## ENTRY IN THIS COMPETITION CONSTITUTES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE OFFICIAL COMPETITION RULES The Competition named below is a skills-based competition intended to benchmark model performance in the field of data science and applied artificial intelligence. You must register via the Competition Website to enter. By entering the Competition, you agree to these Official Competition Rules, which incorporate by reference the provisions and content of the Competition Website and Kaggle’s Competition Foundational Rules (collectively, the **"Rules"**). Please read these Rules carefully before entry. Submission to the Competition constitutes agreement to these Rules. These Rules form a binding legal agreement between you and the Competition Sponsor with respect to participation in this Kaggle competition. Your Submissions must conform to the requirements stated on the Competition Website. Submissions will be scored using the evaluation metric described on the Competition Website, and rankings will reflect **model performance only**. This Kaggle competition does **not** award monetary prizes. Any external programs, evaluations, or awards associated with AI Cup 2026 are governed by separate rules published outside of Kaggle and do not affect Kaggle submissions, evaluation, or leaderboard rankings. **You may not register for or participate in the Competition using multiple Kaggle accounts.** --- ## 1. COMPETITION-SPECIFIC TERMS ### 1.1 Competition Title **AI Cup 2026 – Performance Track** ### 1.2 Competition Sponsor **Team Epoch- The AI Dream Team** ### 1.3 Kaggle competition Website https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/ai-cup-2026 ### 1.4 AI Cup 2026 website https://www.teamepoch.ai/ai-cup-2026/ ### 1.5 Prizes No monetary prizes are awarded through this Kaggle competition. Leaderboard rankings provide technical benchmarking for further evaluation at the AI Cup 2026. ### 1.6 License Type Non-exclusive ### 1.7 Data Access and Use Competition use and non-commercial & academic research only. --- ## 2. COMPETITION-SPECIFIC RULES In addition to the provisions of the General Competition Rules, you understand and agree to the following Competition-Specific Rules applicable to this Kaggle competition. --- ### 2.1 Team Limits a. The maximum team size is five (5) participants. b. Team mergers are allowed and may be initiated by the team leader, subject to Kaggle’s merger rules. At the time of a merger, the combined team must not exceed the maximum number of submissions permitted up to that point in the Competition. --- ### 2.2 Submission Limits a. Each team may submit a maximum of five (5) submissions per day. b. Each team may select up to two (2) Final Submissions for leaderboard evaluation, in accordance with Kaggle’s submission rules. --- ### 2.3 Competition Timeline All Competition dates, including the Start Date, Entry Deadline, Team Merger Deadline, and Final Submission Deadline, are listed on the Competition Website under the **Overview > Timeline** section. The Competition Sponsor reserves the right to update the timeline as permitted by Kaggle. --- ### 2.4 Competition Data #### a. Data Access and Use You may access and use the Competition Data solely for purposes of participating in this Competition, discussing the Competition on Kaggle forums, and conducting non-commercial academic or educational research. Any other use of the Competition Data is prohibited. The Competition Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any Participant who uses the Competition Data in a manner inconsistent with these Rules or the Competition Website. The Competition Data may relate to a real-world societal or environmental problem. Participants must treat the data with appropriate care and responsibility. Publication or redistribution of the data outside Kaggle without explicit written authorisation from Team Epoch and the challenge provider is strictly prohibited. #### b. Data Security 1. You agree to use reasonable and appropriate measures to prevent unauthorised access to the Competition Data. 2. You may not transmit, duplicate, publish, or redistribute the Competition Data to any individual or entity that has not agreed to these Rules, unless explicitly authorised in writing by Team Epoch and the challenge provider. 3. You agree to notify Team Epoch promptly upon learning of any unauthorised access to or distribution of the Competition Data. --- ### 2.5 License Grant By submitting a Submission, you grant the Competition Sponsor a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, and display the entire training and inference code that led to the top five (5) submissions in the private leaderboard. **for purposes of evaluation, benchmarking, future research, and communication related to this Competition**. When prompted, the top five (5) teams in the private leaderboard are required to send their entire training and inference code to the Competition Sponsor, effectively granting this license. This license does not restrict your right to continue using, modifying, or commercialising your Submission independently, subject to any third-party licenses you may have used. For third-party software, pretrained models, or datasets not owned by you, you are not required to grant a license, provided such components are clearly identified, and their licensing terms are respected. --- ### 2.6 External Data and Tools a. You may use external data, pretrained models, or tools ("External Data") provided that they are: - publicly available at no cost, or - reasonably accessible to all Participants under fair conditions. b. External resources that impose high cost or create significant barriers to participation may be restricted at the discretion of the Competition Sponsor. c. Participants remain fully responsible for ensuring that all External Data and tools comply with applicable licenses and these Rules. d. Automated machine learning tools (e.g. AutoML platforms) may be used, provided Participants hold appropriate licenses and remain responsible for compliance. --- ### 2.7 Eligibility Participation in this Kaggle competition is open to all individuals who meet Kaggle’s eligibility requirements and comply with these Rules. Eligibility for participation in any **external programs, evaluations, or awards associated with AI Cup 2026** is governed by separate rules published on the AI Cup 2026 participants page. --- ### 2.8 Competition Integrity and Fair Play All Participants are expected to compete fairly, independently, and in good faith. Any form of cheating or manipulation of the Competition is strictly prohibited and may result in disqualification, removal from the leaderboard, and exclusion from future competitions organized by the Competition Sponsor. #### a. Prohibited Conduct (Cheating) Cheating includes, but is not limited to, the following actions: 1. **Sharing, copying, or obtaining prediction files** (e.g. submission `.csv` files or equivalent outputs) from another Team, whether directly or indirectly. 2. **Attempting to access, request, obtain, leak, or reverse-engineer** any portion of the private test set, ground truth labels, or confidential research data underlying this Competition. 3. **Circumventing the intent of the Competition** by submitting solutions that do not rely on computational methods, including but not limited to manual or human-generated predictions or reconstruction of the labels by statistics that include the labelled data. The Competition is explicitly intended to benchmark AI-based approaches. Submissions that undermine this intent may be disqualified at the discretion of the Competition Sponsor. --- #### b. Solution Verification and Inspection To preserve the integrity of the leaderboard, the **top fifteen(15) teams** on the final private leaderboard may be required to participate in a solution verification process. Upon reasonable request by the Competition Sponsor, such teams must: 1. Provide access to the code used to generate their final submission, including training and inference pipelines. 2. Clearly explain the methodology, including data preprocessing, model architecture, and use of any external data or pretrained models. 3. Demonstrate that the reported results can be reproduced using the provided materials. Failure to comply with verification requests within a reasonable timeframe may result in disqualification or leaderboard removal. --- #### c. Accounts, Teams, and Conduct 1. Participants may not use multiple Kaggle accounts to bypass submission limits, team limits, or other Competition restrictions. 2. Participants may not participate on multiple Teams simultaneously. 3. Any attempt to manipulate leaderboard rankings, evaluation metrics, or Competition infrastructure is prohibited. --- #### d. Use of Assistance and Tools 1. General discussion of methods and ideas on public forums is permitted. 2. Private assistance between Teams aimed at improving a specific submission, including private code or output sharing, is prohibited. 3. Use of generative AI tools is permitted, provided Participants remain responsible for the originality, correctness, and rule compliance of their Submissions. --- #### e. Enforcement The Competition Sponsor reserves the right to investigate suspected violations, request clarifications or materials, and take appropriate action in accordance with these Rules and Kaggle’s Competition Foundational Rules. All such determinations are final with respect to this Kaggle competition. ## Governing Terms These Rules are subject to Kaggle’s Competition Foundational Rules and Terms of Service. If any provision of these Rules is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.