I need help deciding between continuing Competitive Programm...

Prompt

I need help deciding between continuing Competitive Programming / IOI preparation and switching almost entirely to AI / IOAI. My situation: - I am 16 and live/study in Germany. - I have been doing Competitive Programming very seriously, around **4–6 hours every day**. - Only recently my results and ratings have finally started improving noticeably. - I already have a strong CP base: graphs, DP, segment trees/Fenwick, shortest paths, SCC, greedy, binary search, etc. - However, I am now **extremely tired of CP** and feel that continuing at this intensity for another ~2 years until the IOI 2028 selection may be very difficult. - I don't think I can seriously pursue both CP and AI at the same time. I need to choose one main direction. - If I stay with CP, my main goal would be the German selection for **IOI 2028**. - If I switch to AI, I can already try the **German IOAI 2027 selection**, and I would spend roughly 4–8 hours/day on ML/AI instead. - I already know Python, programming, algorithms, NumPy/Pandas, some PyTorch/scikit-learn, classical ML and some deep learning, so I am not starting AI from zero. - AI is also much closer to my long-term interests: research, ML engineering, building projects, university/research labs, and potentially a future career. - At the same time, I am worried that leaving CP exactly when I am finally getting good at it would waste all the work I invested. - I am also worried that if I stop CP now, I may lose my competitive peak and not be able to return later. Please analyze this as a real decision, not motivational advice. Compare: 1. staying fully committed to CP/IOI; 2. switching primarily to AI/IOAI now. Consider: - probability-adjusted upside; - time required; - burnout/sustainability; - opportunity cost; - transferability of CP skills into AI; - how hard it would be to return to CP later; - value even if I fail to qualify for IOI/IOAI; - long-term career/research value; - whether sunk-cost thinking is affecting the decision. At the end, give me a clear recommendation for what you would choose in my situation and explain why. Do not default to “do both” unless you genuinely think serious preparation for both is realistic.