IBM's Watson To Compete On Jeopardy! Game Show
Yep, sometime in the future an IBM machine will be competing with valedictorians and Quiz Bowl champions of yesteryear on Jeopardy! The system, which has been coined 'Watson,' has taken some two years to develop, with the sophisticated Question Answering (QA) system hoping to beat out quick minds and understand some of life's most complex inquiries. Those involved with the project admit that we're still nowhere near perfection when it comes to artificial intelligence, though the goal here is to take another leap forward and create a robot that can at least compete with real human opponents on the show.
Before you ask, Watson will not have a connection to the Internet -- human contestants can't have any outside assistance, so neither can Watson. Instead, it will rely on indexed information that it digests beforehand, which is -- in theory, anyway -- exactly what humans are required to do. Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, had this to say about Waton's future quest: "The essence of making decisions is recognizing patterns in vast amounts of data, sorting through choices and options, and responding quickly and accurately. Watson is a compelling example of how the planet – companies, industries, cities – is becoming smarter. With advanced computing power and deep analytics, we can infuse business and societal systems with intelligence. This project is the latest example of IBM’s longstanding commitment to fundamental research and to overcoming ‘grand challenges’ in science and technology."
In the end, the research underlying Watson is expected to elevate computer intelligence and human-to-computer communication to unprecedented levels, and IBM hopes to apply the unique technological capabilities being developed for Watson to help clients across a wide variety of industries answer business questions quickly and accurately. There's been no announcement made on a date in which to watch for Watson's appearance on the show, but it's certainly worth keeping an eye out for.
Comments
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What is "A stupid idea"? If the computer doesn't have to read or hear the question like the contestants, it's just not very impressive. They'll no doubt run the board using a small subset of info that would fit into the RAM off a normal PC: all the Presidents and their cabinets with years of office, the names of all European monarchs and their periods, geographic data including the names of all countries, capitals, rivers, the periodic table, etc... Is it that impressive to name the dead poet when you have the collected works of every dead poet sitting on a hard-drive, indexed for instant recall? Infocom was turning english text input into database queries in the 1980s. No doubt IBM will stack the deck (like they did against Kasparov) by keying Watson's indexes to past topics frequently used by the shows writers. Oh yes, there will be questions about Canada. |
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They could even the playing field a little with some modifications. like the computer can only begin a search once Alex finishes the question.. that would give the humans a chance as a lot of questions get answered before he finishes. |
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If it's a category the humans are familiar with, they're likely to buzz in as early anyway... That's why you sometimes see them buzz in and have no clue about the answer. Here's the real problem: Say I'm competing and I know the answer as soon as my brain decodes the words from my vision. Watson also knows the answer (and had the benefit of searching his database for longer because it didn't have to convert vision/audio to concept). As soon as the white ring around the board indicates that contestants may buzz in, guess who's going to buzz in first: me, or the guy who's reaction time is measured in nanoseconds? |
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