Amazon has launched the 2026 Nova AI University Challenge, inviting university teams globally to develop AI agents that safely plan, develop, and validate software. Announced by Anne Szeto of Amazon’s Academic Research Initiatives (ARI), this initiative fosters collaboration between Amazon’s engineering teams and academic institutions, emphasizing AI safety, robotics, and data science. The focus of this year’s competition is building trusted software agents capable of automating complex coding tasks while adhering to security standards. Ten university teams will be selected to compete, divided into developer and red teams. Developer teams will create AI models with built-in safety mechanisms, while red teams will test for vulnerabilities. Each selected team will receive a sponsorship package worth $250,000, competing for a total of $700,000 in cash prizes. Participants retain intellectual property rights and must publish a technical paper post-competition. The challenge encourages responsible AI development, responding to industry demands for safe software engineering practices.
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