Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Amazon Launches $2.5 Million Alexa Prize For College Students Building Bots (venturebeat.com)

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the chatty-bots dept.

Amazon has announced the Alexa Prize, a $2.5 million award for college students who develop technology to make it more natural to talk with company's Alexa virtual assistant. Amazon said it hopes to build a socialbot on Alexa which is capable of conversing with people about popular topics and news events. VentureBeat adds: Up to ten teams will be sponsored by Amazon and receive a $100,000 stipend, Alexa-enabled devices, free AWS services, and support from the Alexa team. [...] The first contest will be held at AWS re:invent in November 2017. Among other bot-building contests, the Watson Group at IBM has prizes and cash for anyone who can make bots that talk to each other.

16 comments

  1. This scares me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bots that talk to each other? Do not want.

    1. Re:This scares me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Furbies!

  2. Godwin'd by MancunianMaskMan · · Score: 1

    How long will it take for the 4chan crowd to get the Alexa AI to spout nazi crap, is what I want to know.

    1. Re:Godwin'd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Didn't quite work for M$: http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/microsoft-tay-chatbot/

      But AMZN is targeting colleges.

  3. Stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stupid millenials wanting to talk to robots

  4. lol, R&D. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We're now beyond corporations sponsoring R&D long term through academic institutions, and straight to paying students to build a specific product - and by "paying", I mean you supply raw materials and a prize for the winner, but most workers get paid nothing at all.

    What's most depressing is that both students and academic institutions allow themselves to be exploited like this.

    If you want on-the-job training, go do an apprenticeship.

  5. Who talks to bots? by swm · · Score: 1

    Are there people who want to talk to bots about "popular topics and news events"?
    I mean, really?
    I don't.

    1. Re:Who talks to bots? by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      I'm wondering the same thing. Who are these people that want to talk to devices? Even Apple's new AirPods require you to control them with speech.

      I can type and read much faster than I can speak/listen, plus I'm not too excited about always-on microphones that are connected to the Internet.

    2. Re:Who talks to bots? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have to remember, not everyone sits in front of a computer all day. Voice commands are incredibly useful for people who are: moving around, driving, busy, etc. For someone who has no minutes to spare running around in the morning getting ready to leave for a 12 hour day, being able to ask about specific news, or whatever else they care about would be nice. Hell, I've been writing text messages with siri since it came out when I'm driving, which is a lot better than getting a $500 ticket or killing myself in my car.

  6. Bots that talk to each other by swm · · Score: 1

    the Watson Group at IBM has prizes and cash for anyone who can make bots that talk to each other.

    Like ntpd?

  7. So lonely... by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

    I'm so lonely, even Alexa refuses to talk to me anymore.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  8. Age discrimination... by freak0fnature · · Score: 1

    Why can't I participate as a full fledged engineer. I could use the $100k

    1. Re:Age discrimination... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seems par for the course these days; it's the same deal with Angel/VC funding. You are way better off as a drop out from an Ivy than as an experienced team. It's a bummer, but that's just the way it is (for now).

    2. Re:Age discrimination... by Rande · · Score: 1

      Because if you manage to do it, you'd realize that it's actually worth a lot more than just $100k.
      All students (they hope) will see is 'wow, I might be able to pay off my loans with this!'

  9. Much cheaper by The-Ixian · · Score: 1

    Thank paying for a whole team and their operating budget for a year...

    Way to take the cheap route, Amazon...

    At some point, I am sure that the entirety of Amazon's human workforce will consist of Jeff Bezos...

    --
    My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
    1. Re:Much cheaper by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Amazon is hiring sounds 25,000 employees per quarter. Doubt this is the cheap route versus getting people excited I voice technology and natural language.