Young Futures Launches $1 Million Challenge to Help Young People Learn and Think Critically in an AI-Shaped World

The challenge will award grants to at least 10 U.S.-based organizations helping young people strengthen learning, critical thinking and healthy decision-making in an AI-shaped world. Applications close Oct. 16, 2026.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As efforts to make AI systems safer continue, Young Futures is investing in the human side of AI safety: the experiences and relationships young people need to grow, learn and exercise judgment together.

Today, Young Futures (YF) opened applications for The Unwritten Challenge, supporting nonprofits helping young people ages 10 to 19 learn deeply, think critically and make healthy decisions in an AI-shaped world. The challenge will distribute a minimum of $1 million in grants across at least 10 organizations, with individual awards ranging from $50,000 to $100,000. Applications close October 16, 2026.

As AI changes how young people learn, communicate and make decisions, The Unwritten Challenge supports organizations that help young people navigate AI with judgment and agency while strengthening the human experiences technology cannot replace: asking questions, working through uncertainty and learning alongside trusted adults and peers. Funded solutions may operate in schools, homes, after-school programs or communities and do not need to use AI.

The Unwritten Challenge is the first of two U.S. funding challenges within Groundwork, Young Futures’ $15 million, three-year initiative in the United States and United Kingdom. Groundwork invests in the relationships and experiences young people need to develop agency, judgment and connection as AI becomes more deeply embedded in their lives.

“Young people develop judgment and agency through relationships: asking questions, working through disagreement and learning with people they trust,” said Dr. Kristine Gloria, COO of Young Futures. “The Unwritten Challenge invests in that shared work. Whatever comes next for AI, young people need communities that help them grow as learners and thinkers.”

The challenge will support solutions that preserve productive struggle: questioning, practicing and working through uncertainty with support from educators, caregivers and other trusted adults in young people’s lives. These solutions can help young people recognize when AI supports their thinking and when it does that thinking for them.

The Unwritten Challenge will fund solutions across three tracks:

1. Learning, Critical Thinking and Decision-Making in an AI-Generated World: Protecting the productive struggle that builds independent thinkers and ownership of their ideas. Solutions could strengthen reasoning and debate, help young people distinguish their own voice from AI-generated output, or preserve opportunities for effort and reflection when shortcuts are available.
2. Support for Educators, Caregivers and Trusted Adults: Equipping educators, caregivers, coaches and mentors to guide young people as learners and thinkers while honoring youth perspectives. Solutions could include relational skills training, intergenerational conversations and practical approaches that make students’ thinking and learning processes visible.
3. Changing the Narrative: Advancing research, science communication and storytelling that help the public understand AI’s developmental effects. Solutions could surface youth judgment, creativity and leadership, examine systemic pressures on young people, or share learning from existing programs.

“Young people cannot be treated as passive recipients of technologies that are reshaping how they learn, relate, and understand the world,” said Michele L. Jawando, CEO of Omidyar Network. “The Unwritten Challenge will support organizations that are helping young people cultivate the judgment, curiosity, and agency to step into their collective power and shape the role AI plays in their lives.”

The Unwritten Challenge is supported by Young Futures’ foundational funders—Pivotal Ventures, Susan Crown Exchange, The Goodness Web, Enlight Foundation, Resonance Philanthropies and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation—with additional support from Siegel Family Endowment, Omidyar Network and the Bezos Family Foundation.

Selected organizations will join the Young Futures Academy, a five-month accelerator offering leadership development, fundraising, communications, subject-matter expertise, peer networking and mentorship. It begins with an all-expenses-paid retreat and ends with a virtual showcase, with approximately 10 hours of participation per month.

Eligible applicants must be U.S.-based nonprofits or schools with 501(c)(3) status, or operate through fiscal sponsorship. They must demonstrate community insight and engagement, involve youth in the design, execution and evaluation of their solutions, have policies to protect minors and designate a leader to participate actively in the Academy. Applications and correspondence must be in English. Funds may not support lobbying.

Key dates:

• Applications accepted: Sept. 23 through Oct. 16, 2026
• Applicant information session: Sept. 29, 2026, noon to 1 p.m. PT / 3 to 4 p.m. ET
• Finalist interviews: Nov. 23 through Dec. 16, 2026
• YF Innovators selected and announced: February through April 2027
• YF Academy: April through August 2027
• YF Academy retreat: April 2027; date and location to be confirmed

To review the full request for proposals and complete the eligibility quiz, visit youngfutures.org/challenges/unwritten. Eligible applicants will then be directed to the grant seeker portal.

About Young Futures

Young Futures (YF) is a field-building nonprofit working to make the digital world an easier place to grow up. Through research, grantmaking, leadership development, capacity building and storytelling, YF strengthens the people and organizations helping young people and families navigate a rapidly changing digital landscape. YF funds youth-led and youth-serving solutions, elevates young people’s perspectives and translates research and insights from the field into practical guidance, shared learning and public narratives that reflect what young people need to thrive. Its foundational funders include Pivotal Ventures, Susan Crown Exchange, The Goodness Web, Enlight Foundation, the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and Resonance Philanthropies.