International Sports Battle Mania
Artificial Intelligence has become one of the rising industries in recent years. From students taking help with homework to companies using it to make their work process more efficient, this tool is ever-growing, and in the future, it might do even more. As everything relevant to AI is becoming of importance, many events related to it are held, even on a grand scale. And one of them is the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI). And India has secured six medals, three gold, two silver, and one bronze, in the 2025 Olympiad. But what is this competition about? This article will give details like origin, previous competitions, significance, and the winners.
Origin:
The IOAI was an idea crafted by LERAI Foundation, an organisation established in 2023 in Bulgaria. And the motive behind this was the ever-growing importance of AI in modern times. And so, the first competition was held in 2024, and 33 countries participated in it.
First Competition:
The first Olympiad was held from 9th August to 15th August 2024, in Bulgaria. A total of 33 countries and 41 teams were part of this. In the first stage, the winners were Letovo, Poland 1, Singapore 2, and Singapore 1. And the winners of the second stage for gold were Bulgaria 1, Poland 1, Australia 2, and the USA 1. The winners of silver medals were the teams, UAE, Hungary 1, Hong Kong, Canada, Romania 2, Letovo, and China 1. And the winners of the bronze medals were the Netherlands, Jordan, Tunisia, Macau, Poland 2, Japan, Colombia, Vietnam 2, Vietnam 1, and USA 2. Teams like Letovo, Poland 1, and Hungary 1 were also appreciated for their performance. And the competition was overseen by an International panel of experts and researchers in the study of AI.
2025 Competition:
According to resources, 54 countries participated this year. And this year’s venue for the competition was Beijing, China. And though every country had to send only one team, some countries, like India, sent two teams with approval from IOAI. And in the first stage, the individual round, Poland won gold with contestant Krzysztof Rojek, with points of 542.05 points.
And in the second stage, the practical round, team Karp, Kot, Kwietniewski, and Trojan from Poland won first place. And the third place was team Kamiński, Kociszewski, Rojek, and Stępkowski, who are also from Poland. The second place was secured by Russia. India ranks third in the number of medals secured in this competition. Arjun Tyagi, Roumak Das, and Soham Sen won gold medals. Rayan Banerjee and Samik Goyal won silver medals.
And Himaneesh Sompalle won a bronze medal.
Eligibility:
The competition is for high school students or students under the age of 20. The contestants are selected through the National AI Olympiad of their country. And tests include things like camps and competitions. And a country can send one team, with four contestants and two coaches, who act as team leaders.
Stages and Levels:
The International Olympiad for Artificial Intelligence has two rounds: the Scientific stage and the Practical stage. In the first stage, there are two phases, which are the At-home and On-site phases. The former is where the contestants have to solve problems from their countries, aka remotely, as part of the qualification. And the latter is where the contestants have to solve the problems in the field. And in the Practical stage, teams have to use AI tools to finish a task. In the first stage, marks determine the winners, while in the second stage, the panel of judges and voting scores are used.
Syllabus:
The preparation for this exam is a bit different. One would be tested in both the theory and practical aspects of using an AI tool. The first stage, the Scientific level, is where students have to solve questions on the basic concepts of AI, like supervised and unsupervised learning. And also concepts like machine learning and robotics. They would also need to study statistics, probability, problem-solving, logic, and ethics related to AI.
And the Practical round requires team effort, with all students being aware of things like prompts, usage of AI tools like OpenAI, and basic Python. It is evident that one must be equipped with theoretical and practical knowledge on AI, its components, and other relevant things.
All this syllabus is published on their official website, under the title: Scientific and Practical scope. Here is a table of the syllabus for a better understanding:
| Round | Syllabus |
| Scientific Round | AI: Supervised and Unsupervised learning, reinforcement learning basics, decision trees, clustering, and neural networks Interpreting data sets, model outputs, pattern recognition, classification, and regression, and their concepts Mathematics: Statistics, probability, Algorithmic reasoning, combinatorics, linear algebra, graph theory, and matrices. Ethics of AI, like accountability and responsibility |
| Practical Round | AI applications and the usage of tools, like image and video generation, and creative use of its technology (programming and communication skills are also required, along with teamwork in this round) |
Resources:
| Level | Resouces |
| Scientific Stage | How To Solve It by G.Polya Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach by Russell and Norvig The Hundred-Page Machine Learning Book by Andriy Burkov Past papers of Mathematics and Linguistics Olympiads Case studies of AI and fairness in algorithms Recommendations on the Ethics of AI by UNESCO |
| Practical Stage | Kaggle Courses Google Teachable Machine Jupyter Notebook (for Python practice) Chat GPT or Llama (for prompt engineering) |
Rules:
- All contestants must be below the age of 20. High school students are allowed to participate in the competition
- The contestants are chosen through the National AI Olympiads and trained for the competition.
- Each country may send up to two teams, and a total of eight contestants and two coaches, who will act as team leaders.
- The first round is the Scientific Round, where contestants are asked to solve questions, which are usually 3-5, with further divisions and problems. They get 3-4 hours to complete this task
- No calculators, mobile phones, or other external devices are allowed during this examination
- For the Practical stage, students will get more time. All steps must be documented to the jury, and copying code from others will result in disqualification
Awards:
Gold, silver, and bronze medals are awarded to individuals based on their test scores in the first stage. They follow the olympiad medal distribution, which shows that 1/12 will get gold medals, 2/12 will get silver medals, and 3/12 will get bronze medals.
In the Practical stage, the teams are awarded based on creativity, correctness, and ethical considerations, along with how well the presentation is made. There are separate awards for aspects like ethics in AI and best presentation. At the end, all countries are ranked according to the total medal tally.
Winners of 2025:
In terms of the medal tally, Russia secured first place, with six gold medals, one silver medal, and one bronze medal. The second place is Poland, with three gold medals, three silver medals, and one bronze medal. And the third place goes to India, with three gold medals. Two silver medals and one bronze medal. Other winners (in respect to their ranks) are Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Singapore, Romania, Hong Kong, Japan, and Sweden.
This was the first year India had participated in the Olympiad, and it secured third rank in the medal tally, a proud achievement by the remarkable students sent by the country. And so, the International Olympiad of Artificial Intelligence helps young talents gain reputation and recognition on a global scale. And competitions like IOAI also give them a chance to learn about the scope of artificial intelligence and how to use it in a creative and responsible way.
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