[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7434 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7434
To authorize the Director of the National Science Foundation to
identify grand challenges and award competitive prizes for artificial
intelligence research and development.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 9, 2026
Mr. Lieu (for himself and Mr. Obernolte) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the Director of the National Science Foundation to
identify grand challenges and award competitive prizes for artificial
intelligence research and development.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``AI Grand Challenges Act of 2026''.
SEC. 2. PRIZE COMPETITIONS FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT.
(a) Definition.--Except as otherwise expressly provided, in this
section the term ``Director'' means the Director of the National
Science Foundation.
(b) Establishment of Program.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 12 months after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Director, in coordination with the
National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee, shall
establish a program to award prizes, utilizing the authorities
and processes established under section 24 of the Stevenson-
Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 3719), to
eligible participants as determined by the Director pursuant to
subsection (e) to stimulate artificial intelligence research,
development, and commercialization that solves or advances
specific, well-defined, and measurable grand challenges in 1 or
more of the following categories:
(A) National security.
(B) Cybersecurity.
(C) Health.
(D) Energy.
(E) Environment.
(F) Transportation.
(G) Agriculture and rural development.
(H) Education and workforce training.
(I) Manufacturing.
(J) Space and aerospace.
(K) Quantum computing, including molecular modeling
and simulation.
(L) Materials science.
(M) Supply chain resilience.
(N) Disaster preparedness.
(O) Natural resources management.
(P) Cross-cutting challenges in artificial
intelligence, including robustness, interpretability,
explainability, transparency, safety, privacy, content
provenance, and bias mitigation.
(2) Designation.--The grand challenges and prize
competition program established under paragraph (1) shall be
known as the ``AI Grand Challenges Program''.
(3) Rotators.--Participants in the Rotator Program of the
National Science Foundation may support the development and
implementation of the AI Grand Challenges Program.
(c) Grand Challenges Selection and Grand Challenges Information.--
(1) In general.--
(A) Consultation on identification and selection.--
The Director shall consult with the Director of the
Office of Science and Technology Policy, and may
consult with the Director of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology, the Director of the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency, the heads of
relevant Federal agencies, and the National Artificial
Intelligence Advisory Committee, to identify and select
artificial intelligence research and development grand
challenges in which eligible participants will compete
to solve or advance for prize awards under subsection
(b).
(B) Public input on identification.--The Director
shall also seek public input on the identification of
artificial intelligence research and development grand
challenges.
(2) Problem statements; success metrics.--For each grand
challenge selected under paragraph (1) and the grand challenge
under paragraph (3), the Director shall--
(A) establish a specific and well-defined grand
challenge problem statement and ensure that such
problem statement is published on the National Science
Foundation website linking out to relevant prize
competition listings on the website Challenge.gov that
is managed by the General Services Administration; and
(B) establish and publish on the website
Challenge.gov clear targets, the challenge process
(which may include a multi-stage process), success
metrics, and validation protocols for the prize
competitions designed to address each grand challenge,
in order to provide specific benchmarks that will be
used to evaluate submissions to the prize competition.
(3) Grand challenge for artificial intelligence-enabled
cancer breakthroughs.--
(A) Required prize competition.--Not later than 1
year after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Director, in consultation with the Director of the
Office of Science and Technology Policy and the
Director of the National Institutes of Health, shall
establish not less than 1 grand challenge in which
eligible participants will compete in a prize
competition to solve or advance solutions for prize
awards under subsection (b) that seek to advance
medical breakthroughs to address 1 or more of the most
lethal forms of cancer and related comorbidities. The
grand challenge shall relate to detection, diagnostics,
treatments, therapeutics, or other innovations in
artificial intelligence to increase the total quality-
adjusted life years of those affected or likely to be
affected by cancer.
(B) Prize amount.--In carrying out the prize
competition under subparagraph (A), the Director shall
award not less than $10,000,000 in cash prize awards to
each winner.
(4) Ambitious and achievable goals.--Grand challenges
selected under paragraph (1) and the grand challenge under
paragraph (3) shall be ambitious but achievable goals that
utilize science, technology, and innovation to solve or advance
solutions to problems to benefit the United States.
(d) Additional Consultation.--The Director may consult with, and
incorporate effective practices from, other entities that have
developed successful large-scale technology demonstration prize
competitions, including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, other Federal
agencies, private sector enterprises, and nonprofit organizations, in
the development and implementation of the AI Grand Challenges Program
and related prize competitions, including on the requirements under
subsection (e).
(e) Requirements.--
(1) In general.--The Director shall develop requirements
for--
(A) the prize competition process, including
eligibility criteria for participants, consistent with
the requirements under paragraph (2); and
(B) testing, judging, and verification procedures
for submissions to receive a prize award under the AI
Grand Challenges Program.
(2) Eligibility requirement and judging.--
(A) Eligibility.--In accordance with the
requirement described in section 24(g)(3) of the
Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15
U.S.C. 3719(g)(3)), a recipient of a prize award under
the AI Grand Challenges Program--
(i) that is a private entity shall be
incorporated in and maintain a primary place of
business in the United States; and
(ii) who is an individual, whether
participating singly or in a group, shall be a
citizen or permanent resident of the United
States.
(B) Judges.--In accordance with section 24(k) of
the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980
(15 U.S.C. 3719(k)), a judge of a prize competition
under the AI Grand Challenges Program may be an
individual from the private sector.
(f) Prize Amount.--
(1) In general.--In carrying out the AI Grand Challenges
Program, the Director--
(A) shall award not less than $1,000,000 in cash
prize awards to each winner of the prize competitions,
except as provided in subsection (c)(3); and
(B) may also utilize non-cash awards.
(2) Larger awards.--The Director may award prizes under the
AI Grand Challenges Program that are more than $50,000,000,
pursuant to the requirements under section 24(m)(4)(A) of the
Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C.
3719(m)(4)(A)).
(g) Funding.--
(1) In general.--In accordance with section 24(m)(1) of the
Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C.
3719(m)(1)), the Director may request and accept funds from
other Federal agencies, State, United States territory, local,
or Tribal government agencies, for-profit entities, and
nonprofit entities to support the AI Grand Challenges Program.
(2) Prohibition on consideration for support.--The Director
may not consider any support provided by an agency or entity
under paragraph (1) in determining the winners of prize awards
under subsection (b).
(h) Reports.--
(1) Notification of winning submission.--Not later than 60
days after the date on which a prize is awarded under the AI
Grand Challenges Program, the Director shall submit to the
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the
Senate, the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the
House of Representatives, and other relevant committees of
Congress a report that describes the winning submission to the
prize competition and its benefits to the United States.
(2) Biennial report.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 2 years after the
date of enactment of this Act, and biennially
thereafter, the Director shall submit to the Committee
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate,
the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the
House of Representatives, and other relevant committees
of Congress a report that includes--
(i) a description of the activities carried
out under this Act;
(ii) a description of the active
competitions and the results of completed
competitions under the AI Grand Challenges
Program; and
(iii) efforts to provide information to the
public about the AI Grand Challenges Program to
encourage participation.
(B) Public accessibility.--The Director shall make
the biennial report required under subparagraph (A)
publicly accessible, including by posting the biennial
report on the website of the National Science
Foundation in an easily accessible location.
(i) Accessibility.--In carrying out the AI
Grand Challenges Program, the Director shall
post the active prize competitions and
available prize awards under subsection (b) to
Challenge.gov after the grand challenges are
selected and the prize competitions are
designed pursuant to subsections (c) and (e) to
ensure the prize competitions are widely
accessible to eligible participants.
SEC. 3. COORDINATION ON FEDERAL PUBLICATION OF GRAND CHALLENGE DATA
SETS.
The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall
coordinate Federal agencies that fund science to identify and publish
data sets for grand challenges that--
(1) address foundational scientific problems that if
addressed would significantly advance scientific understanding;
and
(2) can be addressed through innovation from the use of
artificial intelligence.
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