Artificial intelligence debated at the Cambridge Union - with an AI 'speaker'

Last Thursday (November 21), the Cambridge Union Society hosted what turned out to be the most popular debate of term: This house believes artificial intelligence will bring more harm than good. The chamber was filled to its maximum capacity, with people having to be turned away at the door. A wealth of news outlets, including the BBC, CNN and the New Scientist attended to cover the event. This fervour of attention is hardly surprising: IBM Research's Project Debater, the first artificial intelligence platform that can debate humans on complex topics, was the leading'speaker' on both the proposition and opposition. The night opened with a brief introduction from the principal investigator of Project Debater, Noam Slonim.