USAII Global AI Hackathon 2026

A worldwide virtual student innovation program empowering the next generation to build responsible AI solutions for real-world impact.

About the Challenge

The USAII Global AI Hackathon is designed to scale to tens of thousands of students globally while maintaining quality, fairness, and meaningful outcomes. This isn't just another hackathon—it's a movement where students across continents tackle authentic challenges using public or synthetic data, learning to innovate responsibly from day one.

What Makes This Different

Two-Phase Quality Design – An AI-powered qualifier ensures teams are ready before building
INFORMS-Aligned Evaluation – Projects judged on problem understanding, AI reasoning, and responsible design—not just code
Global Accessibility – Fully asynchronous content with support across 3 time zones via Discord community
Real-World Challenges – All challenges grounded in actual nonprofit and community needs
Responsible AI First – Ethics and human oversight are core to every submission
No Paid Tool Advantage – Judges do not favor paid AI tools over free alternatives

Two-Phase Structure

Phase 1: AI Readiness Qualifier (REQUIRED) -
- Apply between: June 7-10, 2026
- Results announced: June 12, 2026
  
  To ensure a high-quality and fair competition, all registered teams will complete a short AI Readiness Qualifier one week before the hackathon begins. This will be used to down select teams if registrations exceed judging capacity. It is a scalability and quality safeguard that confirms teams are real and active, ensures teams understands a challenge, can think critically about AI solutions, and are prepared to participate. Teams will answer a series of brief prompts about a hypothetical scenario, including the problem, users, AI approach, and ethical considerations.
  
  Responses are automatically evaluated using an AI-assisted scoring rubric that assesses problem understanding, AI thinking, responsible AI awareness, and clarity of communication. The qualifier typically takes 30 minutes to complete and does not require building anything. Based on scoring and capacity limits, the highest-ranked teams will advance to the hackathon. Teams will receive their results and advancement status via email and through the hackathon platform shortly after the qualifier closes.
  
  The AI Readiness Qualifier Access is sent via email on June 7, 2026 at 10:00 AM ET and will have until 11:59 PM EST on June 10, 2026 to submit their responses . Qualified teams receive approval codes and advance to Phase 2.

Phase 2: Hackathon Build (Qualified Teams Only)
- June 14-21, 2026
  Kickoff: June 14, 10:00 AM ET (livestream and recorded)
  
  Submission deadline: June 21, 11:59 PM ET
- All qualified teams across all tracks build during the same 1-week window
- ⚠️ **Devpost registration does NOT guarantee participation. You MUST pass the qualifier to advance.**

Three Tracks

High School Track (Grades 9-12)
- AI for Everyday Good
- Build AI tools that help people find support, understand information, or take environmental action in their local community.
- Challenge Directions:
  - Community: Help is Hard to Find — Make Support Obvious
  - Environment: Make Climate Action Local and Real
Undergraduate Track
- AI for Life & Work
- Build decision-support tools, navigation systems, or AI assistants that help people manage life, work, and essential services.
- Challenge Directions:
  - Productivity: Build the "Second Brain" for Real Life
  - Public Services: Fix Systems People Depend On
Graduate Track (Master's & PhD)
- AI for Systems & Society
- Build advanced AI systems for risk detection, policy simulation, community readiness assessment, or infrastructure optimization.
- Challenge Directions:
  - Human Safety & Protection: Build AI Systems That Protect People from Harm
  - Public Systems & Policy: Build AI That Helps Communities Make Better Decisions

Prizes

$15,000 in Cash Prizes + USAII AI Certification Scholarships

Each track awards:

- 🥇 Grand Prize: $2,500 + Scholarship

- 🥈 Runner Up: $1,500 + Scholarship

- 🥉 Third Place: $500 + Scholarship

- 🌟 Best Responsible AI Design: $250 + Scholarship

- 💡 Best Social Impact: $250 + Scholarship

Get Started

Phase 1: Pre-Registration (Now) - Program setup and platform preparation
Phase 2: Registration & Team Formation (April 26 - June 6)
- April 26: Registration opens on Devpost
- April-June: Form teams (2-5 members), use Discord for matchmaking
- June 6: Registration closes
Phase 3: AI Readiness Qualifier (June 7 10:00 am ET - 10 11:59 pm ET)
- All tracks complete qualifier during same 4-day window
- Scoring and evaluation June 10-12
Phase 4: Qualifier Approval (June 12 11:59 pm ET)
- Results announced, approval codes sent to qualified teams
Phase 5: Hackathon Build (June 14-21)
- June 14, 10:00 AM ET: Global kickoff livestream (all tracks)
- June 14-21: Build period
- June 21, 11:59 PM ET: All submissions due
Phase 6: Judging (June 22-25)
- June 22-23: Validation & screening
- June 23-25: Judge scoring
- June 25-26: Panel deliberation
Phase 7: Showcase (June 27)
- June 27, 10:00 AM ET: Global awards ceremony (livestream and recorded)

How to Participate

Step 1: Register Individually (April 26 - June 6)
- Sign up on Devpost
- Answer registration questions about your track, skills, and team status
Step 2: Form Your Team (April-June)
- Create or join a team (2-5 members required)
- Use Discord #team-formation for matchmaking
- Team members can be from different schools or countries
- Teams must compete within the track aligned with their highest education level
- Mixed teams must register in the highest-level track represented
- Devpost assigns your Team ID
Step 3: Complete Qualifier (June 7-10)
- Access link sent via email
- Answer 8 prompts demonstrating AI thinking
- Takes 30 minutes to complete
- Receive results June 12
Step 4: Build (If Qualified)
- Attend kickoff June 14, 10:00 AM ET (recorded)
- Build during June 14-21
- Submit project with qualifier approval code by June 21, 11:59 PM ET
Step 5: Judging & Awards
- Projects judged by industry professionals
- Winners announced June 27 10:00 am ET

Join the Community

Discord: https://discord.gg/ePjenJnyh4
Connect with participants, find teammates, get mentor support, receive updates
Qualifir Email: hackathon.qualifier@usaii.org
General questions and support
Hackathon Email: aihackathon@usaii.org
General questions and support
Website: https://aihackathon.usaii.org/ ;
Complete program information
Questions? See our FAQ page or join Discord #help-desk

Ready to build AI for good? Register starting April 26!

Requirements

Submission Requirements

What to Build

Choose ONE challenge direction within your track and build a working AI solution.

High School - AI for Everyday Good

Community: Help is Hard to Find — Make Support Obvious
People don't get help because systems are confusing, information is scattered, or asking feels embarrassing. Build AI that makes support clear, safe, and immediate.

Examples: Resource navigators, crisis-to-action translators, mutual aid matchmakers, rumor verification tools
Environment: Make Climate Action Local and Real
Teens are tired of climate talk that doesn't change anything. Build AI that makes environmental action local, measurable, and doable—not abstract.

Examples: Food waste rescue systems, school footprint dashboards, trash sorting guides, heat safety maps, micro-action challenge engines

Undergraduate - AI for Life & Work

Productivity: Build the "Second Brain" for Real Life
Modern life is overwhelming. AI can help people think more clearly, organize complexity, and reclaim time. Build tools that help humans think better—not just work faster.

Examples: Decision navigators, cognitive overload managers, burnout warning systems, idea-to-execution engines
Public Services: Fix Systems People Depend On
Essential systems are confusing, slow, and difficult to navigate. Build AI that dramatically simplifies how people interact with healthcare, housing, legal services, and benefits.

Examples: Benefits navigators, government translators, housing stability tools, healthcare pathway assistants, civic insight tools

Graduate - AI for Systems & Society

Human Safety & Protection: Build AI Systems That Protect People from Harm
Design AI systems that strengthen protection ecosystems without violating human rights or privacy.

Examples: AI against digital exploitation, economic recovery pathways for survivors, vulnerability signal detection, humanitarian crisis response intelligence
Public Systems & Policy: Build AI That Helps Communities Make Better Decisions
Design AI systems that model policy outcomes, simulate intervention impacts, improve resource allocation, and increase transparency in decision-making.

Examples: Cost-of-doing-nothing simulators, workforce mobility intelligence, public program analyzers, policy scenario explorers

What "Working" Means

You do NOT need:

- Production-ready code

- Perfect UI/UX polish

- Enterprise-scale infrastructure

- Novel research contributions

You DO need:

- Clear demonstration of how your AI works

- Evidence of AI capability (even if imperfect)

- Explanation of your approach and reasoning

Acceptable demonstrations:

- Live web app or prototype

- Recorded video walkthrough

- Interactive mockup (Figma, etc.)

- Jupyter notebook with examples

- GitHub repo with thorough documentation

What to Submit

Deadline: June 21, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET (all tracks)
⚠️ Late submissions will NOT be accepted. No exceptions.

Required Components

1. Qualifier Approval Code: 8-character code sent via email on June 12 to qualified teams. Example: Q7H9K2M1. ⚠️ Submissions without valid codes will be disqualified.

2. Project Information

Project Title – Clear, descriptive name
Tagline – One-sentence summary (80 chars max)
Description – Comprehensive project overview including:
- What your project does and why it matters
- How we built it (technologies, tools, approach)
- Challenges we ran into
- Accomplishments we're proud of
- What we learned
- What's next

Built With – All technologies used (add as tags)

3. Track & Challenge

Track:High School / Undergraduate / Graduate
Challenge Direction: Which specific challenge you addressed

4. Design Questions

AI Architecture Explanation (600 chars)
Explain:
- What inputs does it take?
- What AI capability does it use?
- What processing happens?
- What outputs does it produce?
Human-in-the-Loop Design (500 chars)
Identify ONE decision your AI does NOT make and explain why a human must remain in control.
Responsible AI Guardrail (500 chars)
Identify ONE realistic risk and show ONE concrete design choice that reduces it.

Example: "Risk: Misclassifying urgent situations. Mitigation: Always surface crisis hotline regardless of AI classification."

5. Tools & Data Disclosure

AI Tools Used (800 chars)
List ALL AI tools, frameworks, models, APIs. Specify free vs. paid. Disclose coding assistance.

Example:
- OpenAI GPT-4 API (paid)
- Hugging Face transformers (free, open-source)
- GitHub Copilot for code assistance
Data Sources (800 chars)
List all data: datasets (with links), synthetic data (explain generation), APIs, simulated data.

Example:
- U.S. Census demographic data (census.gov)
- Synthetic scenarios generated using GPT-4
- 211.org service directory API

6. Demo Materials

Pitch Video (3-5 minutes)**
YouTube, Vimeo, or Loom link. Must be 3-5 minutes.

Structure:

1. Hook (0-30s): The problem
2. Solution (30s-2min): Your AI approach
3. Demo (2 min): Show it working
4. Impact (1 min): Who benefits

Demo or Walkthrough Link
Link to:
- Live web app
- GitHub repo with README
- Figma prototype
- Video walkthrough
- Jupyter notebook
- Documentation with screenshots
NOT acceptable:
- PowerPoint only
- Concept art without working AI
- Broken links

Pre-Submission Checklist

- ✅ All required fields completed

- ✅ Design questions answered (respect character limits)

- ✅ Video is 3-5 minutes and link works

- ✅ Demo link works and is accessible

- ✅ Qualifier code entered correctly

- ✅ All team members listed

- ✅ Track and challenge selected

- ✅ Tools and data disclosed

- ✅ Submitted before June 21, 11:59 PM ET

Common mistakes:

- Forgetting qualifier code

- Broken demo links

- Video wrong length

- Not clicking final "Submit"

- Waiting until 11:58 PM

Need Help?

Technical: Discord #tech-support

Questions: Discord #help-desk

Urgent: aihackathon@usaii.org Subject: URGENT

Submission opens: June 14, 10:00 AM ET

Submission deadline: June 21, 11:59 PM ET

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$15,000 in prizes

High School Grand Prize

$2,500 in cash

1 winner

USAII CAIP 100% Scholarship for all team members

Feature on USAII website and social media