AI Grand Challenges Act of 2026

Key Points

• Congress is proposing a new program that offers large cash prizes to people and companies who use artificial intelligence to solve major national problems. The National Science Foundation would lead the effort, focusing on areas like national security, energy, farming, and education.
• The plan specifically requires a massive competition to find AI breakthroughs for cancer. This challenge would offer at least $10 million to winners who create new ways to detect, diagnose, or treat the most deadly forms of the disease to help patients live longer, healthier lives.
• Most other winning prizes would be at least $1 million, but the government could award more than $50 million for truly groundbreaking work. These prizes are meant to encourage researchers to take on 'ambitious but achievable' goals that benefit the American public.
• To keep the benefits and technology in the United States, only U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or companies based in the U.S. are allowed to win. The program also aims to make AI safer by rewarding solutions that fix problems like bias, privacy concerns, and lack of transparency.
• The government will help researchers by identifying and publishing large sets of data they can use to train their AI models. The National Science Foundation has one year to set up the program and start the first competitions once the bill becomes law.