Entries for the 2016 edition of the Entelect challenge are officially open.
Coders and graphical user interface (GUI) specialists are invited to take part in writing an artificial intelligence (AI) program that can creatively outsmart opponents, and stand to win a share of R200 000 cash.
The challenge, formerly known as the Entelect 100K challenge, tests the creativity and programming skills of entrants, and is open to contestants of all levels, including students, novice coders and professional developers, says the software solutions company.
Tomislav Ravic, team lead at Entelect, says the firm is excited to enter the fifth year of this annual AI challenge, which he believes is becoming an important fixture in the local software development community calendar.
"Each year we strive to make the challenge a more exciting, inclusive and attractive competition for the local developer community and this year's effort is a great stride forward in this regard.
"We see the Entelect challenge as an opportunity to connect our community of hobbyists and developers, to experience the fun side of software engineering that we don't always get exposed to in our day to day work," he explains.
Entelect sent out a survey earlier this year to find out what changes potential entrants wanted to see in the annual challenge, he notes.
"After having run the competition for four years, we thought it was an appropriate time to ask the community to tell us what they would like to see changed or included in this year's challenge. As a result of the responses received from the survey, we have split the prize money significantly, enhancing it from last year's total of R165 000 to this year's R200 000, so that the top eight finalists will get prizes, with the top three getting R70 000, R35 000 and R25 000 respectively," he points out.
In having prizes significantly more tiered this year, he adds, more winners will benefit from the prize money and the competition will be more inclusive and give contestants a greater chance of taking something home.
Entries close on 2 September, with a play-off event on 17 September.
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