Discovered Materials launches $1 million AI contest for 5 materials problems
Discovered Materials, a San Francisco startup from Y Combinator's Spring 2026 batch, just announced a $1 million prize pool for anyone who can use AI to crack five of the toughest problems in materials science.
The aim is to discover new materials that could power next-generation chips, with challenges like figuring out superconductivity and a numerical method to predict the structures of interfaces between silicon and silicon dioxide.
Discovered Materials works with global researchers
To make sure these questions really push the limits, Discovered Materials is working closely with top researchers from universities around the world.
The problems include things like making density functional theory better and understanding how light affects superconductivity.
So far, even advanced AI agents haven't made much headway, showing just how tricky these challenges are.
As co-founder Advaith Sridhar puts it, this contest is all about seeing what AI can really do for science and tech innovation.