IBM Computer Trounces Humans in Jeopardy! Test Run

January 14, 2011

In a test run of a special battle between an IBM supercomputer named "Watson" and two of the best Jeopardy! players in the world, the computer dominates. The test of the computer is a preview of a televised battle to take place in January pitting two men against one machine. Score so far: Men 0, Computer 1.

IBM claims that Watson is a major advance in artificial intelligence, and if this test run is any indication, the company is speaking the gospel. Watson managed to beat former Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter on Thursday in its first public test, a short practice round ahead of a million-dollar tournament that will be televised next month in a special series of shows.

Jennings is no lightweight: he won a record 74 consecutive "Jeopardy!" games in 2004 and 2005. Rutter won a record of nearly $3.3 million in prize money on the show.

According to IBM, Watson is powered by 10 racks of IBM servers running Linux. Watson is the result of four years worth of work by IBM researchers around the globe.

"Language is ambiguous; it's contextual; it's implicit," said IBM scientist David Ferrucci, a leader of the Watson team. Sorting out the context -- especially in a game show filled with hints and jokes -- is an enormous job for the computer, which also must analyze how certain it is of an answer and whether it should risk a guess, he said.

The practice round took place on a stage at the IBM research center in Yorktown Heights, 38 miles north of Manhattan. The real contest to be televised Feb. 14-16, will be played at IBM on Friday.

The winner of the match will be awarded $1 million. Second place gets $300,000, third place $200,000. IBM will donate any winnings Watson receives to charity. Jennings and Rutter will donate half of their winnings to charity because humans can actually use money.

During a press event after the test match, the former Jeopardy! champions joked about Watson:

"When Watson's progeny comes back to kill me from the future," Rutter said, "I have my escape route planned just in case."

"I had a friend tell me, 'Remember John Henry, the steel-drivin' man.' And I was like ... 'Remember John Connor!'" Jennings said. "We're gonna take this guy out!"

Source: Salon

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Comments

Re: IBM Computer Trounces Humans in Jeopardy! Test Run

Submitted by MonkeyPeaches on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 16:03.

Quick someone find and protect John Connor.

Re: IBM Computer Trounces Humans in Jeopardy! Test Run

Submitted by Gamervisionsean on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 15:14.

I don't know - a $1,000 lead at the end of the first segment, with three full categories and all of Double Jeopardy left to go, doesn't exactly say "trounce" to me. It's impressive, to be sure. But the headline here is a bit misleading.

Editor in Chief - Gamervision.com How Gamers See the World!

Re: IBM Computer Trounces Humans in Jeopardy! Test Run

Submitted by DorkmasterFlek on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 13:40.

That is pretty damn impressive actually. The computer has to analyze the words of the answer, figure out contextually what is being asked, and then come up with the question response. I'm assuming it also has to take the category into account as well, which adds another layer of complexity. No doubt this AI is pretty damn sophisticated.

Shout box

james_fudge: happening now http://majornelson.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-architecture-panel/05/21/2013 - 2:20pm

E. Zachary Knight: Some reading material for Microsoft on its used games blocks. That will hurt the console more than helping. http://ezknight.net/?page_id=20505/21/2013 - 2:18pm

james_fudge: yeah good luck with over the air TV05/21/2013 - 2:12pm

E. Zachary Knight: But what if I want to only watch over the air tv? I don't subscribe to pay tv. I never will. If that is a requirement, then MS wasted 45 minutes telling me how great TV will be.05/21/2013 - 2:08pm

james_fudge: EZK it will depend on your provider, just like HBO Go i'd imagine.05/21/2013 - 2:05pm

PHX Corp: @IanC there's also a chance that those titles might be Xbox one exclusive, but it's too early to tell afaik05/21/2013 - 2:03pm

IanC: @E. Zachary Knight - MS certainly got the checkbook out for EA, so no surprise on how negative they are over the Wii U.05/21/2013 - 1:54pm

MaskedPixelante: So now I have to wonder, how many of EA's games are skipping the PS4 because of their pro-used stance?05/21/2013 - 1:53pm

E. Zachary Knight: On the TV front, does the XBox One require a cable/satellite subscription or will I be able to use my over the air channels?05/21/2013 - 1:48pm

E. Zachary Knight: Also, that name was not one of the options on our poll.05/21/2013 - 1:42pm

E. Zachary Knight: This presentation also shows why EA has been so negative about the Wii U. They have had a massive hardon for the XBox One forever.05/21/2013 - 1:42pm

james_fudge: two female presenters05/21/2013 - 1:40pm

E. Zachary Knight: Quote: Are developers forced to create games that have these online features, and are thus not playable offline? They are not, Xbox exec Whitten said to Wired — but “I hope they do.”05/21/2013 - 1:40pm

E. Zachary Knight: The Wired article I linked to earlier has a different story. While it will be possible to play offline, that is a game to game thing, not standard. http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/05/xbox-one-analysis/05/21/2013 - 1:39pm

Andrew Eisen: According to Geoff Keighley, Don Mattrick says Xbox One is not always on. https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley/status/33690727595023155305/21/2013 - 1:35pm

Andrew Eisen: Just like how Sim City needs the cloud for various computations. (Note to anyone unaware: Sim City does not need the cloud for various computations. That was a barefaced lie by EA Maxis.)05/21/2013 - 1:24pm

MaskedPixelante: So all in all, more of the same, with the possibility of used game restrictions and always on DRM disguised as "cloud computing".05/21/2013 - 1:20pm

Andrew Eisen: Absolutly zero gameplay footage. Doesn't look like there are going to be a lot of games ready to launch by the end of the year.05/21/2013 - 1:12pm

E. Zachary Knight: They didn't talk about any of the other exclusives. I guess they are saving that for E3.05/21/2013 - 1:06pm

E. Zachary Knight: quicknoid, They have 15 exclusives coming in the first year with 8 of them being original franchises. I think Ghosts is at least a timed exclusive.05/21/2013 - 1:06pm

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