The African Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (AOAI) is the official African regional olympiad of the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI). Founded in 2025 and first held in April 2026 in Sousse, Tunisia, AOAI is the first continental AI olympiad in African history. It brings together the most talented high school students from across Africa to compete in individual and practical AI rounds, and to qualify for the global IOAI competition.
Mission: To identify, nurture, and celebrate Africa's next generation of AI talent through fair, rigorous olympiad competitions, and to strengthen national AI education ecosystems across the continent.
Competition format (first edition):
- Individual Rounds: Two separate rounds testing AI knowledge and problem-solving (morning and afternoon sessions)
- Practical Round: Robot Coding — hands-on applied AI challenge
- Workshops: Skill-building sessions for participants
- Cultural programme: Opening ceremony, historical visit, culture night
- Both on-site (in-person) and online tracks
How participation works: Students do not register individually. Each African country fields a national team selected through its own National AI Olympiad (NOAI). Countries must be accredited through the IOAI to participate. As of 2026, AOAI has 30 member countries and territories, and 30 African countries participated in IOAI 2026 in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Governance: AOAI is supervised by a Board and Scientific Committee of AI researchers, educators, and thought leaders from across Africa. The organization operates under the aegis of the IOAI and is aligned with the IOAI GAITE initiative, which supports countries with limited olympiad history to participate on equal footing.