Teaching the Machine, Serving the Message..
The AI Challenge Serving Islamic Content
Since Registration and screening ended
About
A challenge shaping the future of Islamic digital content
A global challenge to build smart, reliable and sustainable tech solutions that serve Islamic digital content and contribute to meaningful cross-cultural dialogue and global awareness of Islam.
It aims to find and nurture the innovative projects that address the challenges facing Islamic content, such as
Prizes
Five places for participants to compete for, worth
200,000 Saudi Riyals
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4th place
15,000 Saudi Riyals
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2nd place
50,000 Saudi Riyals
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1st place
100,000 Saudi Riyals
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3rd place
25,000 Saudi Riyals
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5th place
10,000 Saudi Riyals
Challenge tracks
Choose where to make your mark in serving Islamic content
Knowledge Dialogue & Trusted Answers
Develop conversational solutions with accurate, context-aware answers tailored to the user’s background, grounded in trusted sources, with referral to specialists when needed.
Multilingual Content Creation & Cultural Localisation
Build solutions to translate and adapt Islamic content across languages and cultures, preserving its meaning, ensuring terminological accuracy, and fitting the target culture.
Interactive Experiences & Learning Journeys for Islam
Create engaging, interactive learning experiences to help users learn through contemporary approaches beyond passive content consumption.
Knowledge & Verification Tools for Islamic Outreach
Develop tools that empower researchers and specialists in Islamic outreach to quickly access reliable knowledge, verify content and sources, and assess the evidences.
Open Track: Innovative Solutions for Introducing Islam
AI-powered solutions for cross-cultural dialogue and introducing people to Islam that combine multiple tracks or do not fit the four other tracks.
Target Audience
Who can take part in the challenge
- Innovators & Creatives
- University Students
- Academics & Linguists
- UX Designers
- Data Scientists & AI Specialists
- Entrepreneurs & Startups
- Nonprofit Organizations
Challenge details
Everything you need to know before registering
- Challenge days
- 4 - 6 October 2026 (Online)
- Challenge duration
- ~ 3 weeks, from the start of the challenge to the closing ceremony
- How the challenge is attended
- Remote - only in person at the closing ceremony
- Team size
- Participate individually or as a team of 2–5 members
- Closing ceremony
- 26 October 2026 (in Ryiadh)
Scope of participation
Global participation: remote registration with no geographic restrictions. Any team from any country can take part and compete for the prizes.
Timeline
The stages of the challenge, from registration to the crowning
Workshops
We walk with you, with training and mentorship, from idea to product
Workshop: Business-model Innovation - from Idea to Opportunity
Turn ideas into viable business opportunities that can be tested, validated, and scaled.
02 October 2026 — 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Ftoon AIshehri
Workshop: LLMs and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
A practical introduction to understanding large language models and improving their accuracy with trusted knowledge sources.
02 October 2026 — 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Nahedh Alharbi
Workshop: AI-Assisted Agentic Software Development
Leverage AI agents to accelerate development, generate code, and automate testing.
03 October 2026 — 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Hasan Alshikh
Workshop: AI-Powered UI & UX Design
Use AI tools to design user journeys and build intuitive, accessible interfaces.
03 October 2026 — 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Reem Al Hayzae
Partners
Organisations making an impact with us
Participation terms
The participation framework and its rules
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Participation is open worldwide to third-sector organisations, developers, designers, artificial-intelligence specialists, innovators, students and interested individuals, with no specific field required. Participation by anyone under 18 or lacking legal capacity requires the consent of their guardian or legal representative.
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Organisations take part through an authorised representative, with proof of the authority to represent them and of their rights in the project. The prize belongs to the organisation unless another written agreement is established before acceptance, and its ownership of individuals' contributions is not assumed without a basis.
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Each person has one idea and one entry, either individually or in a team of two to five members including the leader; the two may not be combined, a project may not be entered twice, and no one may join two teams.
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Registration is through the challenge portal with accurate details. Each member's invitation reaches their email, and they can confirm joining, complete their details and accept the documents at any time until the registration stage closes. While the team is waiting to be completed, the team leader can edit the content and manage the invited members. A member does not count towards the team until they have confirmed joining.
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The project must keep to one of the approved tracks and to the content controls, the academic documentation and the participant guide made available, observing Saudi regulations and the rights of others, and obtaining licences for its components and the consent of rights holders.
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An earlier project may be entered once its state has been documented and its components and third-party rights disclosed; only the new work done during the challenge days, 4 to 6 October 2026, is assessed.
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What is required is a complete product that can be run and tested and that carries out the whole use case, with an explanation of how it runs and of its limits; an idea, non-working interfaces or an incomplete prototype are not enough.
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Synthetic or fully anonymised data is used, and uploading real conversations or records of beneficiaries, or publishing personal or sensitive data, secret keys or components not authorised for publication, is prohibited.
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Information is kept confidential and files are made available to authorised people only as far as needed. Technical services and hosting may be used subject to the data, licensing and confidentiality controls, and a non-disclosure agreement may be required for undisclosed information.
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The project is submitted through the portal by 11:59 pm on 6 October 2026 Riyadh time, together with the operating documentation, the record of sources and licences, the presentation, a video of no more than two minutes and a public GitHub repository for the code that may be published.
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Keep your submission receipt. In the event of a general outage, send a documented report to [email protected]; after verification an alternative or a uniform extension is announced for those affected, and email is not a routine substitute for submission.
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Entries are assessed against the announced criteria, weights and tie-breaking rules, with decisions made by people and controls for conflicts of interest. Up to 20 projects are nominated for the final, and up to five winning entries are chosen after verification and after any material objection has been dealt with.
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The competition and judging are held remotely, and attendance is required at sessions announced in advance as mandatory for the members named in them. The workshops and attending the ceremony in person are optional, and attending the ceremony is not a condition of winning or of the prize.
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Ownership of the project remains with its rights holders. The Terms and Conditions set out the licences for assessment, use and completion, their durations and their consideration; no extended licence arises merely from registering or qualifying.
FAQs
Answers to the most frequently asked questions
Who can register?
Participation is open worldwide to third-sector organisations, developers, designers, artificial-intelligence specialists, innovators, students and interested individuals, with no mandatory field of study. An organisation needs an authorised representative and proof of its rights in the project, and anyone under 18 or lacking legal capacity needs the acceptance of their guardian or legal representative, whose standing is verified.
How many members may a team have? Is individual entry available?
Entry is individual or in a team of two to five members including the leader, and the same limit applies to teams entering in an organisation's name. If one member remains after the others withdraw, they may continue individually provided they meet the eligibility, the requirements and the rights to use the project's contributions.
How do I form a team, and how do its members confirm they have joined?
Agree the roles and rights with your members, then the team leader registers their own details and the project's and invites the members through the platform. The invitation reaches each member by email, and a member can confirm joining, complete their details and accept the documents at any time until the registration stage ends. While the team is waiting to be completed, the team leader can edit the project's content and manage the list of invited members, including inviting other members or replacing members who have not confirmed.
I have more than one idea — can I register them all?
No. Each person has one entry and one idea, individually or in a team. The two may not be combined, nor may anyone join two teams or submit the same project in more than one entry.
Can I change the idea, the track or the members?
Yes. The team leader can change the idea or the project's content, the track and the list of invited members until the team is complete. Once all the team's members have accepted and the team is complete, a 72-hour period is given to edit the project's details or content, and the right to edit ends as soon as the registration stage closes, even if the 72 hours have not run out. After registration closes and the team and track are fixed, no members can be added or replaced and no changes can be made to the project. Withdrawal remains possible under the approved rules, with the rights in contributions preserved and the solution developed within the accepted idea.
Show more.
Can I enter an existing project?
Yes, provided you disclose its state and document the starting version before 4 October 2026; only the new work done from 4 to 6 October is assessed. You must state what was added and evidence the licences and approvals for pre-existing components and the rights of employers, universities and third parties.
When are registration, the challenge and submission?
Registration opens on 13 September 2026 and closes on 29 September at 11:59 pm. The challenge runs from 4 to 6 October, with final submission on 6 October at 11:59 pm; all times are Riyadh time (UTC+3). The final judging sessions are announced through the official channels.
What are the side activities and their dates?
Accepted teams are announced on 30 September 2026. The introductory meeting, for accepted teams only, is on 1 October and attending it is mandatory; the first and second workshops are on 2 October, and the third and fourth, open to the public, on 3 October. The platform sets out the times and the registration links, and attendance is fully remote.
Where is the challenge held? Is attendance mandatory?
The competition and judging are remote. Attendance is required at sessions announced in advance as mandatory for the members named, and the workshops are optional. The closing ceremony is on 26 October 2026 by invitation; attending it is optional and a team may be represented by one member. If a mandatory activity cannot be attended, tell the challenge team so that an alternative can be considered; a team is not excluded automatically because a member is absent.
Are travel and accommodation costs covered?
No. The challenge and its judging are remote, and anyone who chooses to attend the closing ceremony by invitation bears their own travel, accommodation, transport and visa costs. Attending in person is not a condition of the prize.
Is presenting an idea or an interface design enough?
No. What is required is a complete product, ready to run and test, that carries out the whole use case, with an explanation of how it runs and of its limits. Attach the code that may be published in a public GitHub repository, a presentation, a video of no more than two minutes and the record of sources, tools and licences. Synthetic or fully anonymised data is used, with no real conversations or beneficiary records, secrets, or components not permitted for publication.
What do I do if a general outage prevents me from submitting?
Write to [email protected] with the subject «تعذر التسليم – رقم المشاركة», with evidence of the outage, the time of your attempt and a private link to the ready copy, before the deadline or as soon as whatever prevented you from reporting has passed. After verification an alternative or a uniform extension is announced for those affected. Keep your submission receipt: email is not a routine substitute for the portal, and never send login details or secret keys.
What language is used to present? Is there a template and a logo?
You may present in Arabic or English, using the standard template or your own provided it follows the announced identity. The logo and the identity materials made available are used for the purposes of the entry only, without distortion or any suggestion of commercial endorsement or another partnership.
Who owns the project, and what are the rights to use it?
Ownership remains with the rights holders, and every entry is subject to a limited licence for assessment, managing the entry and publicising it. The extended licence for the winner is non-exclusive and is tied to the final notice of winning, valid acceptance and the prize, and operation or completion does not begin before the prize is paid; for a non-winner it requires a written support-and-licence agreement. Use is non-profit, and the Terms and Conditions set out the scope, durations, consideration, exceptions and the team's priority in completion.
What is required if the project is selected for completion?
The final-submission version is handed over with its editable files, operating documentation and record of components and licences within 14 days of the effective selection notice — and for a non-winner, after the support-and-licence agreement takes effect and is notified. Delivery is limited to what the team has the right to hand over, without real beneficiary data, personal passwords or secret keys, and with instructions for setting up an alternative environment. Any new work requires a separate agreement.
Can I withdraw after acceptance?
Yes, through portal support or [email protected], giving the entry number and stating whether a member or the whole team is withdrawing; it takes effect from receipt of the request, and a leader does not withdraw on behalf of the other members without authority. Obligations and licences already in force remain within their scope, duration and delivery periods; merely nominating a non-winner creates no obligation to an extended licence without an accepted agreement, and no new licence is imposed by selecting an entry after it has withdrawn.
How do I object to an acceptance, a result or an exclusion?
Write to [email protected] with the subject «اعتراض على نتيجة – رقم المشاركة», setting out a calculation error or serious indications of a conflict of interest or a material procedural failure. An objection to nomination or acceptance is filed within two days of its announcement and decided within two days after that period ends, before the challenge begins; an objection to the final result or to exclusion is filed within five working days from the day after the announcement or notification, and a reasoned reply is given within ten working days. Objections are reviewed by a committee independent of the decision; disagreeing with a technical judgement is not enough, and a claim before the competent authorities remains available.
How do I contact the challenge team?
Through portal support, [email protected], or Discord, with core support continuing without it. Do not send identity or bank details, confidential files, or registration and assessment files there.
Where do I find the documents that govern the challenge?
In the documents section of the challenge portal: the participation framework and its controls, the Terms and Conditions, the Privacy Policy and its annexes, the participant guide, the academic annex, the judging criteria and the prize announcement. To request a copy or report that you cannot access one: [email protected].
