OpenAI $10,000 – OpenAI’s ChatGPT Futures awards 26 students with $10,000 grants, highlighting AI used for accessibility, healthcare research, and scam prevention.
A $10,000 grant is changing the trajectory for a group of students and young innovators, underscoring how artificial intelligence is moving beyond labs and into real-world problem solving.
Crystal Yang. a University of Pennsylvania student. received one of the $10. 000 awards through OpenAI’s ChatGPT Futures program. which recognizes how a “rising generation” is using AI “for good.” The project that earned Yang attention began years earlier. when she was still in high school and noticed that her friends couldn’t play a popular word game because one friend is blind.. That gap in access became the foundation for her work.
Yang teamed up with researchers at Texas A&M University while she was still a student to explore conversational audio interfaces for the game.. The effort evolved into a nonprofit called Audemy. which has since developed more than 50 audio-powered games built to be accessible to blind and visually impaired players.. The mission is expanding again: Audemy is also working on an accessible gaming console designed to incorporate audio and tactile features. and to operate without Wi‑Fi.
Artificial intelligence has been woven into Yang’s development process from the start. including support for coding and management. but also for the “behind-the-scenes” work that often determines whether an idea survives contact with users.. In Yang’s account. AI has helped her learn user research practices. draft a formal paper. adapt new game ideas into existing templates. and use computer-aided design tools while evaluating components as the console prototypes take shape.
Yang’s comments capture a broader theme reflected across the program: she credits AI as a practical tool that helps her advocate for the issues she cares about while also multiplying what she can do.. In her case. the result is not only more accessible games. but a longer-term push toward a hardware experience that can function in environments where internet access is limited.
OpenAI’s education leader, Leah Belsky, said the program’s intent is to spotlight what students are building with AI.. She pointed to the fact that the graduating class of 2026 is the first university cohort to have had ChatGPT available for nearly the entirety of their college experience—an interval she suggests has shaped how students think about what technology can enable.
Yang is one of 26 students and other young people selected for the program’s $10,000 grants.. Alongside her. other honorees are pursuing projects ranging from space robotics meant to reduce astronauts’ routine workload to new ways to identify disaster survivors through walls and debris using Wi‑Fi signals.
The awards also extend into everyday safety and commerce.. Other recipients are working on tools intended to help older people avoid online scams and to let Latin American street vendors track their finances.. Several participants are tackling science and medicine problems as well. including predicting protein functions. connecting people with local mental health resources. and optimizing drug production—areas where improving prediction and workflow efficiency can have outsized consequences.
One of the most detailed medical-focused projects described is by Ayush Noori. who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard and is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.. Noori worked on Proton, a graph AI model designed to generate hypotheses about neurological disease.
Noori said his motivation is connected to personal experience. including caring for his late grandmother. who had a rare neurodegenerative disease.. He described early signals from Proton. including candidate drug suggestions for bipolar disorder and Alzheimer’s disease. with validation reported through experiments on lab-grown brain tissue and an analysis of health records.
Noori’s stated goal is to build AI systems that can transform understanding. diagnosis. and treatment for neurological disease and other currently unsolved medical conditions.. His training spans both neuroscience and computer science. a combination he frames as central to bridging biological questions with model development.
Belsky said she has seen how AI tools such as ChatGPT—and. more recently. a coding tool called Codex—can help students take on ambitious projects. including building websites and apps and creating new businesses and nonprofits.. She emphasized the confidence and sense of agency that can come from having AI assist with early stages and iterative tasks. potentially lowering barriers for students who might otherwise struggle to move from concept to execution.
The timing of the program matters in the wider debate about technology in education.. As critics warn that overreliance on AI could weaken learning. avoid the slow practice that builds skill. or even enable cheating. educators have raised concerns across K-12 and higher education about reduced student effort and mistrust between students and faculty.
At the same time. Belsky said her visits to campuses show students using AI to pursue new initiatives rather than simply outsourcing work.. She suggested that AI can help widen access to experiences that have often been limited to students in environments such as hacker spaces. entrepreneurial classes. or other specialized facilities that aren’t available broadly.
For the program, OpenAI solicited entries in March from students and recent graduates in the U.S.. and Canada ages 18 to 25.. Applicants were asked to “leverage AI to expand their capacity. ” demonstrate “agency. ” and present a “bold. thoughtful vision for the future. ” according to the program’s description.
Belsky said the longer-term aim is to work with the education ecosystem to build a “future for education” in which schools and universities intentionally help unlock similar agency for all students.. Her view also hinges on a point that the program does not erase: AI may accelerate. but it does not replace human collaboration.. Yang, for instance, now manages volunteer developers contributing to Audemy games, with AI support in recruitment and onboarding.. Noori’s work, too, is described as the product of many human collaborators, alongside his academic pursuits.
The ChatGPT Futures honorees are scheduled to visit OpenAI in June. meet with employees. share their projects. and receive their awards.. Belsky said OpenAI has not restricted how they use the grants. and she hopes recipients will keep pushing their ideas forward while also encouraging others to build projects in the same spirit.
OpenAI grants ChatGPT Futures AI education accessibility gaming healthcare AI student innovation