The Institute for Ethics in AI’s annual undergraduate essay competition invites Oxford students to engage critically with some of the most pressing ethical questions raised by artificial intelligence. The competition celebrates original and insightful philosophical writing on the societal implications of AI technologies.
The competition is open to students who were undergraduates at the University of Oxford during Trinity Term 2026, when the competition was announced.
Participants are required to write an essay in response to the following question:
Should AI speech be limited?
- Entries should be a maximum of 1,500 words in length and should be submitted as a PDF document, together with the completed entry form.
- The closing date for entries is 5pm BST on 18 September 2026.
- Three finalists will be contacted by email and invited to present their essays at a special lunchtime seminar in December 2026. At the end of the seminar, a winner and two runners-up will be selected.
- The winner will receive £500 and the two runners-up £250 each.
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Entry into this competition constitutes acceptance of the following rules and regulations:
- This competition is open to undergraduates enrolled at the University of Oxford in the Term in which the essay question is announced
- Your essay must be in English and your own, unaided work
- Plagiarism in any form will not be tolerated and the entry will be disqualified
- The essay must not exceed 1,500 words
- Your entry must be submitted as a pdf using the entry form
- Maximum of one entry per person
- The closing date is 5pm (BST) Friday 18 September 2026
- The winning entry and two runners-up will be notified in October/November 2026
- The Institute for Ethics in AI reserves the right to publish the top three entries on our website and social media channels ad infinitum. Authors may also publish their pieces elsewhere after prizes have been awarded. The judges’ decisions will be final
- We will not enter into any correspondence about the winner or entries, nor will we make changes to entries received
- We will abide by good practice in the running of this competition but cannot be held responsible for circumstances beyond our control, such as being unable to access our website services. Prizes may be withheld or altered if we receive no outstanding or insufficient entries
- Notification of receipt of entry will be by email
- Entries cannot be altered or substituted once they have been submitted
- Entering or winning the competition does not confer a lasting association of any kind with the Institute for Ethics in AI
- Entry is free
- Incomplete or late submissions will not be accepted
- The Institute for Ethics in AI reserves the right to close the competition early should we receive an exceptionally high volume of responses
- Please note that we reserve the right to extend the competition closure date should we receive an insufficient number of responses
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- Please read the submission guidelines above for full details and guidance about our competition before entering
- Please complete the entry form and attach your submission (in PDF format)
- Entries should be a maximum of 1,500 words in length
- Ensure that your submissions follow the required file naming format: LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME.pdf