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XPRize and IBM have announced the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE , a multi-stage Cognitive Computing Competition  with  a $5 million purse that challenges "teams from around the world to develop and demonstrate how humans can collaborate with powerful cognitive technologies to tackle some of the world’s grand challenges." Interestingly, the competition will be open to human/AI hybrid and exclusively AI entrants alike. The contest will culminate in 2020 after a series of IBM's annual "World of Watson" prelim events and draw attention to the human-empowering aspects of Artificial Intelligence.  May the smartest neural array carry the day. Pre-registration is open now at  xprize.org/AI , and detailed guidelines will be announced on May 15, 2016. TED Blog XPrize Announcement

A handful of Ukrainian government officials, several Ukrainian NGOs and blockchain businesses Ambisafe, Distributed Lab and Kitsoft have announced a partnership  to test and gradually implement a transparent, blockchain-based voting system in Ukraine. The move to the blockchain marks a next logical step in Ukraine's recent experiments with  e-voting systems. Press Release Analysis