H.R. 7434

[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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