April 20, 2022

Announcing the Applied AI Challenge

By the Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence

The Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence (AI CoE) launched the Applied AI Challenge to assist federal agencies with the adoption of AI and related technology to better serve the American people. This challenge allows the Centers of Excellence to seek AI technologies that expand opportunities for new business processes and improve service delivery. The AI CoE is excited to lead Technology Transformation Services’ first prize competition.

This AI CoE is hosting this challenge to improve how the federal government applies emerging AI and machine learning (ML) technologies to be more resilient in the face of future crises and to better serve the public in its daily operations. The federal government can apply AI in a number of innovative ways. This challenge allows participants to propose creative AI applications across a variety of use cases that have powerful impacts supporting complex decision making, improving response times, increasing access to services, and other high-value opportunities.

About the Applied AI Challenge

Through a broad and open challenge, the AI CoE will engage eligible U.S.-based companies and organizations with emphasis on startup and leading edge technology companies. In addition, we encourage participation from large and small enterprises, women-owned, minority-owned, small disadvantaged, and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.

Members of the public who are eligible to participate in the Applied AI Challenge will submit insight that addresses one or more of the following market segments:

Unified Platforms – AI platforms providing a multi-functional AI solution. These platforms enable integration with a broad spectrum of data sources, AI / ML models, and AI application development, as well as provide analytics capabilities.
Computer Vision Engines – AI tools capable of acquiring, processing, and understanding digital images to return data for further analysis. Examples include satellite drought analysis, object detection, event detection, and image restoration.
Natural Language Processing Engines – AI tools capable of analyzing and processing natural language communications to assess content. Examples include optical character recognition, speech recognition, automated summarization, document AI analysis, translation, and language understanding.
General AI Functions – AI tools capable of assessing market risk, historical simulations, and operational risks. Examples include systems with automatic detection of anomalies or recommendations associated with projections/forecasting, business value, underwriting, leasing, compliance, and purchasing.

Intended results

Up to 16 finalists, with up to four from each market segment will be selected to participate in the Applied AI Challenge Industry Day. Following the prototype demonstration at Industry Day, four winners (one from each market segment) will be selected to receive a $12,500 prize award.

At the end of this challenge, the AI CoE will have insights and options to improve public service quality through the adoption of AI software and systems. Throughout this challenge, we encourage submitters to creatively apply AI tools across a variety of use cases that may include augmenting complex decision making, improving response times, increasing access to services, and other high-value AI areas. As a result, we will identify AI technologies that expand opportunities for new business processes and service delivery.

Visit the Applied AI Challenge landing page on Challenge.Gov to learn more. Follow a @GSACoE on Twitter for challenge updates.