Welcome to the
8th Annual Smoky Mountains Computational Sciences Data Challenge
Trustworthy AI for Science Essay Contest

(SMCDC24)

SMC Data Challenge 2024 provides an opportunity to contemplate the guidance necessary to construct trustworthy, ethical, and useful AI systems for scientific purposes. The participants with selected essays will be invited to present at the Smoky Mountains Computational Sciences and Engineering Conference (SMC24) where contest winners will be announced.

 

“AI is completely changing the way that we do science. It’s transformative, but it is important to evaluate and develop these models in a much more systematic, rigorous, and responsible way that maximizes the potential while minimizing the risks. We challenge you to explore a future where artificial general intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computing play a critical role in advancing the frontiers of science, engineering, and national security.” 

            ~Prasanna Balaprakash, Director Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s AI Initiative

 

To realize such a future, researchers require well-considered frameworks encompassing both scientific rigor and ethics to govern the use of AI for scientific purposes. We hope that  interdisciplinary teams will form to deliberate and write about this topic. We encourage submissions about questions of ethics and the use of AI for science and what these AI frameworks should consider and how they might operate. (Teams should allow themselves creative forays: poetry, thought experiments, dimension reduction analysis are all ok!)

We invite teams to submit thought-provoking responses to one of the following challenges in a 2000-word essay. Teams may consist of up to four members, and participation from diverse technical and humanistic viewpoints is strongly encouraged.

Challenges Coming Soon

Selected solutions to these challenges will be given a DOI.

All participants must obtain an ORNL conference access approval to participate in the conference for this competition. Respond promptly to all ORNL access invitations and emails from the organizers to avoid potential delays.


 To Participate:

  • Register your team on our website by June 24th, midnight (anywhere on Earth).
  • By midnight on July 8th,  submit a comprehensive abstract through our registration system. This abstract should specify the challenge you aim to tackle, highlight the AI training dataset(s) or AI Process(es) you intend to focus on, and outline your initial approach within 1000 words. This initial draft will serve as the basis for selecting finalists who will advance to the next stage.
  • In the final round, selected teams will expand their abstracts into 2000-word essays, due by Thursday, August 15, 2024.
  • From each winning team, one member will be invited to present their essay at SMC24. In the event that the team representative is unable to attend, ORNL will arrange for a mentor to present the essay on their behalf. The best paper will be selected and honored during SMC24.
  • Since we are encouraging creative formats for these essays, we do not have a required template outside the sections and length suggested above, but if you are looking for template to follow, we suggest the Springer Data challenges templates.

 


 

Important Dates

Monday, June 24, 2024 Registration closes
Monday, July 8, 2024Long Abstracts Due  
Tuesday, July 23, 2024Notifications of Acceptance
Friday, July 26, 2024Entry PAS due for Accepted 
Thursday, August 15, 2024Final Drafts due of Accepted papers 
Monday, September 16, 2024SMC2024 begins