with external information sources. The challenge required teams to work on high-precision retrieval while also considering latency and scalability when dealing with large volumes of data.
Another problem focused on an AI-powered synthetic identity and deepfake claim detection system. Students worked on ways to identify artificially generated or manipulated identities and information that could be used to create fraudulent insurance claims.
The third challenge involved an agentic AI system for Statement of Values (SOV) intelligence in insurance. Teams were asked to explore how autonomous or semi-autonomous AI systems could process and analyse information used in the insurance sector.
The 21 shortlisted teams then had 24 hours to build, test and demonstrate their solutions, with Adrosonic professionals mentoring the participants during the final round.
Which teams won?
Team Nautilus won the grand prize of Rs 30,000 for its solution focused on synthetic identity and deepfake claim detection.
Team Fantastic Four and Team OutLiers won Rs 20,000 each. Fantastic Four developed an agentic AI system for insurance Statement of Values intelligence, while OutLiers worked on precision retrieval for RAG systems.
Adrosonic's evaluation focused not only on whether the technology worked, but also on whether teams understood the problem, could explain why their solution mattered and had developed something that was feasible to implement.
Why are students being given industry problems?
The hackathon is part of a wider industry-academia partnership between Adrosonic and BIT Mesra that began in 2022.
The collaboration led to the establishment of the Digital Innovation Lab (DIL) at BIT Mesra in 2024, with an investment of around Rs 5 crore. The facility gives students access to technologies and infrastructure related to artificial intelligence, machine learning, large language models and data science.
The partnership has also expanded into fellowship programmes, industry-led initiatives and mentorship opportunities, giving students opportunities to work with professionals outside the classroom.
Dr Manish Kumar Pandey, head of the Digital Innovation Lab and Department of Quantitative Economics and Data Science at BIT Mesra, said the challenge for students is about applying what they know to situations that are uncertain and complex, rather than simply possessing technical knowledge.
Kamlesh Yadav, head of innovation at Adrosonic, said hackathons allow students to test theories against practical problems while developing teamwork, problem-solving and execution skills.