Can AI fix the world? IBM, TED and X Prize will give you $5 million to prove it.

Can AI fix the world? IBM, TED and X Prize will give you $5 million to prove it.

A new, multiyear competition to build the world’s coolest artificial intelligence could win you $5 million.

The prize for the challenge comes from IBM, TED and the X Prize Foundation, who want to stimulate research on AI “to tackle some of the world’s grand challenges.”

To win, all you have to do is build an artificial intelligence that can accomplish something tremendous and important; what that challenge is will be up to you. Oh, and you’ll be judged by TED and X Prize on the strength of the TED talk you give to present your project — if you make it that far. Only three teams will enjoy that privilege.

X Prize is responsible for some of the loftiest research challenges on and off the planet. It’s behind the world’s first private space race to reach the moon; last year, an Israeli team marked a major milestone when it said its lunar lander had scored a seat on an upcoming rocket launch. Partnering with Qualcomm, X Prize is also running a $10 million competition to produce the real-life version of the medical tricorder from “Star Trek,” which can diagnose health issues with the wave of a wand.

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