Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally changing science. It helps researchers evaluate huge amounts of data, transcribe old manuscripts and develop new research questions.
AI opens up completely new horizons, but with it come new challenges: risks and opportunities must be carefully weighed up, and questions of responsibility, transparency and ethics come to the fore.
In keeping with the tradition of Prize Questions asked by academies of sciences, the Austrian Academy of Sciences is asking:
What innovations have already taken place, what improvements have you noticed, what progress do you anticipate, and what developments do you caution against?
We are looking for texts in the form of an essay with references, subject to a limit of 10,000–15,000 characters (including spaces), that explore the topic succinctly, plausibly and with good readability, and make suggestions for improvement. The core statements must be summarised in a short abstract.
The competition is open to individuals and groups without restriction.
Contributions will be accepted in German or English.
An interdisciplinary committee will select the best answers, which will be awarded 8,000 EUR for the first, 6,000 EUR for the second and 2,000 EUR for the third place. The winners will be notified by the end of October 2026.
Please send your submission and the completed entry form to preisfrage(at)oeaw.ac.at by 30 April 2026 at the latest.
Further information can be found in the terms and conditions of entry and on the OeAW website.
The OeAW is looking forward to your submission!