The International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI) is an International Science Olympiad in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). IOAI is a team competition for high school students - each country or territory participates with up to two teams, consisting of up to four students, supported by one leader. The first IOAI was held in Burgas, Bulgaria, in 2024.
Structure
editThe IOAI consists of three contests: the individual contest, the team challenge, and the GAITE contest.[1]
- Individual contest: The individual contest is done over two days. In each day, contestants have approximately 6 hours to complete 2-3 tasks. Tasks are not connected with each other. However, the tasks on the first day are a continuation of at-home tasks, which are given a month before the contest.
- Team challenge: The style of the team challenge changes every year. In 2024, teams worked with existing AI image and video generation tools to produce a visual result. In 2025, teams were assigned to program a robot to complete various tasks.
- GAITE contest: The GAITE (Global AI Talent Empowerment) contest is a simplified version of the individual contest with a separate scoreboard, where participants may ask for hints.
Awards distribution: roughly 50% of the participants in the individual contest receive gold, silver and bronze medals in ratio of 1:2:3, respectively. The top 3 individuals receive honorary trophies. Similar to other International Science Olympiads, if an individual is in the top 50% on one of the days, but does not receive a medal, they receive an honorary mention during the awards ceremony. The GAITE contest has similar cutoff logic, but receives a reward instead of a medal. The top 3 teams in the team challenge receive trophies.
As an AI Olympiad, IOAI is actively engaged in discussions with the general public about the ethical aspects and the future of AI, primarily through its practical round and conference.[2] At the IOAI conference teams and guests of the Olympiad have the opportunity to attend lectures and participate in practical sessions on current topics in artificial intelligence.
Founders
editThe IOAI was founded by the LERAI Foundation, with members Lora Dineva, Elena Marinova, Rositsa Dekova, Aleksandar Velinov, and Iva Gumnishka.[3] The Olympiad collaborates with renowned scientists from leading universities to develop its competition tasks.[4] IOAI's partners and sponsors include institutions, NGOs, and companies worldwide.[5]
Governance
editThe current IOAI board consists of:
- Elena Marinova, chair of the board, founder
- Aleksandar Velinov, President, founder
- Katya Protsko, secretary
- Ali Sharifi Zarchi, Chair of the Scientific Committee
- Yova Kementchedjhieva, Secretary of the Scientific Committee
- Lora Dineva, founder
- Rositsa Dekova, founder
- Iva Gumnishka, founder
- Antonio Carlan
- Steven Chen
- Young Mao, representative of the 2025 host
History
editThe 1st IOAI took place in Burgas, Bulgaria, from August 9 to 15, 2024. The event featured nearly 200 students from 32 countries and territories from 6 continents, organized into 41 teams. In the team challenge, the students worked in the space of AI and art, creating a single cover and video for the remix of the song "Love" by Bulgarian singer Maria Ilieva.[3]
The 2025 International Artificial Intelligence Olympiad was in Beijing, China. The event featured nearly 300 students from 54 different countries and territories. In the team challenge, teams were tasked to program a robot to organize a warehouse.
Participating countries and territories
edit2024, founding countries and territories:[6]
Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Estonia, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iran, Isle of Man, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Netherlands, Poland, Letovo, Romania, Singapore, Sweden, Chinese Taipei, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vietnam.
References
edit- ^ "Contest Rules". IOAI. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
- ^ Pavlov, Filip (2024-07-31). "First International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence Aims to Draw Attention to Moral, Ethical Issues, Say Founders". Bulgarian News Agency. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
- ^ a b "Bulgarian Students Shine at Inaugural International AI Olympiad with Gold and Bronze Medals". Novinite.com. 2024-08-15. Retrieved 2024-09-01.
- ^ България организира първата международна AI олимпиада [Bulgaria is organizing the first international AI olympiad]. Forbes Bulgaria (in Bulgarian). 2024-06-26. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
- ^ Gigov, Lyubomir (2024-08-10). "World's 1st International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence Begins in Burgas". Bulgarian News Agency. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
- ^ "2024 Bulgaria teams". IOAI. Retrieved 2024-12-27.