Innovative Speech AI Projects Shine at 2024 AssemblyAI Hackathon

The 2024 AssemblyAI Hackathon held in New York City became a platform for developers to showcase innovative Speech AI projects using AssemblyAI's advanced tools. The event, which took place on December 6th in the vibrant SoHo district, brought together coders of all skill levels to collaborate and compete.

The Hackathon Experience

Participants were encouraged to create new applications with AssemblyAI’s leading Speech AI API. This initiative aimed to foster community connections among developers and AI enthusiasts, while also promoting healthy competition. Attendees were provided with free credits and on-site support to help them integrate AssemblyAI's technologies into their projects effectively.

Creative Innovations

Teams, many formed spontaneously, worked diligently on their projects throughout the day. The AssemblyAI team offered guidance, helping participants navigate through the company's documentation and explore various features of the API. Attendees utilized resources such as whiteboards and portable monitors to brainstorm and develop their ideas, with some even using microphones to test speech-to-text functionalities.

Project Presentations

As the day progressed, teams prepared to present their creations to a panel of judges, including Christy Roach, VP of Marketing at AssemblyAI, and Senior ML Developer Advocate Smitha Kolan. The projects spanned a wide range of applications, demonstrating how AssemblyAI’s Speech AI models could unlock new possibilities in leveraging voice data for innovative solutions.

Winning Projects

The top prize went to the project Dealty, created by Slavik Kaushan and Mario Uribe. This innovative tool facilitates real estate investment deals by using AssemblyAI's streaming speech-to-text and entity detection models. The project involved generating a real-estate deal call, transcribing it, and extracting key details to populate a user interface in real-time.

The runner-up was Muse, a mental health journaling assistant developed by Arjun Sivakumar, Ritvij Saxena, and Siddharth Prabhakaran. This application, which the AssemblyAI team found particularly compelling, leverages Speech AI to support mental health through structured journaling.

A special mention was given to Say What, a project by Stuart Allen, Nikki Hu, Kirk Enbysk, and Peter Shrieve-Don. This interactive learning tool turns audio clips into transcriptions, creating a guessing game that engages users in a fun and educational manner.

Continuing Connections

The event concluded with a happy hour, allowing participants to network further and discuss their methodologies. AssemblyAI's hackathon is part of its ongoing effort to connect with and support the developer community. Interested individuals are encouraged to join AssemblyAI's Discord channel and subscribe to their newsletter for more opportunities to engage and innovate.

For more details, visit the AssemblyAI blog.