The competition, organized nationwide for the first time by the Vietnam Association for Information Processing, aims to promote AI research and application among IT students and identify young talent to support Vietnam’s digital transformation efforts.
More than 124 teams comprising 367 students competed in regional rounds in early November across the North, Central, and South. The FPT University Quy Nhon team, AI majors Hồ Duy Hưng and Lê Quang Vinh from cohort 18 and Nguyễn Trung Hiếu from cohort 20, advanced to the top 60 teams qualifying for the national finals.
Participants faced six hours of testing across three core AI fields: machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing. Team member Lê Quang Vinh said the categories reflected key areas of AI research with applications in data science, automation, and digital technology.
Students cited schedule coordination and joint preparation as their greatest challenges. However, they credited proactive study habits, teamwork, and passion for AI for helping them secure high scores across the test categories.
According to team member Nguyễn Trung Hiếu, the Olympiad followed international AI competition standards. FPT Smart Cloud provided a cloud-based testing environment with GPU resources, while an expert panel with experience from national and international AI Olympiads designed the problems to simulate real-world AI project deployment.
Department head Phan Thị Lệ Thuyền said this was Vietnam’s first nationwide AI competition dedicated solely to students. She noted that the Quy Nhon team outperformed many strong competitors, demonstrating the research and creative strengths of a new generation of learners. She added that the university views the result as motivation to strengthen AI training programs to meet domestic and global technology-sector needs.
Team member Vinh said the second-place finish was unexpected and inspiring, adding that the experience helped each student push their limits in a major AI competition.