IBM Watson AI XPRIZE announced at TED

February 17, 2016

(credit: IBM)

The IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, a Cognitive Computing Competition was announced on the TED Stage today (Feb 17) by XPRIZE Foundation chairman Peter Diamandis and IBM Watson general manager David Kenny.

It’s a $5 million competition challenging teams from around the world to develop and demonstrate how humans can collaborate with powerful cognitive technologies to tackle some of the world’s grand challenges.

According to IBM, “the goal is to bring together a broad group of creative minds, which is why we’ve teamed up with XPRIZE, the leader in incentivized prize competitions that push the limits of possibility to change the world for the better, and the TED community, to make it happen.

“For each year between 2017 and 2019, we’ll challenge teams to share their ideas publicly and go head-to-head at our annual World of Watson conference with a chance to advance through the competition and win milestone prizes.”

Unlike previous XPRIZE competitions, teams will come up with their own ideas for challenges in the broad field of “AI.” Ideas will be evaluated by a panel of expert judges for technical validity and the TED and XPRIZE communities will choose the winner based on “the audacity of their mission and the awe-inspiring nature of the teams’ TED Talks in 2020,” says IBM.

IBM believes this competition can accelerate the creation of “landmark breakthroughs that deliver new, positive impacts to peoples’ lives, and the transformation of industries and professions.”

“Typical of all XPRIZE competitions, the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE will crowdsource solutions from some of the most brilliant thinkers and entrepreneurs around the world, creating true exponential impact,” according to the XPRIZE Foundation.

Complete rules and guidelines will be made available in May.  Pre-register here.