AI Coding Sets a New Guinness Record: A 9-Year-Old Wins, Thousands Use AI to Build Applications at the Bund Hackathon

On September 9th, a new Guinness World Record was set at the Bund Conference.

The Bund Hackathon · AI Coding Competition has been certified by Guinness World Records, setting a new record for "the most applications developed in an online generative artificial intelligence coding marathon," becoming the first competition in China to challenge a world record with an AI Coding theme. The event attracted tens of thousands of participants, who completed thousands of AI application works, with nearly 70% of participants under 18 years old, and the youngest participant just 6 years old. Ultimately, a 9-year-old contestant won the championship.

This competition was initiated by the Bund Conference organizing committee, jointly organized by Xiaohongshu and Guazha, and co-hosted by more than ten leading AI Coding platforms in China. At the award ceremony, 11 leading AI Coding platforms jointly released the "AI Coding Open Challenge Technical Specification," transforming large-scale competition practices into industry standards. In the era of mass coding, this is also the first open challenge technical specification jointly formulated by multiple AI Coding platforms in China.

When tens of thousands of people start using AI to turn ideas into applications, "mass coding" has finally had a concrete large-scale sample. Hu Xiaowen, the official Guinness World Records certification officer, said: "Chinese participants are creating records in new ways and bringing the creativity of the AI era into this global 'achievement archive'."

 [Photo Caption: The Bund Hackathon · AI Coding Competition Breaks Guinness World Record]

A World Record Witnessing AI Coding Going Mainstream

The Guinness World Record challenged by this year's Bund Hackathon · AI Coding Competition is "the most applications developed in an online generative artificial intelligence coding marathon."

According to the record rules, participants needed to complete original application development online, with the work meeting the corresponding MVP standard and passing the official review and certification by Guinness World Records. Finally, the competition completed the record challenge with 15,577 application works.

For AI Coding, this record reflects not only the number of applications but also a large-scale real-world usage: when many applications are created by participants of different ages and backgrounds with the help of AI, AI Coding has moved from being a tool used by professional developers into broader public creation scenarios.

Hu Xiaowen, the official Guinness World Records certification officer, said: "Through the power of records, Guinness continues to witness human limits and creativity." She added that Chinese participants are creating records in new ways and bringing the creativity of the AI era into this global "achievement archive."

The organizer of the competition, the Bund Conference organizing committee, stated that the purpose of initiating the Bund Hackathon · AI Coding Competition was to let more people see how AI is changing the barriers to creation through a real large-scale AI creative practice. When more and more people can use AI to turn their ideas into applications, AI Coding will move from being a specialized skill mastered by a few developers to a broader form of mass creation.

From 6-Year-Old Children to Working Professionals, More and More People Are Using AI to Create

Nearly 70% of participants were under 18, with the youngest participant being just 6 years old. A 9-year-old, Luo Ang'e, used AI to create "Soil Lab: The Transformation of Soil," turning her experience at a ceramics summer camp in Jiangxi into an online digital museum. She continuously interacted with AI using natural language, iterating her work to version V7.4 within two days and ultimately winning first prize.

In her view, AI is like the clay her father played with as a child, "making the ideas in my mind come to life." "I'm lucky to have experienced both. Real clay gave me the experience, and AI helped me turn it into a game," she said. Her biggest insight was, "Many things I didn't understand before, but after collaborating with AI, I began to understand a little bit."

[Photo Caption: Young participants show their AI-created works at the Bund Conference]

Another 9-year-old contestant, Ge Ruihang, created "Geometry Lab," turning abstract geometric formulas into interactive learning tools through drag-and-drop and interaction.

Participants also came from different professions and life situations.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University doctoral student Yang Peijie developed a pet care assistant called "PawPilot" based on more than a decade of pet-raising experience and over 300 user surveys. Wang Mengqi, a post-90s accessibility volunteer, developed "ScriptGrid" to improve the efficiency of AI-generated audio descriptions for accessibility. Wang Yiting, a 24-year-old Tencent strategy product manager, developed a parking demand matching tool called "Parking Genie" after visiting three old residential areas and completing over 200 questionnaires.

They are not all programmers, yet they all turned specific ideas into functioning applications through AI.

From children and students to product managers and accessibility volunteers, more and more people who were originally unrelated to programming are now using AI to participate in digital creation.

11 Leading Platforms Unite to Explore New Rules for AI Coding

Alongside the change in participants, the joint participation of 11 domestic leading AI Coding platforms made this competition an industry gathering.

This competition was initiated by the Bund Conference organizing committee, jointly organized by Xiaohongshu and Guazha, and co-hosted by more than ten leading AI Coding platforms in China. Domestic mainstream AI Coding platforms such as Lingguang from Ant Group, QMUSE, WeaveFox, Baidu Xiaoda, Alibaba Qoder, Xiaowu, Alibaba Cloud BaiLian, Tencent Tusi, ByteDance Koushi, SenseTime Xiaoquan, and 360 Nano collectively participated in this AI Coding challenge aimed at the general public.

[Photo Caption: The First "AI Coding Open Challenge Technical Specification" Was Released at the Bund Conference]

As the users of AI Coding expand from professional developers to students, product managers, entrepreneurs, and even ordinary users, the challenges faced by platforms have changed: it's no longer just about writing code faster, but also enabling people without programming experience to accurately express their needs and ultimately turn their ideas into functional applications.

Li Xiang, the operations director of Ant Group's Lingguang, said that AI Coding changes not only the efficiency of writing code, but also who creates software and how it is created. It is transforming software from an engineering capability mastered by professionals into a creative medium accessible to more people, shifting the birth of digital products from "starting with technology" to "starting with ideas."

Zhu Guangxiang, product director of Baidu Xiaoda, said that when students, product managers, entrepreneurs, and ordinary users become users of AI Coding, the industry faces not only the issue of code efficiency, but more importantly, ensuring that more people's ideas are accurately understood and ultimately realized.

With the change in participants and creative methods, the AI Coding industry is beginning to face some new common issues: what qualifies as a completed application? How to ensure the originality of the work? What evaluation criteria should be established for a public AI Coding competition?

At the Bund Conference, the 11 participating platforms jointly released the "AI Coding Open Challenge Technical Specification," forming industry consensus on application development, originality, and completion standards.