Known as To-Robo, the AI software scored higher on the English section of Japan's standardized¹ college entrance test than the average Japanese high school senior, its developers said.

 

It has also managed to double its score in just 12 months - raising hopes it will eventually pass the entrance exam for Tokyo University, Japan's most prestigious² college.

 

'The average score for the English section of the standardized entrance exam was 93.1 (out of 200), but the AI scored 95,' a spokesman for NTT Science and Core Technology Laboratory Group said.

 

Last year the software scored 52.

 

The NTT lab is developing the software alongside the National Institute of Informatics, and is in charge of developing the software's English capabilities³.

 

The project began in 2011 with a 10-year time frame for reaching its goal.

 

Questions from the test were turned into data that could be recognized by the software.

 

To-Robo then processed the information, distinguishing the logic⁴ of exchanges and correctly identifying the right answer out of multiple choices.

 

'One of our purposes is to reveal the limitations of AI,' said Noriko Arai, an NII professor who heads the project, told the Asahi Shimbun.

 

'Showing how humans and machines will be able to supplement each other is a key for Japan's economic growth in the future.'

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