{"rewrite":{"id":"r_73f39f07aeb71eee25c415ac","clusterId":"c_bcc4b9d560b268c7396d163b","slug":"merge-2026-draws-over-300-to-discuss-ai-driven-development-and-design","model":"deepseek-v4-1-flash","headline":"MERGE 2026 Draws Over 300 To Discuss AI-Driven Development And Design","summary":"MERGE 2026, a conference on AI-driven development and design co-hosted by GustoDevelopment and PROTOCORE, was held on Saturday, August 8, 2026, at Sakura Internet's Tokyo Nishi-Shinjuku office and online. More than 300 engineers, designers, entrepreneurs, and business developers attended. Five sessions featured 24 speakers, and the AI-driven hackathon AI Designathon 2026, themed AI Native UX 2026, held final presentations and awards across three categories. A larger 2027 edition is planned.","whyItMatters":"The conference shows AI-driven development practitioners organizing around the same question their tooling raises: once building fast is routine, who decides what gets built.","webCardHtml":"\u003cp\u003eGustoDevelopment runs AI-driven development at client sites and has development bases in India and Pakistan. The company co-hosted the event from the planning stage as a place for the wider community to work through what it says is its own open question in projects and training. Three of the five sessions dealt with the shift directly: generative AI lowering the barrier to implementation, agent-driven development, and the place of UI/UX and design as the line between professionals and non-specialists moves. The hackathon under the theme \u0026#34;AI Native UX 2026\u0026#34; put working prototypes on stage from participants who are not all engineers, competing in Product Build, Agent, and Design Eng categories.\u003c/p\u003e","blueskyPost":"MERGE 2026 drew over 300 people to Sakura Internet's Tokyo office and online on August 8 to talk AI-driven development and design. Five sessions, 24 speakers, and the AI Designathon 2026 finals. A larger edition is planned for 2027.","twitterPost":"MERGE 2026 on AI-driven development and design drew over 300 attendees at Sakura Internet's Tokyo office and online on August 8. Five sessions, 24 speakers, and the AI Designathon 2026 finals across three categories. A larger 2027 event is planned.","threadsPost":null,"newsletterBlurb":"MERGE 2026, a conference on AI-driven development and design co-hosted by GustoDevelopment and PROTOCORE, drew more than 300 attendees to Sakura Internet's Tokyo Nishi-Shinjuku office and online on August 8. Five sessions featured 24 speakers, and the AI Designathon 2026 hackathon closed with final presentations and awards in three categories. The organizers plan a larger venue and more participants for 2027.","attributionJson":"[{\"source\":\"ASCII.jp\",\"url\":\"https://ascii.jp/elem/000/004/443/4443133/?rss\",\"title\":\"\\\"AI lets us build fast\\\" - what comes next? Over 300 attend MERGE 2026, a major conference on AI-driven development × design - 2027 edition planned at even larger scale\"}]","lintFlagsJson":null,"lintHits":0,"costUsd":0,"inputTokens":4650,"outputTokens":661,"status":"published","repairAttempts":0,"nextRepairAt":null,"factsAttemptedAt":1792116431,"createdAt":"2026-10-16T02:01:58.000Z","publishedAt":"2026-10-16T02:06:06.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-16T02:06:06.000Z"},"cluster":{"id":"c_bcc4b9d560b268c7396d163b","canonicalTitle":"「AIで速くつくれる」の次を問う。AI駆動開発×デザインの大型カンファレンス「MERGE 2026」に300名超が参加 ― 2027年はさらに大規模に開催へ","representativeArticleId":"a_0fe1232e9cc96b34eec44d30","sourceCount":1,"writtenSourceCount":1,"writeAttempts":0,"isSolo":true,"entitiesJson":"{\"anime_titles\":[],\"manga_titles\":[],\"work_titles\":[\"MERGE 2026\"],\"studios\":[],\"people\":[],\"type\":\"event\",\"domain\":\"other\",\"is_roundup\":false}","contentType":"news","status":"published","firstSeenAt":"2026-10-15T20:10:00.000Z","lastSeenAt":"2026-10-15T20:10:00.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-10-16T02:06:06.000Z"},"attribution":[{"source":"ASCII.jp","url":"https://ascii.jp/elem/000/004/443/4443133/?rss","title":"「AIで速くつくれる」の次を問う。AI駆動開発×デザインの大型カンファレンス「MERGE 2026」に300名超が参加 ― 2027年はさらに大規模に開催へ"}],"entities":{"anime_titles":[],"manga_titles":[],"work_titles":["MERGE 2026"],"studios":[],"people":[],"type":"event","domain":"other","is_roundup":false},"keyFacts":null}