Biden launches AI competition to tackle cybersecurity challenges — and hackers are being offered $20 million in prize money to compete

• President Biden has called for a nationwide AI challenge to help protect critical US software.
• The challenge will kick off in spring 2024 and there will be cash prizes for the top five teams.

Hackers have been invited by President Joe Biden to compete in a two-year competition to develop AI-driven systems to strengthen the nation's most important software.

The AI Cyber Challenge, as it has been termed by The White House, challenges competitors to identify and fix software vulnerabilities in code that helps run the internet and other critical infrastructure. It is being led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The announcement was made in a White House press statement and comes as rapid advances in AI bring both benefits and security challenges.

Open to all, registration for the competition begins in fall, with a qualifying event in spring 2024. The top 20 teams then proceed to semifinals at the DEF CON hacking conference in August 2024.

The top five teams that can design the best AI systems to address national cybersecurity issues will get a share of the £20 million on offer as prize money. Further millions are on offer for the top three winners at the final in August 2025.

Competitors will get the chance to work with top AI companies like Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, who have all signed up to offer their expertise and technology.

DARPA will also offer small businesses a total of $1 million to compete.

Biden announced the challenge while attending Black Hat USA, a major hacking conference, this week in Las Vegas.

The involvement of companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic is notable. Earlier this summer, White House officials invited the CEOs of those companies, among others, to explain how they planned to tackle thorny safety concerns around rapid AI development.