You’re Invited to the Global AI Debate 2026 — an international academic competition where students take on the world’s most urgent questions about artificial intelligence.

The tournament is run by the Modus Ponens Institute, TKEThics, and DebateUS,  backed by the UC?Berkeley Debate Society, and led by veteran organizers behind the Harvard and Georgetown tournaments, and the Pan American Ethics Olympiads. It draws judges from top AI organizations, including MIT, OpenAI, and Perplexity, providing students an opportunity to engage with top experts in one of the most important fields of the 21st century.

In Fall 2025, we were blown away by the clarity, insight, and originality of the essays and debates. The level of analysis and argumentation rivaled university seminars, and this year, we’re raising the bar again! 

Topics for Speech and Debate Categories:

• Primary School Speech (ages 7 — 10): Schools should use AI Teachers. (5 minute speech)

• Middle School Speech (ages 11 — 13): AI will be bad for the media ecosystem. (7 minute speech)

• High School Speech (ages 14 — 18): We support the Future of Life Institute Statement on superintelligence. (7 minute speech)

• Essay and Debate (any age): We support the Future of Life Institute Statement on superintelligence. (1500 word essay on either the Pro or the Con of the topic)

*Note on word count: any citations/bibliography  don’t count toward the word count total, essays exceeding the word count will not be considered!

Pricing

• Teams submitting 10 or more entries: $100 USD per entry

• Teams submitting fewer than 10 entries: $120 USD per entry

• Early Bird Discounts: 

  • January 1— January 31:  20% discount on all registration

  • February 1 — February 28: 10% discount on all registration

• Co-Registration Discounts: 

  • If you co-register for one of our tracks and for the Georgetown Tournament Speech Track, the total will be $140 USD for both events. 

Student names are not due until your entry is submitted, so you can pay for your teams from January 1st, and submit the details later. Registrations will be accepted until the day submissions of essays/speeches are due. 

Schedule

Registration:

Registration Opens: January 1st ~ April 1st, 2026 

Qualifying Round:
April 15th, 2026 — Videos of Speeches Due | Essay Submission Due
April 20th, 2026 — Break Announced
Top 20% of submissions in each category advance | Top 8 Essays qualify for the final debate rounds

Speech Finals:
April 25, 2026 @ 6pm. Eastern time   Live speeches in front of a panel

Essay Finals — April 25nd, 2026 (Zoom)
6:00 PM ET — Quarterfinals
7:30 PM ET — Semifinals
9:00 PM ET — Finals

Refund Policy (minus any transaction fees)

 Full refund: Cancellations made before the registration deadline are eligible for a full refund.  
 Patial refund: Cancellations made up to ten days before the competition date are eligible for a 50% refund.
 No refund: Cancellations made within one week of the competition are not eligible for a refund.

To cancel, send email to info@tkethics.org please! The date we receive your email is the official cancellation date. If we reschedule or cancel the event, you can choose a full refund or transfer to the new date.

Register Now!