Decentralized Artificial Intelligence through Controlled Emergence (DICE)
Status: Forecasted
Posted date: June 10, 2026
Archive date: September 24, 2026
Close date: August 25, 2026
Opportunity ID: 362743
Opportunity number: HR001126S0010
Opportunity category: Discretionary
Agency name: DARPA - Information Processing Technologies Office
Agency code: DOD-DARPA-IPTO
Award floor: $0
Award ceiling: $0
Cost sharing required: No
Funding Instrument Types
- Cooperative Agreement
- Other
- Procurement Contract
Category of Funding Activity
- Science and Technology and other Research and Development
Eligible Applicants
- Others
Categories (use these for quoted searches)
- agency_code:dod_darpa_ipto
- category_of_funding_activity:science_and_technology_and_other_research_and_development
- cost_sharing_or_matching_requirement:false
- eligible_applicants:others
- funding_instrument_type:cooperative_agreement
- funding_instrument_type:other
- funding_instrument_type:procurement_contract
- opportunity_category:discretionary
- status:forecasted
The DICE program seeks to develop the theory and algorithms for decentralized coordination and local inference control to enable a scalable, adaptive, and resilient collective of heterogeneous AI agents that can autonomously execute sustained long-time-horizon missions in contested environments while remaining under human control. In contrast to small-scale, rigid, and fragile centralized orchestration or the high-risk unpredictable nature of ad hoc compositions of AI agents, DICE aims to harness the scalability and adaptability of self-organizing systems while minimizing risks and ensuring that the collective behavior remains predictable and aligned with intended outcomes. This approach mirrors the principles of decentralized self-organization that underpin the internet's own scalability and resilience, where robust global behavior emerges from simple, local rules.