Well, just when we’re getting comfy with Siri, Google Home and other digital assistants and artificial intelligence helping us with everyday tasks, here comes IBM with one that zeroes in on the way humans debate. It’s easy to dream up how IBM Debater could have implications for customer service, marketing, social media and other communication related to business (or not related, too). The New York Times writes: “The project reflects the recent acceleration of research related to ‘natural language understanding,’ the effort to build machines that can understand the natural way we humans talk and respond in kind. As this research progresses, it can provide new ways for computers to digest and process information or even lead to machines that can hold a completely convincing conversation. This sort of technology would have a wide range of uses. It could help businesses filter hot-button issues on social media. Or it could provide governments with a more effective way of censoring information.” I could imagine a future where such technology could help family members understand each other better across generations, if the technology can get there. The article notes that the debate program has its limitations and that the way we communicate is complicated.