[Edaily Reporter An Yu-ri ] KRAFTON(259960)announced on the 8th that it will co-host the AI Native hackathon “Cofathon: AI Native Battlegrounds” with CJ Corp. Olive Young.

Registration will run from July 8 to 17, and the hackathon will take place on July 30 at PUBG Seongsu in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. Eligible participants include professionals with experience implementing projects using AI, job seekers in development roles, and junior developers. Non-developers who can structure and solve real-world problems based on their development knowledge and proficiency with AI tools are also welcome to participate.

Winners will receive a total prize pool of 10 million won and will be granted automatic advancement to the next stage of the application process for KRAFTON’s FDE (Forward Deployed Engineer) and Olive Young’s AI Engineer positions.

This hackathon will be conducted using “Cofa-Probe,” an AI-native recruitment and evaluation solution developed by KRAFTON. Participants will tackle two practical challenges—one set by KRAFTON and one by Olive Young.

The KRAFTON challenge involves interacting with a virtual business stakeholder to identify and solve real-world business problems. The Olive Young challenge assesses participants’ ability to use AI to solve problems in a retail environment involving customers, products, and data. Both challenges focus on how to use AI to address inefficiencies in actual work scenarios.

“Cofa-Probe” is an assessment solution that virtually replicates the actual work environment of AI engineers. By structuring and evaluating not only participants’ deliverables but also their problem-definition methods, AI implementation processes, iterative improvement processes, and result verification methods, it enables evaluators to comprehensively assess participants’ “AI Native” capabilities.

The event will also feature lectures and networking sessions. These sessions will include talks by current employees from KRAFTON and Olive Young, as well as a panel discussion featuring HR representatives from both companies. Through these sessions, the event aims to present the standards for AI utilization and “AI Native” competencies required by companies in the AI era, while providing participants with a platform to demonstrate their capabilities in working with AI.

Park Jae-min, Head of KRAFTON’s AI Frontier Division, stated, “Talent evaluation in the AI era must assess the entire process—from defining and solving problems using AI to verifying the results.” He added, “This hackathon will serve as a platform for participants to demonstrate their capabilities through their approach to working with AI, and for companies to identify new standards for evaluating AI-Native talent.”

Kim Hwan, CTO of CJ Olive Young, remarked, “Talent in the AI era must be able to demonstrate their capabilities by utilizing AI to tackle challenges that closely resemble real-world work environments.” He continued, “Olive Young is accelerating its expansion into a global omnichannel platform and will make securing AI-native talent a key driver as we work alongside our employees to deliver the best AX services to our customers.”