NTU-trained high schoolers win big at International Olympiad in AI

Two Singapore students trained by AI experts from NTU Singapore have clinched top Gold awards at this year’s International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI) - the newest International Science Olympiad in the world.

Kieran Chai and Wang Jiayu, both from NUS High School of Math & Science, took second and third place respectively at the second edition of the annual IOAI held in Beijing, China, out of a total of 284 contestants from across the world.  The top spot went to Krzysztof Rojek from Poland.

The IOAI is a premier global competition for high school students, aiming to cultivate both a strong theoretical foundation and hands-on expertise in AI.

NTU is the national level organising body and country coordinator for IOAI, in partnership with AI Singapore, the national programme dedicated to building and anchoring deep AI capabilities across the country.

The other students out of the eight total representing Singapore are Wong Yue Heng, Wang Zerui and Shine Xu Jiajing from NUS High School of Math & Science; Tan Min Sen and Wang Enrun Matthias from Raffles Institution; and Zhang Yihao from Hwa Chong Institution.

Five of them won Silver medals for their Olympiad performance: Shine Xu, Wong Yue Heng, Wang Zerui, Wang Enrun Matthias, and Zhang Yihao.

On her IOAI training experience at NTU, Shine said: “The NTU professors taught us many concepts from within their own specialties. Thus, we were well-equipped with knowledge ranging from machine learning to computer vision, to natural language processing. All of the training sessions were enjoyable, and my favourite was the week of the bootcamp, where we got to bond together as a team while also getting to know the professors better.”

The Olympiad tests students on both theoretical foundations and practical applications of AI. Students are assessed across key areas such as Foundational Programming Skills, Classical Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Neutral Networks, Computer Vision, and Natural Language Processing, with a focus on understanding when and how to implement AI methods effectively.

Members of team Singapore were selected from top performers in the National Olympiad in AI. Following five intense weekend training sessions, a one-week residential camp at NTU, and final selection test, the top eight students from the shortlist were chosen to represent Singapore.

The IOAI also announced that its fourth edition in 2027 will take place in Singapore, jointly hosted by AI Singapore and NTU.