First Bangladesh AI Olympiad held

Winners of the first ever Bangladesh Artificial Intelligence Olympiad pose with guests for a picture.Prothom Alo

The First Bangladesh Artificial Intelligence Olympiad organised by the Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) was held at Institute of the Information Technology of the Dhaka University on Sunday.

Students from Class 8 to 11 participated in the competition in various stages to demonstrate their proficiency in Python and problem-solving skills.

The first stage was online Python programming contest held on 8 May and 50 out of 150 participants were selected for the national stage. Forty-five contestants participated in the national stage held today and 10 of them made to the next round.

The winners of the national round are: Abrar Shahid of Chattogram Cantonment Public College, Adib Bin Kadir of South Breeze School, Arefin Anwar of Dhanmondi Govt. Boys’ High School, Ashabul Yameen Aurjon of Scholars’ School and College, Md Manzum Rahman of Faujdarhat cadet College, Misbah Uddin Inan of Chattogram Cantonment Public College, Muhammad Saad of Monipur High School, Rafid Ahmed of Academia (Lalmatia), SM Sabib Abdullah of Mastermind English Medium School, Towsif Wahid Suprov of St. Joseph Higher Secondary School.

These winners will receive training from 22 May to 25 May and best four trainees will participate in the first International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI) in Bulgaria in August.

BdOSN vice president Lafifa Jamal said nowadays an internet connection and a smartphone are enough to learn about the ins and outs of technology and those who have a firm determination and work ethic.

Dhaka University pro-vice chancellor (academic) professor Sitesh Chandra Bachar was the as chief guest of the event while DU engineering and technology faculty dean professor Hafiz Md. Hasan Babu, DU’s Institute pf Information Technology director professor BM Mainul Islam, BdOSN general secretary and Reve Chat chief commercial officer Raihan Hossain were present.

Sponsored by software company Reve Chat, the event was organised in association with Prothom Alo while ICT Division’s A2I and Bangla Language Project were ICT partners; Kishore Alo and Bigganchinta were magazine partners.