HackTech 2026 — Caltech, Pasadena

Simulate
Humanity

Build a simulation of humans or societies. Model how people think, argue, change their minds, and influence each other. More details at the keynote.

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Can you simulate how
humans really think?

Humans don't just process information — they argue, persuade, change their minds, and influence each other in complex, unpredictable ways. Today's AI can mimic language, but can it model the messy reality of human cognition and social dynamics?

Listen Labs is hosting a challenge at HackTech to find out. We're looking for builders who can create simulations of people and societies — from modeling how a school of fish coordinates without a leader, to how political opinions shift in a social network.

Full challenge details will be shared at the keynote. Come ready to build.

The Challenge

What would it take to simulate a society?

Pick any slice of human or social behavior and simulate it. Model a school of fish coordinating without a leader. Build agents that argue about politics and actually change their minds. Simulate how a rumor jumps from person to person through a network.

Use LLMs, agent frameworks, game theory, network simulations, or anything else you can get your hands on. We care about the insight, not the stack.

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Questions to get you started

How do humans change their mind?

What triggers a genuine belief shift vs. surface-level agreement?

What arguments are actually convincing?

Is it logic, emotion, social proof — or something else entirely?

How does information propagate?

Rumors, news, misinformation — model how ideas spread through groups.

Are all humans in a society created equal?

How do power dynamics, influence, and asymmetry shape collective behavior?

How do you model interactions between different people?

Personality, culture, incentives — what drives how agents interact?

Can you quantify how accurate your predictions are?

Ground your simulation in data. Measure it against something real.

Rewards

Prizes

Cash prize and a career opportunity at Listen Labs.

$3,000
Grand Prize
Awarded to the team with the most compelling and creative simulation of human behavior.
Interview
Listen Labs
Top teams get a direct interview for an internship or full-time role at Listen Labs.

About Listen

Turning hours of research into insights — instantly

The Listen Labs team
A small team
With big ambition
  • 50+ builders from Jane Street, Twitter, Stripe, Affirm, Bain, Goldman Sachs, and many more Sequoia-backed startups.
  • Serial entrepreneurs, former co-founders, and engineers/operators from top universities — Stanford, Caltech, UC Berkeley, Harvard, UPenn, and more — with IOI/ICPC backgrounds.
  • Culture of craft, curiosity, and excellence.
You're not joining a company.
You're helping build one.
  • Listen Labs is at an inflection point, turning early traction into scalable growth.
  • Meaningful equity, real ownership, and long-term upside.
  • High-ownership roles defining how we build, ship, and scale from zero to one.
Questions

FAQ

Everything you need to know about the challenge.

Who can participate?
Any current college student registered for HackTech 2026 can participate in the Listen Labs challenge track. All skill levels welcome.
Do I need a team?
Teams of 1–4 are welcome. If you don't have a team, we'll have a team formation session at the start of the event.
What tools or frameworks can I use?
Anything goes — LLMs, agent frameworks, game theory libraries, custom code, network simulation tools. Use whatever helps you build the best simulation.
How will projects be judged?
Projects will be evaluated on creativity, technical execution, and how well the simulation captures real aspects of human behavior. A live demo is required.
What is Listen Labs?
Listen Labs builds AI-led user research tools that help companies understand their customers through AI-moderated interviews at scale. Learn more at listenlabs.ai.
Partners

Sponsors

Don't guess. Simulate.

April 26–27, 2026 • Caltech, Pasadena

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