Apply for USAII® Global AI Hackathon 2026
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.
Click here to register.