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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.

8 of 16 comments (clear)

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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?

  4. 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
  5. 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 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!'

  6. 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.