IBM's "Watson" Supercomputer to Compete on Jeopardy!, Ready For Primetime
Wow, it's actually happening. If you'll recall, reports were flying last
year that IBM's supercomputer, a guy by the name of Watson, would one day appear on one of the most famed game shows in the history of
television: Jeopardy!. After two years of development and another year
of tweaking, Watson is now starring in a Jeopardy! competition video on
the world's most famous video viewing portal. What is YouTube?
IBM has pit their supercomputers against humans before. Deep Blue has been known to play chess against some of the world's greatest players, but playing a game with a finite number of moves and possibilities is entirely different than playing a trivia game with any number of questions from any number of categories. The stakes are much higher, and it's much harder for even a supercomputer to wrap its wires around. Have a laugh and press play...
IBM has pit their supercomputers against humans before. Deep Blue has been known to play chess against some of the world's greatest players, but playing a game with a finite number of moves and possibilities is entirely different than playing a trivia game with any number of questions from any number of categories. The stakes are much higher, and it's much harder for even a supercomputer to wrap its wires around. Have a laugh and press play...
In fact, IBM is running into two very harsh realities: one, Watson has a
tendency to crash. And two, he sometimes goes on streaks of getting
everything wrong. But since it's a supercomputer, it has no sense of
embarrassment or anything similar, so he'll generally keep buzzing in
even if his "confidence" level is low. For now, the robot has only
appeared in a Jeopardy! promotional video, but his time in the spotlight
is coming very soon.
IBM's Watson Supercomputer - credit: New York Times
Reports suggest that he may be ready to battle the world's most brilliant minds as early as this Fall, and we're guessing his appearance will be one of the most highly watched in the show's long history.
IBM's Watson Supercomputer - credit: New York Times
Reports suggest that he may be ready to battle the world's most brilliant minds as early as this Fall, and we're guessing his appearance will be one of the most highly watched in the show's long history.
