Brazilian students to compete in International AI Olympiad in Kazakhstan

Two Brazilian teenagers will represent their country at the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI) in Astana, Kazakhstan, from 2 to 8 August 2026. Rafael da Silva Pulcinelli, a 17‑year‑old from Santa Amélia in Paraná, earned a gold medal at the national AI Olympiad (ONIA) and will join two teammates from Rio Grande do Sul and one from São Paulo. He is currently studying computer engineering at the Federal Technological University of Paraná and has previously won awards in robotics and entrepreneurship competitions.

A ninth‑grade student from Colégio Farroupilha in Porto Alegre also secured a gold medal at the ONIA and will travel with the Brazilian delegation. He prepared through intensive study of large language models and aims to research methods to reduce AI “hallucinations.” Both participants were selected after strong performances across multiple stages of the national competition, and they will compete alongside peers from dozens of countries in individual programming tasks and team robot challenges.