OpenAI's ChatGPT Futures program awarded $10,000 grants to 26 students and young people for projects ranging

OpenAI’s ChatGPT Futures program awarded $10,000 grants to 26 students and young people for projects ranging from an accessible audio — gaming nonprofit and an offline tactile console to space — robot concepts and medical prediction tools.

OpenAI awarded $10,000 grants to 26 students and young people through its ChatGPT Futures program to support AI projects aimed at public benefit; the awards were announced as the class of 2026 — the first cohort to have ChatGPT available across nearly their entire college experience — prepares to graduate. The program is intended to show how students are using ChatGPT to scale what they can build and pursue projects that previously might have seemed out of reach.

One recipient, Crystal Yang, launched Audemy after trying to make Wordle playable for a blind friend. Audemy has produced more than 50 audio — powered games for blind and visually impaired players and is now developing an accessible gaming console that adds tactile features and is designed to operate without Wi‑Fi. Yang says AI has helped Audemy across coding, management and prototype evaluation.

Among the other winners are a space — robot concept meant to reduce routine astronaut tasks; a research project that uses Wi‑Fi signals to detect survivors through debris and walls; tools to help older adults avoid online scams; and a system to help Latin American street vendors track finances. Several finalists concentrate on science and medicine, pursuing work such as protein — function prediction, mental health resource matching and drug-production optimization.

Yang described concrete ways she integrates AI into Audemy’s workflow: conducting user research, drafting a formal paper, plugging new game ideas into existing templates and using computer — aided design tools to evaluate components as the team prototypes its console. The grants are intended to accelerate work that combines accessibility design with practical engineering constraints like offline operation and tactile interfaces.

OpenAI framed ChatGPT Futures as a demonstration of how students are deploying ChatGPT to extend capabilities and tackle projects that once seemed impractical. Leah Belsky, OpenAI’s head of education, said the winners illustrate an educational shift that has followed ChatGPT’s public debut in fall 2022, with students building things many wouldn’t have thought possible just a few years ago.