When AI Got Real: Running AI Hackathon at Oddfest 2025
What Hosting a Live Hackathon Taught Me About Innovation, Speed, and the Future of Work.
Event Hosts: Mika Pyhämäki (Tech Business Coach) and Leandro Righini (Creative Director)
1. Corporate AI Talk Is Cheap
Across industries, artificial intelligence dominates leadership conversations. Boards want vision. Executives want results. Yet in most companies, AI remains stuck at the discussion stage.
There is no shortage of urgency or awareness. The issue is execution.
CIOs are often sitting on a large portfolio of AI concepts, pilots, and early-stage prototypes. But many of those initiatives never reach production or deliver value in day-to-day operations. The bottleneck is not technology. It is integration, leadership, and operational readiness.
At the same time, CEOs are under pressure to define what AI-First means for their business. They are expected to lead the narrative, reskill their workforce, and connect AI to revenue, margin, and long-term growth.
That pressure is real and it cannot be answered with another internal webinar or strategy slide.
2. A Format Built for Momentum
In June 2025, I co-hosted the first MXM Hack-AI-Thon at ODDfest in Helsinki. The original concept and format were created by Leandro Righini, Creative Director at Make X Media. I had the privilege of joining him to bring it to life.
The idea was simple. Create a controlled, time-bound environment where cross-functional creative teams use AI tools to solve a challenge in front of a live audience. Four invited teams. One surprise brief. Four hours to build and present.
To keep the challenge grounded in reality, all work had to be built using accessible AI-native tools. Teams used platforms of their choice like Runway, LTX Studio by Lightricks, ElevenLabs, ChatGPT, and VEO 3. These are tools generally available today. Moreover, the challenge was not capability, it was speed and clarity of creative execution.
The teams were given a licensed data set of the artist STIG (including his voice, visuals, and style) and asked to reimagine his identity using these tools. What they created was raw, surprising, and deeply original.
The AI Hackathon Venue was a cinema.
3. What Happened Under Pressure
Four hours. Constant iteration. Live interviews. Workflow check-ins. This was not about perfection. It was about progress.
Each team had to make decisions fast. Collaborate across skill sets. Choose tools wisely. And work toward something they could demonstrate in front of peers and strangers.
The outputs included a surreal storytelling engine, an AI-powered brand assistant, a generative music video, and a glitch-art version of the artist. But more important than the output was the behavior it triggered.
Alignment, humour, clarity, and real momentum appeared under pressure.
These are the conditions every executive team is looking to create in their own organization. This format helps surface them.
Feeling the flow before final team presentations.
4. Every Company Should Run One
This was not a creative showcase. It was a model for internal activation.
Every company trying to operationalize AI needs to create space for experience. Without it, teams rely on abstract knowledge and never move into confident execution. A one-day AI Hackathon reveals what’s already possible and creates results. It also exposes what is missing in the way teams think, plan, and collaborate.
Companies do not become AI-capable through passive learning. They get there by experimenting inside constraints and building together. That is where the cultural shift begins.
5. The Shift
At the end of the event, each team delivered something tangible. But the deeper value was in what changed during those four hours.
Participants stopped talking about AI as a future consideration. They started using it as a present-day tool. The conversation shifted from “what is possible” to “what should we do next together” That is the kind of shift companies need if they are serious about transformation.
Below is the full event recording on Youtube. Final presentations start at 3:40:00
See the full event recording on Youtube
6. Acknowledgments
This format and event would not have happened without real collaboration.
Special thanks to Leandro Righini, the original architect of the format and creative force throughout.
To Ronny Eriksson and Mirka Parenteau at ODDfest 2025 for backing the idea and setting the stage.
And to every team, participant, and supporter who made this a reality.
Congratulations to the Winner: Team Dagmar
8. Final Note
If your company is serious about becoming AI-First, it starts with action. Not more pilots. Not more planning cycles. Real progress begins when your people gain real experience under meaningful constraints.
We now offer structured AI Hackathons for companies ready to move from idea to execution. This format works — across industries, across functions, and across maturity levels.
If this resonates, contact me: official@mikapyhamaki.com
More information:
OddFest www.oddfest.co
MXM Media www.makexmedia.fi
