Krafton is joining forces with CJ Olive Young to host a hackathon that puts AI technical capabilities to the test.

Krafton and CJ Olive Young are co-hosting 'Cofathon: AI Native Battlegrounds'. Applications are open from July 8 to July 17, and the main event will take place on July 30 at PUBG Seongsu in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. The event is open to talent with experience in leveraging AI, job seekers in the development sector, and junior developers. Non-developers with solid technical knowledge and the ability to structure and solve real-world business problems using AI tools are also encouraged to apply.

Winners will receive a total of 10 million KRW in prize money and will be granted an exemption from the initial document screening for Forward Deployed Engineer roles at Krafton and AI Engineer roles at CJ Olive Young. The hackathon utilizes 'Cofa-Probe', an AI evaluation solution developed in-house by Krafton. Participants will tackle practical tasks set by both companies; Krafton’s challenge focuses on communicating with virtual stakeholders to identify and resolve issues, while CJ Olive Young’s task tests the ability to solve problems using actual retail data.

Cofa-Probe creates a virtual environment that mirrors the actual workspace of an AI engineer. According to Krafton, the evaluation goes beyond simple output, comprehensively analyzing how participants define problems, navigate the AI integration process, and validate their results. The event will also feature lectures from current employees at both companies and a discussion session with recruiters to define the industry standards for AI talent.

Park Jae-min, Head of the AI Frontier Division at Krafton, stated, "In the AI era, evaluating talent requires looking at the entire process—how they use AI to define, solve, and validate problems." Park added, "This hackathon serves as a stage for participants to prove their mettle in working with AI, and for companies, it is a chance to establish new benchmarks for assessing AI-native talent."

Kim Hwan, CTO of CJ Olive Young, remarked, "True talent in the age of AI should be able to prove their skills by tackling challenges that mimic real-world environments." Kim added, "As we accelerate our expansion as a global omni-channel platform, securing AI-native talent is our core engine, allowing us to deliver the best AX services to our customers."

Detailed information and application instructions for the hackathon can be found on the official website.