Machines may beat us in debate, but will they ever have the human touch? Kenan Malik

So a machine can now not only demolish you at chess or devastate you in Jeopardy, it can also outwit you on Question Time. Last week, in a public debate in San Francisco, IBM pitted its Project Debater software program against human opponents, including Noa Ovadia, Israel's national debating champion in 2016. Each participant had four minutes in which to make an opening statement, followed by a four-minute rebuttal and a two-minute conclusion. Drawing on a library of hundreds of millions of newspaper articles and academic papers, and some pre-installed arguments, the machine held its own. "I can't say it makes my blood boil, because I have no blood," it quipped, "but it seems some people naturally suspect technology because it's new." Project Debater is a remarkable achievement.