The $100,000 Linda G. O'Bryant Prize will recognize bold new research frameworks for designing and testing conscious artificial intelligence.

NOVATO, Calif., July 3, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) proudly announces the third annual Linda G. O'Bryant Noetic Sciences Research Prize. This year's prize will be awarded to groundbreaking proposals that explore how to design, develop, and assess artificial intelligence systems that may demonstrate actual conscious awareness. That is, conscious awareness of some sort, similar to how humans are aware. With a total prize of $100,000, the 2025 award challenges researchers to create testable frameworks for conscious AI, particularly those incorporating non-local principles of consciousness.

This bold new theme builds on IONS' legacy of advancing theories that challenge conventional, materialist assumptions about the mind. Unlike traditional AI research, which focuses on functionality and behavior, the goal of the 2025 prize is to support innovative research in developing frameworks for AI systems that incorporate key attributes similar to human consciousness, such as self-awareness, moral values, adaptive decision-making, and more.

The prize is named in honor of IONS Board Member and longtime supporter, Linda G. O'Bryant. A member of IONS since the 1980s, O'Bryant partnered with IONS to create this annual award to spark revolutionary discoveries in the science of consciousness.

"We are grateful to Linda O'Bryant for her vision and generosity in establishing this prize," said IONS scientist Arnaud Delorme "With AI evolving rapidly, we believe this is a critical time to ask: Can machines ever become truly conscious? And if so, how would we know? This year's prize invites researchers to consider new scientific paradigms that embrace the possibility that consciousness is not merely emergent from matter, but fundamental to it."

The 2025 prize will support theoretical proposals that:

• Design AI frameworks incorporating self-awareness, agency, emotional intelligence, and ethical values
• Integrate non-local models of consciousness, including those informed by quantum mechanics and noetic sciences (see peer-reviewed publication)
• Propose rigorous assessment protocols to test whether an AI system demonstrates actual conscious awareness
• Address the philosophical, ethical, and societal implications of creating conscious AI

Phase 1 applications—letters of intent—are due by August 1, 2025. Finalists will be invited to submit full proposals, due by October 15, 2025, and winners will be announced on November 21, 2025. The prize is open to individual researchers and multidisciplinary teams, with at least one member required to have expertise in fields such as AI, consciousness studies, quantum theory, or philosophy of mind.

Noetic sciences is a multidisciplinary field that combines objective science with subjective experience to explore the nature of consciousness, reality, and human potential. Since its founding in 1973, IONS has been a pioneering force at the frontier of science, dedicated to understanding how consciousness interacts with the physical world.

To learn more about the prize and how to apply, visit noetic.org/prize.

About the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS)

The Institute of Noetic Sciences is a nonprofit scientific research center and direct experience lab specializing in the intersection of science and profound human experience. Founded in 1973 by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, IONS investigates consciousness, interconnectedness, and extended human capacities to help foster a more compassionate and thriving world. Learn more at www.noetic.org.

Media Contact

Leslie Girone Lovejoy, Institute of Noetic Sciences, 1 707-775-3500, communications@noetic.org, https://noetic.org/

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SOURCE Institute of Noetic Sciences