THE CHALLENGE
This year, as part of the Forum, we are continuting to host The Kevin Xu Innovation Challenge and have invited members of the Rhodes and Equitech Futures communities to tackle the following question and put forward potential solutions:
How might we design AI systems that deepen creativity, cooperation, curiosity, and
care as they become part of everyday life?Shortlisted teams will present at the Forum and compete for up to £25,000 in non-dilutive funding, with dedicated mentorship and feedback from a panel of experts across disciplines.
“Keeping humanity in the loop” means more than preserving a formal role for
human oversight. It means designing systems that expand human judgment, invite
curiosity, support creativity, strengthen cooperation, and make room for care,
responsibility, and shared understanding. Our judges will be distributing the prize money under two categories:
- Non-profit Track – for solutions aimed at equitable social benefit, governance, education, sustainability, or community empowerment that will require philanthropy
- Commercial Track – for market-driven solutions that demonstrate both business potential and social responsibility
Experienced in the fields of innovation, entrepreneurship and AI, please learn more about our 2026 Kevin Xu Innovation Challenge judges below
