IBM Watson supercomputer to Compete on Jeopardy Against Greatest Champs of all Time

I lost on Jeopardy Baaaby...

Dec 14 2010, 11:11am CST | by Shane McGlaun

IBM Watson supercomputer to Compete on Jeopardy Against Greatest Champs of all Time

For a while a few years back it seemed like you couldn't get away from Ken Jennings. The dude was everywhere after becoming the winningest Jeopardy champion ever. The second most winning champion of the game show is Brad Rutter.

The two former champions and IBM are teaming up to play the first ever man vs. machine Jeopardy competition. The contest will pit the two human players against the Watson super computer and will air on February 14, 15, and 16 of next year. There will be two matches played on each of the three days.

The Watson computer from IBM is designed to be able to answer questions posed in natural language with speed, accuracy and confidence. According to IBM playing the Jeopardy game is the ultimate challenge because the computer has to be able to find the subtle meaning, irony, riddles, and other complexities that humans are very good at and computers are not.

Jennings was able to win 74 games in a row during the 2004-2005 season of Jeopardy racking up more than $2.5 million. Ruttler won more money than any other player with over $3.2 million in winnings. The grand prize in this new contest will be a million dollars. Second place will get $300,000 and third will get $200,000. IBM plans to donate all its winnings to charity and the two human players will give half to charity.

"After four years, our scientific team believes that Watson is ready for this challenge based on its ability to rapidly comprehend what the Jeopardy! clue is asking, analyze the information it has access to, come up with precise answers, and develop an accurate confidence in its response," said Dr. David Ferrucci, the scientist leading the IBM Research team that has created Watson. "Beyond our excitement for the match itself, our team is very motivated by the possibilities that Watson's breakthrough computing capabilities hold for building a smarter planet and helping people in their business tasks and personal lives."

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Shane McGlaun
Leading our review center, Shane knows technology inside out. His extensive experience in testing computer hardware and consumer electronics enable him to effectively qualify new products and trends. If you want us review your product, please contact Shane.
Shane can be contacted directly at shane@i4u.com.