Sea and OpenAI Host First Regional Codex Hackathon in Singapore
Source: The Business Times
Sea and OpenAI have launched the inaugural Sea x OpenAI Regional Codex Hackathon in Singapore, with 40 teams of developers building real-world AI applications using OpenAI's Codex coding agent. The event marks the first regional hackathon partnership for OpenAI in Asia Pacific, with the series expanding to four more Southeast Asian markets.
Sea and OpenAI have launched the inaugural Sea x OpenAI Regional Codex Hackathon in Singapore, bringing together 40 teams of developers to build real-world AI applications using OpenAI's Codex coding agent. The event marks the first time OpenAI has partnered with a company on a regional hackathon initiative in the Asia Pacific.
Held on June 6 at the Shopee building in Singapore's Science Park Drive, the one-day hackathon received more than 1,200 applications — roughly eight times the available spots. The 40 shortlisted teams, comprising 144 participants, worked against the clock on projects spanning autonomous and adaptive AI agents, AI-native products and operations, and deep domain AI applications for specific industries.
David Chen, co-founder of Sea and chief product officer at Shopee, opened the event alongside Oliver Jay, managing director of International at OpenAI, and Thibault Sottiaux, head of Codex at OpenAI. Throughout the day, OpenAI experts provided technical guidance as teams built solutions using Codex. The judging panel, made up of representatives from both Sea and OpenAI, evaluated builds on problem framing, quality, originality, real-world value, and how effectively Codex was leveraged.
Third place went to Team Techbros for an AI co-host that manages live-selling chat interactions with a learning capability — it retains information from answered questions and responds autonomously on the host's behalf. Other notable builds included a personalised cycling route planner and a "pre-check" tool to prevent AI agents from deploying erroneously. The hackathon series will expand to Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia in the months ahead.
Why it matters for Singapore: The partnership between Singapore-headquartered Sea and OpenAI signals the city-state's growing role as a hub for frontier AI development in Southeast Asia. By giving local developers direct access to state-of-the-art tools like Codex, Singapore is strengthening its position as a launchpad for AI-native startups and enterprise talent across the region.