Microsoft has built a machine that's as good as humans at recognizing speech

One by one, the skills that separate us from machines are falling into the machines' column. First there was chess, then Jeopardy!, then Go, then object recognition, face recognition, and video gaming in general. You could be forgiven for thinking that humans are becoming obsolete. But try any voice recognition software and your faith in humanity will be quickly restored. Though good and getting better, these systems are by no means perfect.