Uploaded August 2020 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
The Alexa Prize, launched by Amazon in 2016, is a competition for university students dedicated to advancing the field of conversational AI. Teams are challenged to design socialbots that Alexa customers can interact with via Alexa-enabled devices. Their ultimate goal is to meet the Grand Challenge: earn a composite score of 4.0 or higher (out of 5) from the judges, and have the judges find that at least two-thirds of their conversations with the socialbot in the final round of judging remain coherent and engaging for 20 minutes. In July 2019, 10 university teams were selected from a global pool of applicants to participate in the semifinal round of the Alexa Prize Socialbot Grand Challenge 3. And on August 4, 2020, Amazon announced the winners.
While none of this year’s teams met the Grand Challenge, each team showed impressive progress toward that goal. Emora, the Emory University chatbot, earned first place with a 3.81 average rating, winning $500,000. Stanford University’s Chirpy Cardinal team—led by PhD students Ashwin Paranjape and Abigail See, along with faculty advisor Christopher Manning—attained second place, and a $100,000 prize, with a 3.17 average rating. The third place team was Alquist, the socialbot from Czech Technical University. That team, led by PhD student Jan Pichl and faculty advisor Jan Sedivy, earned a $50,000 prize, with a 3.14 average rating for its socialbot.
Amazon is looking to the next generation of developers who want to work on problems and offer solutions to advance conversational AI. In this video, hear from experts, such as Rohit Prasad, VP and head scientist of the Alexa AI organization at Amazon, on how they are advancing artificial intelligence by building socialbots that can converse, engage, and entertain.
Visit the official Alexa Prize website, and stay tuned for an update regarding the Alexa Prize Socialbot Grand Challenge 4: alexaprize.com
Find research papers and articles about the Alexa Prize challenge and participants on Amazon Science, here: https://www.amazon.science/tag/alexa-prize
Follow us:
Website: https://www.amazon.science
Twitter: twitter.com/AmazonScience
Facebook: facebook.com/AmazonScience
Instagram: instagram.com/AmazonScience
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/showcase/AmazonScience
The Alexa Prize, launched by Amazon in 2016, is a competition for university students dedicated to advancing the field of conversational AI. Teams are challenged to design socialbots that Alexa customers can interact with via Alexa-enabled devices. Their ultimate goal is to meet the Grand Challenge: earn a composite score of 4.0 or higher (out of 5) from the judges, and have the judges find that at least two-thirds of their conversations with the socialbot in the final round of judging remain coherent and engaging for 20 minutes. In July 2019, 10 university teams were selected from a global pool of applicants to participate in the semifinal round of the Alexa Prize Socialbot Grand Challenge 3. And on August 4, 2020, Amazon announced the winners.
While none of this year’s teams met the Grand Challenge, each team showed impressive progress toward that goal. Emora, the Emory University chatbot, earned first place with a 3.81 average rating, winning $500,000. Stanford University’s Chirpy Cardinal team—led by PhD students Ashwin Paranjape and Abigail See, along with faculty advisor Christopher Manning—attained second place, and a $100,000 prize, with a 3.17 average rating. The third place team was Alquist, the socialbot from Czech Technical University. That team, led by PhD student Jan Pichl and faculty advisor Jan Sedivy, earned a $50,000 prize, with a 3.14 average rating for its socialbot.
Amazon is looking to the next generation of developers who want to work on problems and offer solutions to advance conversational AI. In this video, hear from experts, such as Rohit Prasad, VP and head scientist of the Alexa AI organization at Amazon, on how they are advancing artificial intelligence by building socialbots that can converse, engage, and entertain.
Visit the official Alexa Prize website, and stay tuned for an update regarding the Alexa Prize Socialbot Grand Challenge 4: alexaprize.com
Find research papers and articles about the Alexa Prize challenge and participants on Amazon Science, here: https://www.amazon.science/tag/alexa-prize
Follow us:
Website: https://www.amazon.science
Twitter: twitter.com/AmazonScience
Facebook: facebook.com/AmazonScience
Instagram: instagram.com/AmazonScience
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/showcase/AmazonScience
