NIH Reiterates Appropriate Use of AI in Developing Grant Applications

By: Yvette Seger
Thursday, July 24, 2025
To ensure appropriate use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the development of grant applications, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued new guidance on “Supporting Fairness and Originality in NIH Research Applications” on July 17. While acknowledging that AI tools can be useful in reducing some administrative aspects of preparing grant applications, the notice reiterates the expectation for proposals to reflect the original ideas of the applicant.

To address concerns regarding the misuse of AI technologies, NIH will not consider applications containing significant portions developed by AI. If AI use is detected post-award, additional actions – including referral to the Office of Research Integrity, withholding of future awards, and partial suspension – will be taken. In addition, NIH will only accept six new, renewal, or revision applications from an individual Principal Investigator/Program Director or Multiple Principal Investigator for all council rounds in a calendar year. This policy is effective for all applications submitted to the September 25, 2025, receipt date and applies to all activity codes other than Training (T) grants or R13 conference grant applications.