WSIS 2026 Global iSAFE Hackathon Crowns Winners at WSIS Forum 2026 in Geneva as 1,700+ Innovators from 80+ Countries Answer the Call for Safer AI

ITU Deputy Secretary-General Tomas Lamanauskas presents awards during Geneva Digital Week; winning solutions take on misinformation, rural cyber-safety, and multimodal deepfake detection

GENEVA, Switzerland | 14th July 2026: The Global iSAFE Hackathon 2026 concluded today with an award ceremony at the WSIS Forum 2026, honouring young innovators whose AI-powered solutions advance digital trust and online safety. Organised by the WSIS Process, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and CyberPeace, with the support of Google.org, the hackathon drew more than 1,700 verified registrations from over 80 countries — uniting students, developers, researchers, and entrepreneurs around a single theme: Inclusive & Secure AI For Everyone.

ITU Deputy Secretary-General Tomas Lamanauskas presented the awards to the winning teams, recognising their outstanding innovation and commitment to using technology for the benefit of humanity. Vineet Kumar, Founder and Global President of CyberPeace, briefed delegates and participants on the hackathon journey – an eight-month global competition that ran from November 2025 through a finalist showcase and jury evaluation in May 2026, culminating on the WSIS Forum stage during Geneva Digital Week.

The 2026 Winner: Ms. Vajratiya Vajrobol from Thailand – Fake News Deep Verify: an AI-powered verification platform that analyses claims and media at scale, flagging misinformation, disinformation, and digitally manipulated content, and giving everyday users a trusted way to verify what they see before they share it.

Twenty finalist teams were evaluated by an international jury members from UN agencies, Industry, Academia, Civil Society, Government, Technical Community across five innovation tracks: detecting synthetic media, defending digital citizens, building guardrails for trustworthy AI, generative AI for social good and digital civility, and advancing the CyberPeace chatbot with generative and agentic AI. Winners share in a prize pool worth US$20,000 – including cloud credits and technology licences – alongside ITU internship placements, startup incubation support, and global visibility at the WSIS Forum.

The 2026 edition established an extensive international footprint, drawing verified participation from every inhabited continent, with especially strong cohorts from India, Tanzania, and Senegal.

Organisers confirmed that winning teams will now enter a structured post-hackathon pathway, including mentorship and incubation support to carry their prototypes toward real-world deployment.