ENU Students Win Third Place at Guinness World Record-Breaking HackAlem AI Hackathon

Students from the Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Sciences at L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University secured third place at the international HackAlem AI Hackathon held in Astana.

On September 23, 2026, HackAlem AI set a Guinness World Record for the largest number of participants in an artificial intelligence hackathon. A total of 2,415 participants were officially counted for the record, which was verified by Guinness World Records.

Nikita Yatskevich, a student of the Computer Engineering and Software programme, and Nurbol Nurpeisov and VibeOps team captain Arlan Zhandos, both students of the Information Systems programme, secured third place in the Creative Industries category as members of the VibeOps team.

The team developed an AI-powered assistant designed to facilitate contractor selection for event management. The solution analyzes customer requirements, recommends three suitable contractors from a catalogue, and provides explanations for each recommendation.

For their achievement, the team received a USD 2,000 cash prize from Astana Hub and USD 2,000 worth of OpenAI API tokens.

This achievement demonstrates the practical competencies of ENU students in artificial intelligence and their ability to develop innovative digital solutions addressing real-world challenges.