TEHRAN –Ali Sharifi-Zarchi, a professor of artificial intelligence and bioinformatics at Sharif University of Technology, has been elected as the chairman of the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI) scientific committee.

IOAI is the most prestigious annual competition in AI for high school students. Its mission is to inspire and challenge young minds to explore the limitless possibilities of AI, fostering the next generation of AI pioneers and problem solvers.

IOAI is a STEM-focused competition aimed at inspiring, developing, and promoting the best students in AI globally.

Each year, IOAI will highlight different AI fields, such as Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning (ML), and Computer Vision (CV).

As an AI Olympiad, IOAI will actively engage in discussions with the general public about the ethical aspects and the future of AI, primarily through its practical round. 

The founders also aim to involve a local celebrity each year to promote IOAI and together with the students to inspire broader community dialogue about AI.

The 1st edition of IOAI took place in Burgas, Bulgaria in August 2024. 

A total of 41 teams from 30 countries took part in the competition's 2 rounds: Scientific Round and Practical Round, with a focus on ML, NLP, and CV. 

The Iranian national team achieved remarkable success at the inaugural International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence, earning a bronze team medal and securing the 18th overall rank in Bulgaria.

The team, comprised of students Mohammad Sadra Kouhestani, Amir Hossein Zarei, Parsa Sadeghi, and Alireza Rahimi Yazdi, showcased their skills in a highly competitive environment, Press TV reported.

In one of the three scientific challenges, the Iranian team delivered the best solution among 41 participating teams from 33 countries, demonstrating an accuracy that surpassed not only their competitors but also the solution provided by the problem's designer, according to Iranian media reports.

IOAI 2025 will take place in Beijing, China, in the summer.

Iran tops Islamic nations for AI documents

According to a report released by the Web of Science database, Iran ranks first for the highest number of documents in artificial intelligence (AI) among Islamic countries.

The country issued 2,638 AI documents between 2013 and 2022.

Saudi Arabia (2,465) and Turkey (2,303) were ranked second and third, respectively, IRIB reported.

Iran has also been ranked 14th worldwide in artificial intelligence.

Based on the report, the country ranks second in 3D printing and robotics, fourth in the Internet of Things, fifth in 5th generation (5G) communication technologies and big data, seventh in drone technology, and eighth in blockchains among Islamic nations.

The most scientific productions in the last ten years in artificial intelligence have been respectively related to Tehran University, Tabriz University, and Amir Kabir University of Technology.

Also, the data analysis shows that the number of scientific productions of artificial intelligence has improved in the last five years, reaching 577 documents in 2022 from 157 documents in 2018.

Robotics with 1,596 documents, and the Internet of Things with 1,270 documents followed artificial intelligence in terms of scientific production.

Blockchains with 7 documents had the lowest scientific production in the ten-year period.

MT/MG