Gates-backed $1M prize targets AI systems for Alzheimer’s research

The Alzheimer’s Disease Data Initiative has launched a $1 million AI competition to accelerate research into the condition, with backing from Bill Gates. The prize targets the development of agentic AI systems that can independently read and organize vast amounts of Alzheimer’s research, potentially uncovering breakthrough insights that human researchers might have missed.

What you should know: The Alzheimer’s Insights AI Prize specifically seeks innovative agentic AI solutions that can autonomously navigate complex research datasets to identify new treatment pathways.

• The winning solution will be made freely available to scientists worldwide through ADDI’s AD Workbench, a secure cloud-based research environment.
• More than 152 million people are projected to be living with Alzheimer’s by 2050, making the urgency for breakthrough treatments critical.
• The first disease-modifying drugs for Alzheimer’s took more than a century to reach commercialization, while the first blood-based diagnostic test was only approved by the FDA this year.

Why this matters: Alzheimer’s complexity stems from multiple biological pathways with no single known cause, creating a research challenge that traditional methods have struggled to solve efficiently.

• “AI has the potential to revolutionize the pace and scale of dementia research – providing an opportunity we cannot afford to miss out on, especially with so many lives at risk,” said Niranjan Bose, interim executive director of the ADDI.
• Agentic AI tools have already proven effective in oncology and other complex disease research, suggesting strong potential for similar breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s.

The big picture: This competition represents a shift toward predictive rather than reactive research methodologies in neurodegenerative disease study.

• “AI is opening the door for a shift from reactive to predictive research—identifying novel biomarkers of early disease patterns, optimizing clinical trial designs, and revealing unexpected opportunities for drug creation and repurposing,” said Gregory Moore, senior advisor at Gates Ventures and the AD Data Initiative.
• Moore emphasized AI’s potential to break down silos between research teams, enabling “global, collective intelligence” that could “radically accelerate every stage of the Alzheimer’s research pipeline.”

Personal connection: Gates launched the ADDI in 2020 after his father died from Alzheimer’s at age 94, driving his commitment to advancing diagnostics and treatments for the condition.

• The coalition brings together advocacy groups, government, academia and industry to coordinate research efforts across multiple sectors.

Competition timeline: Applications opened today for AI researchers, computational biomedicine experts, clinicians and multidisciplinary teams.

• Semi-finalists will present at the Clinical Trials for Alzheimer’s Disease Conference in San Diego this December.
• Finalists will compete at the Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease Conference in Copenhagen in March 2026.