AI Ascent, a global hackathon, gave Abnormal’s Product and Engineering teams (known internally as R&D) three dedicated days to explore what’s possible with AI. Across regions and roles, employees collaborated on projects that sparked new ideas, strengthened connection, and showed the power of experimentation.

Creating Space to Experiment

“AI Ascent is a three-day intensive event across R&D in North America, the UK, and APAC, designed to create space for people to do more with the AI transformation that’s happening across the industry and across Abnormal,” Kevin Wang, SVP, Engineering, said.

The idea grew from earlier “Code Golf” events, friendly internal challenges that encouraged creative problem-solving and knowledge sharing. Those smaller gatherings laid the foundation for something larger. AI Ascent became a companywide opportunity to channel that same curiosity and experimentation on a global scale.

Across time zones, participants stepped away from day-to-day responsibilities to focus completely on learning and building. Workshops on Claude Code, Cursor, and MCP gave everyone, from seasoned engineers to first-time builders, a shared starting point.

Vlad Dubrovskis, Engineering Manager, said “having that focus time to really try out ideas is absolutely needed.”

When Everyone Builds, Everyone Learns

AI Ascent was built on one belief: building with AI belongs to everyone.

The event invited participation from every corner of the organization, blurring lines between technical and non-technical roles and showing how accessible building with AI can be to anyone willing to try. Among those participants were Faye Ma and Daria Senicheva, who were part of the same project team but approached AI from entirely different perspectives.

Faye Ma, Sr. Product Designer, said “it was a really good learning process. I only had experience in V0 before.”

Daria Senicheva, Sr. Data Analyst, added “she starts from the UI perspective. I start from another perspective, and we meet halfway.”

From Curiosity to Creation

For many, AI Ascent rekindled what drives them to build—the chance to create something meaningful, connect with peers, and push the boundaries of what technology can do.

Tapan Divekar, Director of Engineering, said returning to an office filled with energy reminded him why shared space matters. “Driving to work, sitting next to coworkers again, that was the best moment,” he said.

For others, the week was about rediscovering the excitement of hands-on creation. Eric Lachman, Engineering Manager, said “I haven’t had as much of a chance to dive into code that often myself. With three whole days, I was able to get my hands dirty, try things out, and build something quickly that will actually be useful.”

Across every team, the pace of progress surprised even the most experienced builders. Tanooj Parekh, Principal Software Engineer, noted that “our tooling has improved dramatically, even compared to just three months ago.” It was proof of how quickly teams can adapt when they have dedicated time to focus.

That rapid improvement inspired others to keep exploring. Emilia Lukose, Software Engineer II, said “it’s so impressive how much the tools can achieve in such a short amount of time.”

And the results speak for themselves. Manish Thakrani, Sr. Engineering Manager, experienced it firsthand. “I told Claude to generate code for me, went to lunch, and by the time I was back, everything was ready to go,” he said. “It was truly an ah-ha moment.”

Even the final demos reflected the momentum that had built up throughout the week. Joe Ginsburg, Software Engineer II, said “seeing AI one-shot a dashboard for a reasonably complex service was super cool.”

Together, these reflections show how AI Ascent reconnected builders to the purpose behind their work—solving problems, learning quickly, and creating impact through collaboration.

Participant Spotlight: Priya Kamdar, Product Manager

Priya Kamdar, Product Manager on the Cloud Email Security team, was one of many participants who turned curiosity into action during AI Ascent. Her team built a proof of concept designed to reduce repeat misclassifications by exploring a new approach to grouping similar messages. Working across three time zones, they collaborated closely to bring an idea to life in just three days.

Priya’s reflections capture how AI Ascent mirrors Abnormal’s broader culture, defined by experimentation, learning fast, and using AI as an everyday advantage that helps people do their best work.

Proof of What’s Possible

The projects born during AI Ascent reflected the same curiosity that drives Abnormal’s product development every day.

One team began with a casual “what if” and ended the week with a working prototype. Udayan Sarin, Sr. Machine Learning Engineer, said “We said, ‘If I had three days of downtime, I think we could solve this.’ It was just words at the time, but the hackathon proved it was achievable.”

Others used the time to expand their skills and test new ways of working. Erin Ludert, Staff Data Scientist, described the experience as eye-opening. “Working with these AI tools opens up a whole new world for what’s possible,” she said.

Saarthak Jain, Software Engineer II, said the hackathon reinforced Abnormal’s identity as a company that learns by doing. “We’re an AI-first company,” he said. “The hackathon was another way to show that we want AI to be at the forefront of everything we do.”

AI Ascent became more than a technical showcase. It was a proof point of Abnormal’s culture in motion—curious, collaborative, and grounded in the belief that everyone can innovate.

A Culture That Builds Together

AI Ascent reaffirmed what makes Abnormal different. Teams across roles and regions shared a single goal: to learn, to build, and to grow together through experimentation.

The event sparked new conversations and confidence that will carry forward. For some, it reintroduced the joy of collaboration. For others, it became a starting point for ongoing innovation. As plans for the next AI Ascent take shape, one thing is clear: when people are given the time and trust to explore, possibility becomes progress.

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