RAISE 27
RAISE-27
Artificial Intelligence – Informatics – Data Science AI Competition
AI Came, AI Saw, AI Conquered?
Promise of Value Creation versus Illusory Irrational Exuberance
RAISE-27 invites undergraduate and graduate students from all disciplines to explore one of the defining questions of our time:
What should we realistically expect AI to do, under what conditions, with what limitations, and with what evidence of value?
AI came. AI saw. But has AI conquered?
RAISE-27 invites students to examine the evidence, challenge the assumptions, separate value from illusion, and help shape a more informed understanding of the AI-driven future.The challenge is to examine what we realistically expect AI to accomplish. Can AI solve every important problem facing humanity? Do we understand the kinds of problems AI is well suited to solve and the problems it cannot? Where does genuine technological progress end, and where does irrational exuberance begin?
AI risks being viewed as a technological elixir: a force expected to continuously deliver productivity, intelligence, prosperity, and solutions to humanity’s most difficult challenges. AI may contribute to addressing these challenges, but it does not follow that AI can conquer them.
The goal is not to reject technological optimism, but to develop disciplined optimism – an evidence-based understanding of what AI can realistically contribute without mistaking powerful tools for universal solutions.
RAISE-27 asks students to investigate the space between AI’s extraordinary promise and its real-world impact.
Rather than treating AI simply as an inevitable technological revolution, participants are encouraged to question its assumptions, evaluate its successes and failures, and explore what meaningful AI-driven progress should actually look like. Where is AI improving productivity, discovery, decision-making, creativity, accessibility, and quality of life? Where is it merely replacing existing processes without creating meaningful value? And where might the excitement surrounding AI be obscuring its limitations, risks, costs, and unintended consequences?
This cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence, Informatics, and Data Science Competition from the MPI Program at the Bloustein School, Rutgers University invites students to investigate the opportunities, contradictions, risks, and responsibilities emerging from an increasingly AI-driven world.
- Open to: Undergraduate & Graduate Students (All Disciplines)
- Prize Pool: Up to $17,000
- Format: Virtual Submission + Final Event at Rutgers
- Finals Date: April 16, 2027
- 🎓 MPI Program scholarships will be awarded to RAISE-27 winners
Key Questions
- Has AI truly begun to transform society, or are expectations moving faster than measurable outcomes?
- Where is AI creating genuine economic, scientific, social, or human value and where is it mostly hype?
- Is the race toward AGI driven by realistic technological progress, competitive pressure, speculative enthusiasm or all three?
- Are AI agents and increasingly autonomous systems delivering meaningful productivity gains, or simply adding new layers of technological complexity?
Most importantly: what would responsible, sustainable, and genuinely valuable AI progress look like?
AI came. AI saw. But has AI conquered?
Focus Areas
Participants may explore topics including agentic AI, artificial general intelligence, human-AI interaction, ethics and governance, misinformation, digital behavior, computational social science, and data-driven societal analysis.
Students — This Is Your Moment
Whether you code, design, research, write, build, or imagine, RAISE-27 is your platform to explore how AI is transforming humanity and the material world.
Students from all disciplines are welcome.