Ecuadorian programmer wins Latin American coding contest with artificial intelligence support

Lima — Gabriela Padilla, a 20-year-old Ecuadorian programmer, won Codificadas 2026, a programming competition for Latin American university women in which, for the first time, the use of artificial intelligence tools was allowed, Vocería News reported based on El Comercio.

The final of the contest, organized by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), took place on October 5 at ESAN University in Lima and brought together ten finalists from seven countries, selected from more than 12,000 entrants from 20 countries.

For the first time, participants were allowed to use generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, GitHub Copilot, Gemini and Perplexity. Padilla explained that she used Claude to clarify parts of the problem statements, write code fragments and move faster, but that she defined the strategy for solving each problem herself.

In four hours she submitted all six exercises: she earned full marks on three, 99.48 points on one, and partial results on the other two. The competition assessed not only code writing, but also the ability to write precise instructions and spot errors in the tool's answers.

The result shows a concrete application of artificial intelligence in a technical task: the tool sped up code writing and clarification, but did not replace understanding the problem or deciding how to solve it. Padilla credits her performance to understanding the problems first and reviewing the answers, a condition that remains necessary because code can run and still solve a different question.

The win also reflects a shift in the skills assessed when AI use is allowed: writing code alone is no longer enough — what counts is knowing how to ask the tool for the right thing and verify what it returns.

Photo: Archivo A Lo Claro

Source: Vocería News