The Alexa Socialbot Grand Challenge 3 is a university competition to further the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) by building a conversational Alexa skill. Out of hundreds of entries from 15 countries, 10 teams were selected, including one from U-M. Teams are tasked with creating a socialbot, a robotic automated program that can have conversations about popular societal topics and current events.
As of Feb. 3, the U-M team’s socialbot (dubbed Audrey) is in the Quarter-Final Stage which ends Mar. 17. Final winners will be announced in June, 2020. The winning team will be awarded $500,000; the second and third place teams awarded $100,000 and $50,000 respectively. If the winning team is able to accomplish the Grand Prize of their socialbot conversing with users for at least 20 minutes with a 4 out of 5 rating, their university will be awarded a $1 million research grant.
