A Human Just Triumphed Over IBM’s Six-Year-Old AI Debater
- First it was chess. Then Jeopardy! Now AI turns to debating
- A six-year effort ended in a 25-minute argument over preschool
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International Business Machines Corp. fell short in its latest attempt to prove machines can triumph over man. But it came close.
The tech giant’s six-year-old artificial intelligence debating system, affectionately dubbed “Miss Debater,” went head-to-head with one of the world’s most decorated practitioners Monday. After a 25-minute rapid-fire exchange about pre-school subsidies -- during which the female-voiced AI showed flashes of very homo sapien humor -- the audience handed the victory to 31-year-old Harish Natarajan.