Decentralized Artificial Intelligence through Controlled Emergence (DICE)
DARPA - Information Processing Technologies Office
Award ceiling
—Award floor
—Posted
Jun 10, 2026Closes
Aug 25, 2026Location eligibility
No specific state restriction found in this listing — check the full opportunity for details.Categories: Science and Technology and other Research and Development
Eligible applicants: Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)
Description
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.