IBM's Robot Debater Takes on Humans...and May Change Some Minds
*By: Britt Terrell*
IBM Research conducted the first live debate between a human and a machine this week, showing off the company's latest development in artificial intelligence.
Project Debater squared off against two experts in rhetoric Monday night, responding to and delivering its own arguments. The technology, which ingests information from newspaper articles and other sources to put together well-structured speech and deliver a response, was even able to convince some audience members to change their minds.
"This is a great tool for helping educate the public," said Arvind Krishna, SVP & Director of IBM Research. "They could ask it a question, and 'Debater' can then look through and say, 'Look, based on everything I've read, here is an informed opinion on what everybody's thinking and saying.'"
When it comes to using the machine to help humans formulate opinions, though, especially in an age when fake news has run rampant on certain sites, Debater's powers could raises some concerns. But Krishna pointed out that humans are subject to the same pitfalls.
"What the Debater will do is it won't stick only to the fake news, it will give other \[opinions\], so you really get a complete and comprehensive \[response\]."
Debater is not the first example of high-functioning A.I. to come out of IBM. The company's Watson technology showed off against Jeopardy! champions in 2011, and its 'Deep Blue' program famously bested chess champion Garry Kasparov back in 1997.
But there is still work to be done on the Debater software. And while Krishna dismissed criticisms that its voice was too robotic ー Google, after all, drew jabs for its [all-too-human-sounding Duplex](https://cheddar.com/videos/was-googles-duplex-demo-real) ー he acknowledged some room for improvement.
"How do you throw humor in, when do you throw humor in?" he asked. "Like when it makes a joke like, 'If I had blood, my blood would boil, but I don't really have blood.'"
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/ibms-newest-a-i-project).
Food delivery giant DoorDash is acquiring European food delivery company Wolt. The all-stock deal is valued at $8.1 billion and is expected to close in the first half of 2022. The companies say they share a mission to build a global delivery platform. Gerber Kawasaki investment advisor Eva Agi joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what the deal means for Doordash, as well as its customers and investors.
Identity verification startup Socure recently raised $450 million dollars in a series E round, bringing the company's valuation to $4.5 billion. Socure says it is now the highest-valued private company in the identity verification space, and that the funds will be used to accelerate its mission to verify 100% of good identities and eliminate identity fraud across all industries. Socure Founder and CEO Johnny Ayers joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
With more companies offering employees flexibility in work schedules, Airbnb is looking to accommodate flexible travel plans. Chief Strategy Officer Nathan Blecharczyk joined Cheddar to discuss the growing trend of people staying in Airbnbs for longer periods of time. "In December over the holidays, in North America, we are seeing a 68 percent increase in the demand for month-long stays relative to years past," he said.
Coinbase reported third quarter earnings yesterday and revenue did not at all meet estimates, with the company saying that it also saw a staggering decrease of about 1.4 million customers in comparison to the previous quarter. This comes in the same week where bitcoin and ethereum, two of its most important digital assets hit record highs. Martin Gaspar, research analyst at CrossTower explains how a soft crypto trading quarter contributed to the less-than-ideal revenue outcome.
John Jannarone, Editor-In-Chief at IPOedge.com, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss Riivian ahead of its public debut on the Nasdaq, as investors gear up for the biggest IPO for a U.S. company since Facebook.
Iran is continuing to crack down on illicit bitcoin mining in the Islamic Republic after 227 mining rigs were seized. Businesses looking to run legal bitcoin mining operations have had to seek approval since 2019.
DoorDash is set to acquire European-based food delivery company Wolt in an $8.1 billion deal. Ann Berry, chief investment officer at media platform Wheelhouse, joined Cheddar to discuss how this positions DoorDash in the prepared food and potentially the grocery delivery space. "I do think that what DoorDash is trying to be thoughtful about now is how to take that there's been a shift in consumer behavior in terms of mobile ordering and delivery and try and apply it to other categories," she said, also pointing to its partnership with beauty supply company Ulta.
The Biden Administration has issued a new order aimed at all federal agencies which would order them to patch hundreds of cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Chief Evangelist at Intrusion Gary Davis and Chief Security Advisor at SentinelOne Morgan Wright, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Tatenda Musapatike, Founder of the Voter Formation Project and former Political Ad Specialist at Facebook, joined Cheddar to discuss the outsized role social media plays in politics.
