New Delhi, Dec 20 : ACM India, the Indian arm of the Association for Computing Machinery, on Saturday announced the launch of the 'Indian National AI Olympiad 2026' -- a nationwide initiative to identify and nurture exceptional school-level talent in Artificial Intelligence.

Registration for the INAIO 2026 test for Indian students pursuing Classes IX to XII, to be conducted online on January 18, 2026, is open until December 31, 2025.

Test results will help candidates born after August 2, 2006, qualify for IOAI 2026 in Abu Dhabi from August 2â??8, 2026, ACM India said in a statement.

The Indian National AI Olympiad, to be proctored live and administered by assessment technology platform HireMee, will serve as an accredited gateway to the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI).

IOAI will offer students global exposure, advanced innovation skills, and worldâ??class academic opportunities, it added.

Toppers of related Olympiads such as INMO (Indian National Mathematical Olympiad), INOI (Indian National Olympiad in Informatics), PLO (Panini Linguistics Olympiad), and Bebras will receive direct entry into Stage 2 of INAIO.

The multiâ??stage structured evaluation model of INAIO is designed to strengthen conceptual understanding of machine learning and develop realâ??world modelling abilities, with the Olympiad selecting students to represent India at IOAI.

Key benefits include international recognition, potential scholarships from top universities, and enhanced higherâ??education pathways in globally recognised universities, the statement said.

Further, the top three national rankers will receive attractive prizes, as all participants will be awarded digital certificates, the statement noted.

The first 500 applicants to the programme will receive access to HireMeeâ??s Career Navigation Assessment worth Rs 1,599, it added.

Demand for AI and machine learning engineers, data scientists, and AI governance specialists is set to surge in 2026, while cybersecurity is being reshaped by AI-driven threats.

Around 74 per cent of corporate leaders in India ranked artificial intelligence (AI) among their top three technology adoption choices, according to a recent report.

/IANS