IBM Watson competition: U of T students create virtual legal researcher
Published: December 12, 2014
And the winner is... Ross. That's the name of the virtual legal researcher designed and created by University of Toronto students for the.
This fall, a select group of U of T students were given access to a 'supercomputer' called IBM Watson as part of the competition.
Their task: to develop innovative artificial intelligence-based applications with an entrepreneurial twist.
U of T is the only Canadian participant among an elite group of 10 universities including Carnegie Mellon University, the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University.
Five U of T teams competed for the chance to go on to the Watson Challenge in Manhattan in January 2015, where the top groups will compete for a US$100,000 prize awarded to the most insightful and articulate business proposal. Ross, with his ability to answer questions on corporate law – and rate his own confidence in the answer – won the day.
The Globe and Mail's Jeff Gray spoke with Trinity College student and alumnus (also of Trinity) about building Ross.
Ovbiagele, who is also , told The Globe, “When we are short of time, we just say it is Siri for lawyers,” adding: “Watson is a lot smarter than Siri.”
