Back to all updates

9 months ago

Important Clarification Regarding the AgroAI Team and Innapropriate behavior

Important Clarification Regarding the AgroAI Team
To all participants,

We want to provide full transparency regarding the recent situation involving the AgroAI team, as it concerns integrity, fairness, and the standards we hold for this community.

Project Submission Details:
AgroAI submitted a project that claimed to utilize a trained AI model for crop prediction and satellite-based planning. Upon reviewing the submission:

  • No actual AI model file was included (.h5, .pkl, .onnx, etc.)

  • There was no evidence of model training or dataset usage

  • The core logic was composed of simple conditionals and hardcoded responses

  • No AI framework was used, and no code within the repository supported the claim of a trained model

Despite this, the team received a generous score under the beginner-friendly nature of the event.

Post-Submission Conduct:
After results were released, the team repeatedly messaged organizers requesting an honorable mention, even after being told final decisions had been made. Organizers explained that recognition must reflect both the technical validity and the behavior of the team.

The team then falsely claimed they could extract and upload the model afterward, which would not have been eligible past the deadline. They also made misleading comparisons to winning projects, despite those submissions demonstrating working models, original implementations, and full documentation.

Inappropriate Behavior:
In addition to the misrepresentation, the team:

  • Reacted with a middle finger emoji toward a judge

  • Attempted to mislead viewers by submitting to their own made, Devpost event to falsely show a “winner” badge for this hackathon and stating "they deserve recognition"

  • Demanded that HAVK be tagged on their Devpost submission to manipulate the appearance of being an official winner

This behavior violates our rules, standards, and the respectful culture we are building.

Final Decision:
Due to these actions:

  • Repeated attempts to pressure the organizers

  • Disrespect toward judges and participants

  • Dishonest representation of project capabilities and affiliation

The AgroAI team is disqualified from this event and barred from future HAVK competitions. They will not be listed or honored publicly on any official platforms.

Reminder to All Participants:
Feedback and rubric inquiries are welcome. Disagreement is valid. But aggressive messaging, dishonesty, and manipulation have no place in HAVK or any professional space.

Thank you to the many teams who approached this event with passion, creativity, and respect. We appreciate your dedication and look forward to seeing your continued growth.

— HAVK Organizing Team