FAQs

1. For Stage 1, can I register directly or through my school?

Yes, you can register directly. Please check the Registration Page for all the details.

2. I did well in a related Olympiad. Do I still have to register for the first stage?

Toppers from previous Olympiads of any grade  are directly eligible for Stage 2 if they meet the following criteria: 

• Participants of the INAIO 2025 Training Camp 

• INOI 2025 and INOI 2026 medalists 

• Participants of the PLO 2025 Training Camp

• Students qualified to take INMO 2024–2025 or INMO 2025–2026 based on their RMO performance

• Bebras India Computing Challenge highest score achievers (Mahavira and Ramanujam categories only)

Eligible students will receive an email from INAIO or communication through the organizers of the other olympiads. In case a student has registered for Stage 1 INAIO despite being eligible for Stage 2, they can reach out for a refund. 

3. I do not have any AI knowledge so far; how do I prepare?

If you have a solid foundation in mathematics and programming, that should suffice for the early stages of selection. Please take a look at the Resources Page, beginning with Andrew Ng's introductory course on Machine Learning for preparation.

4. What is the expected programming proficiency?

A working knowledge of Python is required for Stage 2 and later stages, as IOAI involves coding problems. We encourage you to become familiar with Python before Stage 2. Students will have to familiarise themselves with Pytorch for the later stages.

5. Is this a team or individual test?

Stage 1-3 as well as the main assessment in Stage 4 will all be  individual tests. However, there will be a interview as part of  the in-person camp, which will also focus on ensuring that the final team members have complementary skills.

6. Are there any mock online tests available?

Yes, registered students will be provided with sample tests on the website ahead of the test date.

7. How will the results be published?

Results will be emailed directly to individual students.

8. Will the costs of registration and travel to training camp and IOAI'26 be taken care of?

Students will be expected to pay a registration fee either for Stage 1 or Stage 2 (in case of direct eligibility). There is no registration fee for Stages 3-5. For the training camp (Stage 4) , domestic travel costs will have to be borne by the students while INAIO  takes care of the lodging and stay at IIIT-Hyderabad.  INAIO also aims to at least partially support the travel and registration costs for IOAI '26 for the  final team members and will be able to confirm the details closer to the event dates.

9. What is the format of the IOAI tasks?

IOAI tasks all involve a combination of theoretical ideas and practical application, requiring coding. Tasks are described in English, preferably as a Jupyter Notebook or PDF. They include the input/output data format and evaluation method. Contestants may receive datasets for training and testing, along with an optional baseline Python solution to help get started. The tasks also specify any computing resource limits, such as available GPUs. Please check the IOAI Resources page for detailed information about the test format.

10. At IOAI, are contestants allowed to use resources like StackOverflow or ChatGPT during the tests?

Contestants are allowed to use a  specific non state-of-the-art LLM Assistant (e.g., ChatGPT 4o mini -which is yet to be finalized by IOAI)  and will not be allowed to use online resources other than whitelisted documentation pages.  There are also be restrictions on python packages that can be used in the solution.

11. Can students who are Indian citizens but residing outside the country participate?

As per IOAI'25 guidelines,  only students who were both citizens and doing their primary schooling in the country were eligible to represent a country. While students who are non-resident Indian citizens may participate in the early stages of INAIO, the selection for the training camp and the final team will be based on  IOAI guidelines.  Furthermore, registration will have to be paid in Indian currency, and  the tests will be scheduled as per Indian Standard Time. 

12. Can students who are residing in India but not citizens of India participate?

Since only Indian citizens are eligible to represent India at IOAI, non-citizen students residing in India will not be able to advance to the later stages of selection. Such students are advised to register for the Olympiads of the country whose citizenship they hold.

1. How can I enroll all the students in my school?

Please refer to the Registration Page. Students need to register individually. Schools can share the information with the interested students and guide them through the registration process.

2. How can I prepare my students for this test?

Please refer to the Resources Page for more information and practice tests, which you can use to help your students prepare effectively.  We are in the process of creating additional resources and will be periodically updating this page.

3. Can I enroll my school as a test centre?

Stages 1-3 of INAIO 2026 will be administered online with live proctoring and Stage 4 conducted at IIIT Hyderabad in person. For this cycle, there will not be any in-person test centres.