Netflix has awarded a combined team from AT&T Labs and Commendo Research with the $50,000 Progress Prize, but the $1 Million Grand Prize is still up for grabs in the Netflix Prize competition.
"Every day computer scientists and machine learning experts from around the world deploy creative and innovative strategies trying to pass the ten percent mark and win the Netflix Prize," said Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt. "The collaboration between BellKor and BigChaos was a smart move, but still not enough to hit the ten percent mark."This demonstrates just how tough this challenge is," said Dr. Hunt.
BellKor in BigChaos team members will travel to Netflix headquarters on December 17 to receive the $50,000 at a ceremony at which they will publicly present the team's results to an audience of Netflix executives, academicians, computer scientists and others. Netflix will publish a detailed description of BellKor in BigChaos's submission for the benefit of companies, entrepreneurs and academicians.
In the meantime, the competition for the grand prize continues until someone hits the 10 percent milestone and captures the $1 million purse.
"The gap to 10 percent is narrowing and familiar faces are still in the lead," Dr. Hunt said, referring to BellKor in BigChaos. The leaders have reached a 9.56 improvement since they submitted their Progress Prize data on October 2, which was the second anniversary of the Netflix Prize launch.
The competition has attracted a lot of interest: more than 43,000 contestants from 180 different countries are competing for the $1 million prize.
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