IBM (NYSE: IBM) and X Prize, a non-profit organization, have announced an artificial intelligence competition for developers with a $5 million prize at the end.
Contestants have to develop and demonstrate how humans can collaborate with powerful AI technology to resolve some of the world’s greatest challenges.
The developers have to do it while using Watson technology from IBM, a technology platform that uses natural language processing and machine learning to reveal insights from large amounts of unstructured data, according to IBM.
The companies responsible for the encouragement see the opportunity as a desire to demonstrate what technology is capable of doing and the benefits this could bring to humankind, letting aside all the critics and fears for AI technology.
“Personally, I am sick and tired of the dystopian conversation around artificial intelligence,” said X Prize founder Peter Diamandis when unveiling the prize at the TED conference in Vancouver, Canada. The competition challenges brilliants minds to come up with something revolutionary, Diamandis said.
Cognitive technologies like Watson represent an entirely new era of computing, according to the X Prize website. That is why the company, and IBM, are creating a new partnership between humans and technology that will enable contestants to address many of humanity’s most significant challenges, from climate change to healthcare, the statement added.
The contest is also another way to promote Watson for business and even medical centers, due to the machine effectiveness to find data at an incredible speed, as reported by Fortune.
How does the contest exactly work?
Interest parties or teams can pre-register now and start the race. Right now, the guidelines are not published yet so they are many things to specify. For instance, their creators said people have to use Watson but do not specify exactly how. The complete rules and guidelines will be published in May.
Contestants will have to present their final discover at the TED conference in 2020, until then teams will compete at the IBM’s annual conference. In there, they will earn their way to the next year while competing for interim prizes.
Finally, the final three will get to present and demonstrate the world what they have achieved. Their ideas will be evaluated by a panel of experts on the field and the TED and XPrize community will choose a winner.
Source: X Prize