The Philippines won one silver and three bronze medals in its first appearance at the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI), with all four members of the country’s delegation earning medals at the competition held in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Theo Lorenzo T. Bustamante of Philippine Science High School–CALABARZON Region Campus won the silver medal, while Ellison Matthew S. Ang of Philippine Science High School–Main Campus, Juan Mateo J. Desuasido of Brent International School Manila, and Jhareign S. Solidum of University of Mindanao Ilang High School each took bronze.
The results gave the four-member Philippine team a 100% medal rate in its debut at the IOAI, which drew 466 high school competitors from 108 countries and territories.
Bustamante ranked 80th overall, placing him among the top 17% of competitors. The Philippines was also among 11 of 18 countries making their IOAI debut this year that won at least one silver medal.
The competition awarded 37 gold, 73 silver, and 110 bronze medals.
Now in its third year, the IOAI tests high school students in artificial intelligence fields including machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and multimodal processing.
The week-long competition was opened by Kazakhstan president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and featured AI experts and technology executives, including computer scientist and AI investor Kai-Fu Lee.
The Philippine delegation was selected, trained, and managed by International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence Philippines (IOAI PH), hosted by the Ateneo Business Insights Laboratory for Development (BUILD) under the John Gokongwei School of Management of Ateneo de Manila University.
Students qualified through a national screening process, with participation offered free of charge.
Ateneo BUILD said it trained the team over 10 months, providing cloud testing infrastructure and bootcamps covering machine learning theory, computer vision, natural language processing, audio processing, and VRAM constraint optimization.
“A 100% medal rate on our global debut proves that Philippine talent can immediately compete at the highest level of international AI,” said IOAI PH executive director and team leader Martin Gomez.
“Outranking competitors from traditional global STEM powerhouses in our very first year establishes a baseline for what our students can accomplish with structured training, corporate backing, and national support. This victory is a shared triumph made possible by the tireless dedication of our coaches, the academic foundation of our schools, the sacrifices of our families, and the whole-of-nation backing of our community.”
The IOAI Board and Committee provided financial assistance for the Philippine delegation’s travel, lodging, meals, and registration. Government support also came from the Office of the President, Office of the Executive Secretary, Department of Education, and Department of Science and Technology–Science Education Institute.
Held under the patronage of UNESCO, the 2026 IOAI was hosted by the Kazakhstan Competitive Programming Federation with support from Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development and Ministry of Education.
Singapore is scheduled to host the fourth IOAI in 2027.
