Rezaul Karim Arif, a network engineer from Bangladesh now based in Melbourne, has gained international recognition after his AI-powered web application, PixelFlow, won the top prize at the AI Showdown Hackathon—an event supported by OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.

Held from June 6 to 8, 2025, the global hackathon drew over 239,000 participants and 5,118 app submissions. Rezaul’s app stood out for its technical strength and practical appeal, winning him $20,000 in total prize money—$10,000 for the best use of Anthropic’s Claude 4 in the initial round and another $10,000 as the overall winner.

Originally from Chattogram, Rezaul moved to Australia in 2015 to study information technology at La Trobe University. He currently works as a network engineer and runs an AI and automation agency. His early experience in freelance design helped shape the concept behind PixelFlow.

Developed within 24 hours, PixelFlow is a browser-based moodboarding tool aimed at creatives such as designers and marketers. The app allows users to convert abstract ideas into visual boards without the learning curve associated with tools like Miro or Milanote. “It’s like a visual notepad,” Rezaul said. “You open it and start building.”

Built using React 18, TypeScript, Supabase, and Fabric.js, the app integrates several AI features. These include background removal via Hugging Face’s transformer models and image generation using HiDream-I1 on Google’s Vertex AI. Claude 4.0 from Anthropic served as Rezaul’s main AI assistant during development.

He also employed custom AI agents to simulate different roles within a development team—such as tester, designer, and product manager—breaking tasks into smaller segments for more precise results. Tools from the Lovable platform, including Windsurf, streamlined the process, requiring minimal manual coding.