In short
The Mensa Foundation's article "Top 10 Tips for Scholarship Essays" tells scholarship applicants not to use AI to write their essay. This is advice in a blog post, not a formal policy document. The Foundation also screens essays with software that flags likely AI-generated entries. The pages give no rule on whether judges may use AI themselves.
Bans AI. Applicants may not use AI to write any part of an application.
For applicants
- Do not use AI to write the scholarship essay. The Foundation says to use your own thoughts and words. [1]
- The Foundation warns that unedited AI content can include errors, weird phrasing, and leftover prompts. [1]
- The Foundation runs essays through software that flags entries that appear likely to have been generated largely by AI. [2]
For reviewers
Sources
Top 10 Tips for Scholarship Essays (opens in a new tab)
Don’t use AI to write your essay
Worse, unedited AI content can include errors, weird phrasing, and leftover prompts.
Scholarship essays are supposed to be personal and reflective, so use your own thoughts and words.
Reading the Future: What 600 judges learned from 33,000 essays (opens in a new tab)
The system also identifies entries that appear likely to have been generated largely by artificial intelligence.
Judges themselves are not asked to determine whether an essay was written by artificial intelligence, but the question inevitably comes up after hours of reading student writing.
Those essays were still scored, he noted, but occasionally flagged for review.
See Mensa Foundation's 3 open programs
This page summarizes what the funder has published and is not legal advice. Policies change, and one solicitation can add its own rules. Confirm against the funding announcement before you apply.