The second International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI) wrapped up in Beijing on Friday, showcasing the next generation of innovators as young minds from around the globe tackled real-world challenges through cutting-edge AI and robotics. The event opened on Monday, bringing together 77 teams of middle school students from 61 countries and regions in an academic event focused on AI application and innovation. The competition pioneered a hands-on AI deployment challenge, requiring students to program industrial robots for tasks, testing both algorithm design and teamwork. For the team challenge finals, participants were required to program robots to avoid obstacles, select objects of various shapes, and place them on distant shelves. The task comprehensively evaluated participants' skills. Competition robots, already active in smart retail and industrial sorting, highlighted the event’s mission of challenging students to address real-world problems and harness robotics to truly assist humans in their work. AI is reshaping all aspects of life. Primary and Middle Schools in Beijing have achieved 65 percent AI application coverage. Starting this fall, all schools will mandate AI literacy courses (over 8 class hours annually). Many schools now prioritize using AI tools to enhance learning interest and literacy of students. Shotlist: Beijing, China - Aug 8, 2025: 1. Various of sign, poster showing "IOAI 2025", exterior of "IOAI 2025" venue; 2. Students coding; 3. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Mutian, participant, Chinese team (ending with shot 4): "From visual recognition to path planning, we coded manually. It's highly complex, involving not just algorithms but also hardware and systems."; 4. Various of students coding, humanoid robot; 5. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Zhang Zhizheng, Vice President of Large Models, Beijing Galbot Co., Ltd. (partially overlaid with shot 6): "We hope to guide students through the full process of AI, from research and development to product testing and application, planting seeds of innovation in these outstanding young minds."; [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 6. Various of students coding, humanoid robot; [SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 7. Various of teacher, students at class; 8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Xie Danyang, teacher, Beijing National Day School (partially overlaid with shots 9-10): "For writing, we introduced human-AI interactive evaluation. History classes launched a project called 'Terracotta Warriors Restoration' to spark creativity, improving efficiency, quality, encouraging more initiative from students."; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 9. Students, teacher at class; 10. Various of conference; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 11. Various of students testing humanoid robot; 12. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Wang Pan, spokesperson, Beijing Municipal Education Commission (partially overlaid with shots 13-14): "Elementary schools focus on experiential learning, junior highs on AI-aided study and life empowerment, while senior highs emphasize comprehensive applications to inspire scientific spirit."; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 13. Various of classrooms, students, teacher at class; 14. Student coding; [SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE] 15. Various of students, humanoid robot playing football. [Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]