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Mar 20

New XPrize: Can an AI project get a standing ovation at TED?

The AI XPrize, announced today at TED.

(Credit: XPrize)

Can an artificial intelligence system get a standing ovation at the TED conference?

That’s the challenge for the brand-new A.I. XPrize, announced Thursday at TED in Vancouver by XPrize Foundation head Peter Diamandis.

Unlike most XPrizes, which have clear rules and goals, this one is a bit more free-form. Described as “a modern-day Turing test, [it will] be awarded to the first A.I. to walk or roll out on stage and present a TED talk so compelling that it commands a standing ovation from you, the audience.”

And TED and the XPrize Foundation is turning to the global community for ideas on how to make this a reality. Fortunately, though, it is offering a few sample ideas on what could be the winning formula:

In advance of the TED conference, a group of judges develop 100 different TED talk subjects. During the TED conference, the TED audience chooses one of these subjects (or the subject is randomly chosen) and then the competing A.I. is given 30 minutes to prepare a compelling 3 min TED talk. The team could decide how their A.I. would present on stage — would it be a physical robot that walks out to present? Or a disembodied voi… [Read more]