An upcoming TED Talk competition has brought the world of Spike Jonze's "Her" even closer to our present.
In the Oscar-nominated film, Joaquin Phoenix's character falls in love with his operating system, an artificially intelligent voice that encourages, inspires, soothes and even argues with him.
Scarlett Johansson may have been the human behind the OS in "Her," but for the A.I. X Prize competition, the voice and intelligence have to be all robot.
X Prize chairman and CEO Peter H. Diamandis has announced a competition "for the development of artificial intelligence (AI) so advanced that it could deliver a compelling TED Talk with no human involvement," NBC News reported.
To take the prize, an artificial intelligence will have to take the stage, either as a walking or rolling robot or as a disembodied voice, and deliver an inspiring TED Talk that brings the audience to its feet.
"Advances in machine learning and AI have made extraordinary progress over the past decade, but we've barely scratched the surface," Diamandis said in a statement, as quoted by NBC News.
"This global competition could help spur its development across a myriad of areas--including biological research, exploration, education, health care, and fields we have not yet even imagined."
The contest is free-form right now as X Prize seeks idea submissions, but a concept for the competition is detailed on the website.
The draft version of the competition involves a group of judges that select 100 different TED Talk topics, one of which will be given to each participating artificial intelligence. The A.I. will have half an hour to come up with a 3-minute TED Talk in the hopes of inspiring a standing ovation.
The winner could win millions of dollars depending on what the public decides.
"Should it be $1 million? $10 million? Is the TED stage and attention prize enough? You tell us!" an X Prize spokesman told NBC News.
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