‘Jeopardy!’ Pits Man Against Computer in Round 1
- Posted on February 15, 2011 at 2:54am by
Scott Baker
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NEW YORK (AP) — In the “Jeopardy!” battle of man vs. machine, man and machine are now neck-and-neck.
Human player Brad Rutter and a supercomputer named Watson ended an initial round, aired Monday, tied at $5,000. The other challenger, human Ken Jennings, was far behind with $2,000.
The exhibition matches will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday on the popular trivia TV game show.
Two complete games will be played, with the winner (be it man or machine) collecting $1 million.
Rutter and Jennings are the most successful players in the show’s history. Watson, named for IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, is powered by 10 racks of computer servers.
The bouts were taped at the IBM research center in Yorktown Heights, New York, last month.
___
Online:
http://jeopardy.com
Watson reeled off one correct answer after another. But then the computer started to slip, and Mr. Rutter — who holds the shows record for the most winnings at $3.25 million—came roaring back.
Watson even made a few mistakes.
“Stylish elegance, or students who all graduated in the same year,” the question read.
“What is chic?” Watson replied.
Wrong.
“What is class?” Mr. Rutter said.
Right.
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Comments (54)
Well-Armed-Lamb
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 1:38pmI really have no use for such a computer unless it can formulate a cure for liberalism; a known mental disorder.
Report Post »reckless
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:55amI’ll take “Nice Try” for a thousand Alex.
Report Post »Supreme Galooty
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:55am“Their,“ ”They’re,“ and ”There.”
Each of those passes ye olde spel checker, but the brainiac who puts the sentence together must guess which is appropriate. Only a human would know that a Cub is a Chicago baseball player – not a furry little bear.
Report Post »beckisnutsisnuts
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:36amBut can it spell ‘LOSE’ correctly? Most people are ignorant and spell it ‘LOOSE’
Report Post »Islesfordian
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 1:40pmFar worse (at least to me) than mistaking various real words is thinking that “could’ve“ is a contraction of ”could of“ rather than ”could have”. Given how the 3rd person plural has come to be used for 3rd singular I have little hope this won’t become the norm.
Report Post »ChiefGeorge
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:41amFurther displacing mans rule over the tings of this earth and diminishing his existence. Thanks Man!!!
Report Post »sbleve
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 10:29amKnown data, computer code/logarithms (way over my head) drives the computer. This demonstration is liberal art work. The process does not show intelligent deduction but the storage of data and recall speed. After the first break, Watson, 2nd call button, had a stumble in the inability to glean a corrective deduction from the first person wrong answer.
The players left to right answered L first ‘20’s’ (wrong), Watson 2nd answered identical 20′s(wrong) R 3rd deducted the difference and answered ‘nineteen teens’ (correct). I think that Watson had a strong yellow and was ??– this is where computer code may fit.
Also noted was the visual display of the the players L and R ‘call button’ animations. Watson does not have the mechanical brain to finger delay. The player on the right would be pushing his button ever so delayed to Watson’s green line call.
Still good stuff, fascinating.
Report Post »Predator
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 12:48pmWatson can not hear.
Report Post »rfycom
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 9:45amYes my nose miners the blaze is becoming the Huffington Post. Did you think Beck would sit back and watch another media whore out do him?
Report Post »jmn
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 8:59amWho cares about any of this. All anyone really needs to know is how to make money. That’s the true gauge of intelligence.
Report Post »Ronko
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 8:46amA very unique piece of machinery. I just hope we never get computers to the Terminator stage of intelligence.
Report Post »NJProud
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 8:32amThe way I see it, either way Man wins. If Jennings or Rutter can beat the machine it is a triumph for their individual skills and knowledge. If however Watson wins the match, it’s an incredible moment for IBM and their fine engineers. After all, Watson didn’t create itself, it is a product of human vision and ingenuity.
Report Post »NeedABetterName
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 8:32amMy headline: Chinese owned IBM supercomputer outwits two “smart” Americans.
Report Post »1USPatriot
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 4:31pmI don’t believe China owns IBM yet. They bought Lenovo, which use to be a division, for $650million + $500million in Lenovo debt. The press played this up as “China buys IBM”, but clearly not the case. China or Chinese investors might own some IBM stock, but not the whole company. (yet)
Report Post »hamburgerdude
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 8:27amSaw this awhile back on TED. To see more about the tech behind Watson:
http://www.ted.com/pages/339
Report Post »angelcat
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 8:15amConsidering what our kids are NOT learning in school, Jeopardy will soon be just a memory unless it just sticks to popculture stuff and not math, science, literature, etc.
Report Post »vaughan
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 8:12amI thought a computer is only as good as its programmer…if the programmer didn‘t ’allow’ it to learn …it would not…
Report Post »toyguytn
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 7:15amAnd thus Skynet was formed and judgement day was at hand!!! :P
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 6:46am.
Report Post »theres a little man behind the curtains…………………
LadyIzShy
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 6:20amI was going to watch but could not, work came first. it is a huge steo for those who build and program computers i only hope it is used for good
Report Post »Chino
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 5:46am…. This thing’s going to become integrated into our defense systems, become self-aware, and KILL US ALL!!
Report Post »Shellback
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 12:58pmYou are referring to the Forbin Project.
Report Post »dzbz
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 4:42amElementary, my dear Watson……..
Report Post »SCHEXbp
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 3:57amAs with Deep Blue (which had access to every Grandmaster game ever played), this computer is nothing but a database/library. Kasparov had to play oddball opening stuff because of their cheating database. IF the computer wanted to play FAIR, it would have NO database of all openings/games & just have to compute each move independently (not via its extensive opening/game library, after all each of the 64 squares had its own special computer chip processing for the big machine. IF Deep Blue had no library (like Kasparov had no stack of chess books nor opening research notes), dozens of Grandmasters could defeat it as long as they made no glaring mistake. Humans can think MUCH farther into the game strategically than a computer. Computers often win via tactical complications.
An analogy is to a GREAT Spelling champ having to compete in a spelling be with a computer connected to EVERY dictionary currently available. The human would only win each answer IF the computer misunderstand the question OR had some glitch. Chess is much more complex, but the extent of unfairness is similar
Report Post »Predator
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 12:47pmI think you are forgetting that Watson has to interpret what the answer has to be.
Report Post »Jeopardy questions arent exactly, what is 2+2, or how long is the equator. There is somethign far more complex going on in there than just LOOKING UP the answer.
tbolt71
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 3:56amcan anyone say “skynet” or “terminator” ?
Report Post »wightboy55
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 7:22amit’s a cylon man, we’re doomed
Report Post »SUPERTODD
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 3:44amThis was so underwhelming to watch. The job God did producing our brains is much more impressive.
Report Post »13thGenerationAmerican
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 8:49amIf you believe Glenn Beck, are you sure about that statement?
Report Post »ozzie
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 3:17amReally awesome-
but-
I will not fear a PC just yet, and likely, not in my lifetime.
A computer still has to connect to every aspect of manufacture, logistics, mining for raw materials, and everything needs to be unified by computer connectivity and control.
Skynet is beyond our lifetimes……. our kids will have to find Sara Connor.
Report Post »bbquizzle
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 3:15amIs Jeopardy all it does, or can Watson do something more… productive?
Report Post »sodizzy
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 4:59amThousands in winnings seems pretty productive to me. Employs a lot of people seem so, too. This is how the free market works.
Report Post »anOpinion
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 6:29amUnderstanding human language is an incredibly difficult problem in computing, not mention applying that knowledge. As they perfect this there will be a ton of unbelievable applications.
A mundane example … could you imagine a website like google, that instead of searching, it finds and reads all the news, articles, books, old documents etc. in existence for a subject, and then summarizes that knowledge into a short essay, a novel, etc.. Pretty powerful stuff.
Report Post »Dale
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 9:27amWhen he (it) wins the million, he’s going to Disney World.
Report Post »bbquizzle
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 2:31pm@Dale
What would a rack of servers do at Disney? Download all their movies? :D
Report Post »Bryancpe
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 3:12pmIt also plays a game called Thermo Nuclear War and Tic Tac Toe of course.
Report Post »Ironmaan
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 3:09amKinda like Gary Kasparov vs. Deep blue in chess.
Report Post »http://guerillatics.com
home_of_the_brave
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 3:05amWow, this is both really cool and really scary.
Report Post »Jarski
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 6:31amI see it this way. If they’re showing Watson to the public, what do they have that they’re not showing. Not that they should. It’s our best kept secrets that keep us on top.
Report Post »IMTHATGUY
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 7:49amEver seen the Terminator Movies?
Report Post »Cemoto78
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 7:55amI’ll take leaders for $500, Alex…..he is the socialist, Marxist, that always votes present. Easy Alex, Who is Barack Obama!
Report Post »Sinista Mace
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 8:36amWatson has NOTHING on direct access to the Akashic Records through resonance with the golden vortex.
Report Post »hickoryrat
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 9:00amwhat is really scary is that the blaze wastes time and space on trivial BS like this and other “Human Interest Stories.”
Report Post »Has anyone else noticed to subtle change since lib was hired to manage blaze?
sWampy
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 9:24amAnswering questions isn’t really ai, anymore than the chess playing programs are truly ai. I remember 30 years ago having a professor tell me we were 100 years away from anything approaching AI, and thinking , he’s off his rocker. Well after 30 years in the field working for a research lab most of the time, we aren’t any further along, the computers are just a million times faster so they can look at more possible answers more quickly making them appear smarter.
Report Post »Michael Vick
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 9:51amIt’s like the plot to the Terminator!
Report Post »RightWrite
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:33amJust imagine where we will be in a few more years?
Report Post »Rearden Steel
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 11:35amEven if a computer dominates a human on that gameshow or elsewhere, it was still built and developed by hundreds of intelligent humans. Until that computer creates itself and THEN beats a human at anything, I see it as the end result of the brilliance of man’s ability to create such an impressive device.
Report Post »@leftfighter
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 4:31pmThis is the real-world equivalent of the Turk from Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles.
I’m just waiting for the A.I. to become self-aware and decide humans pose a threat.
Terminator’s not looking so science fictiony now, is it?
Report Post »random357
Posted on February 15, 2011 at 8:52pmWhats the answer to life the universe and every thing?
Forty Two.
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