The International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI), inaugurated in 2023, is a premier international science olympiad held annually during the summer. Its mission is to provide high school students worldwide with opportunities to delve into the expansive possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) and to cultivate the next generation of AI innovators. The inaugural competition took place in Bulgaria in August 2024. The second edition of the competition will be held in Beijing, China, from August 2-9, 2025.
Competition details:
The IOAI features two main competitive rounds: a Theory Round and a Practice Round.
1. Theory (How it works) Contestants should thoroughly understand core concepts and theoretical underpinnings—essentially, the “why” behind AI. This may involve studying textbooks courses, and other resources to delve into the mechanics that power AI algorithms.
2. Practice (What it does, when to use it, and how to implement it) Contestants should develop the practical skills necessary to implement AI methods in code. This includes knowing how to use library functions effectively, call the method on a particular data, and interpret outputs. Example: While a contestant need not fully dissect the internal workings of the Adam optimizer, they should be able to decide when and how to employ it.
Participants are presented with multiple problems to solve within a 2 to 4-hour window, utilizing a single internet-connected computer per team. No other electronic devices are permitted during the competition.