A single Grand Prize Winner will be selected by an independent board of scientists chaired by senior editors at Science along with the possibility of two runners up. The winner receives a cash prize of $30,000. Their essay is published in Science both in print and online. The winner also receives a free five year AAAS Membership and digital subscription to Science.

Each year up to two runners up will be awarded a cash prize in the amount of $10,000. Their essays will also be published in Science Online. The runners up will also receive a five year AAAS Membership and digital subscription to Science.

Applicants should submit a 1,000-word essay describing a fundamental advance in an empirical science that would not have been feasible without using an AI-associated technique to augment the standard repertoire of methods in that field. The results should inspire other practitioners in the discipline to likewise take advantage of AI in enabling their future research.

• Entrants must be early career scientists in a field related to artificial intelligence who hold an M.D., Ph.D., or M.D./Ph.D at the time of entry and have received their degree in the last 10 years.
• While the research may be part of a larger team effort, an eligible entrant must be an individual and the essay must focus on their own work or contribution.
• An entrant may not win more than one Science Prize using the same essay or a similar essay on the same research.
• Essays on the same research cannot win more than one Science Prize regardless of who the entrant is.
• Past winners of a Science Prize cannot be eligible for another Science Prize until at least 5 years have passed since the initial award.

Science editors will screen the essays. A committee of scientists chaired by a Science Senior Editor, Deputy Editor, Editor or Editor in Chief, will select winners from the finalists. AAAS will control both the evaluation process and the announcement of the winner. The guidelines editors will use in screening the submitted essays are as follows:

The essays will be rated on a 1-5 scale for two characteristics:

• First, scientific quality and significance. A high score in this area would mean that the results are particularly important in demonstrating how AI can effectively be used to address basic research questions in the physical or life sciences. Elegant experiments, or a fresh approach to a problem would all contribute to this score. This score would be similar to an assessment as to whether the paper is one that would belong in Science.
• Second, the clarity and style of the writing. A high score in this category would mean that the results are presented in a particularly compelling way, with the logic of the experiments obvious and the overall significance of the result clearly explained. An engaging writing style would contribute to a high score here.