Watson: more than just an “elementary” contestant
Answer: Jeopardy!
Question: What game show is worthy of a Dinner Topic thanks to two human contestants battling it out against an IBM supercomputer named Watson over the span of three days?
First airing last night, Watson proved it was up to the task, tying contestant Brad Rutter and ahead of famous Jeopardy contestant Ken Jennings. Day two will air tonight with the final day airing tomorrow.
One thing you can add to the conversation is the whereabouts of Watson since stacks of servers aren’t exactly piled up by the podium between Jennings and Rutter. The physical pieces (banks of servers, computer equipment, cooling apparatuses, etc.) comprising Watson are currently located in a large room next to Jeopardy’s studio. (see video below)
The fascinating thing about the Watson project isn’t just the data and computing power that can be assembled in one place, but rather the use of this computing power in a way that can assimilate human interaction (and Jeopardy’s odd “question as answer” format) and disseminate responses quickly and accurately based on algorithms and other computations going on behind the scenes.
The Terminator once said “I know now why you cry.” I’m not sure we’re at that level of robotic/human interaction, but if The Terminator can become the governor of California, Watson can certainly defeat a couple guys in a friendly game of Jeopardy! Tune in Wednesday night to find out if man can still beat machine.
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The IBM computer Watson and all-time Jeopardy money winner Brad Rutter tied on Jeopardy last night. Suck it, artificial intelligence.