Over 40,000 apply for AI content and anti-fake contests at IFY 2026

Over 40,000 participants applied to join two digital media competitions at the 2026 International Festival of Youth in Ekaterinburg, Russia. The events, the First Neurocontent Cup and the Anti-Fake Championship, evaluated contestants' skills in creating AI-generated content and identifying fake or manipulated digital media. Around 200 finalists, including young Africans, competed at the Ekaterinburg-EXPO venue on the festival's opening day.

In the Neurocontent Cup, teams collaborated on two topics: "Neuroexcursion: Ural Character in Motion" and "Fairy Tales Without Borders." Teams used AI to animate works by artists from the Ural region, blending traditional art with modern technology. Moscow-based KRASAVIN AI STUDIO won the Neuroexcursion category, while Yaroslavl's Neuro School and Perm's Alexey Mazikhin and Anastasia Otinova took second and third place, respectively.

The Fairy Tales Without Borders category required contestants to produce videos featuring characters from various nations meeting at the festival or working together to solve problems. Moscow's KMG team and Semeyka PK from the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug secured first and second place, followed by Moscow's NEURO 3 team. Winners received a 500,000-ruble contract from the Development of Artificial Intelligence Technologies organization to produce socially relevant content.

Contestants were judged on creativity, originality, audiovisual quality, technical skills, effective AI use, online distribution potential, and product coherence. Development of Artificial Intelligence Technologies director Gennady Guryanov announced that the competitions aligned with the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's action plan.