IBM unveils an artificial intelligence that can debate with humans

IBM, the global technology giant, showcased an artificial intelligence (AI) project that is designed to make logical arguments with humans at an event held at IBM's Watson West site in San Francisco on Monday. Known as'Project Debater', a champion debater and IBM's AI system, the company has been developing the AI's capabilities over the past six years, which includes data-driven speech writing and delivery, listening comprehension for identifying key claims made within a speech, and the ability to formulate principled arguments. The company has been staging in-house debates between humans and Project Debater for the past two years, said IBM Research principal investigator and creator of Project Debater Noam Slonim. However, it was the first ever such live public demonstration of a live debate between humans and IBM's AI system. For those unaware, IBM has a long list of major AI innovations, which also include "Deep Blue," the IBM system that took on chess world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, and IBM Watson, which beat the top human champions on Jeopardy! in 2011.