AI Grand Challenges Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Representative Lieu
Introduced
Summary
This bill would create the AI Grand Challenges Program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund competitive prizes that push AI research toward major national priorities. It targets big, measurable problems from national security and cybersecurity to health, energy, and AI safety and fairness.
Your PRIA Score
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this bill and every other piece of legislation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 5 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Large cancer-focused AI prize
If enacted, NSF would establish at least one AI-enabled cancer grand challenge within 1 year in coordination with OSTP and NIH. The challenge would target detection, diagnosis, treatment, or other AI innovations meant to increase total quality-adjusted life years. The director would be required to award not less than $10,000,000 in cash to each winner of the cancer grand challenge.
NSF-led AI prize program
If enacted, the National Science Foundation would set up an AI Grand Challenges Program within 12 months. The director would work with OSTP, the National AI Advisory Committee, and the public to pick major AI problems. The director would publish each challenge's problem, targets, success metrics, and validation procedures on NSF and Challenge.gov. Private-sector experts and NSF rotator staff could serve as judges or help run competitions.
More federal datasets for AI
If enacted, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy would coordinate science-funding agencies to identify and publish datasets that support grand challenges. Datasets would need to address foundational scientific problems and be suitable for AI-driven innovation. These published datasets would be made available to researchers working on the challenges.
Regular public and congressional reports
If enacted, the director would have to report to Congress within 60 days after each prize is awarded, describing the winning submission and its benefits to the United States. If enacted, the director would also have to submit a public report not later than 2 years after enactment and every two years after that. The biennial report would describe activities, active and completed competitions, results, and outreach and must be posted on the NSF website.
Rules on funding and prize eligibility
If enacted, NSF could accept funds or other support from federal, state, local, Tribal, for‑profit, and nonprofit sources to help run the program. The director would be prohibited from considering that outside support when choosing prize winners. Prize recipients would have to be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, and private entities must be incorporated and primarily based in the United States to win.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Lieu
CA • D
Cosponsors
Obernolte
CA • R
Sponsored 2/9/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.govTake It Personal
Get Your Personalized Policy View
Start a Free Government Policy Watch to see how policy affects your household, then upgrade to PRIA Full Coverage for year-round monitoring.
Already have an account? Sign in