Up against two of the great human contestants.
Anybody gonna watch?
Predictions?
Computer as Jeopardy contestant
Up against two of the great human contestants.
Anybody gonna watch?
Predictions?
I don't understand how this is even remotely fair. How can a computer compete unless it has a whole bunch of trivia loaded onto it? And if that's the case, how is it different than a competitor using Google?
Last edited by Orual; 14 Feb 2011 at 12:43 PM.
Yeah, I don't get this, either. But I will watch, as I love Ken Jennings.
This is what I was thinking. This isn't artificial intelligence or any measure of a computer doing something cool. It's basically a trivia app.Originally posted by Orual
My wife is looking forward to it, I am feeling fairly apathetic about it though.
It's no Turing Test competitor, but it's certainly a bit more than just "look up trivia". Realize just how difficult it is to comprehend Jeopardy-style clues and it becomes a bit more impressive. It's more difficult than playing chess, where the rules are well-defined. This is a highly advanced natural language processor.
Here's a place you can play against Watson in a mock game (Flash required). I'm not sure if that's a weaker version or not, as it doesn't perform that well. On the other hand, there's no time pressure for the human player.
One thing I do wonder about is how complete the category descriptions are. Most categories on Jeopardy are given little to no context or explanation (at least on the show). The mock game has written descriptions, and I expect Watson is fed something similar.
I got 77 points to Watson's -5, mainly because there is no time limit as mentioned. The human player either passes or tries to guess. There's no risk of the computer getting the question first.
It is some pretty good natural language recognition. The fact that it was able to get Elvis Presley from the question about Frank Sinatra impressed me. Putting it on Jeopardy is kind of gimmicky, but this really is a great step forward.
Well, the first night was interesting. Watson looked like he was gonna lay down the beatdowns, then gave a string of bizarre responses. Let's see how it progresses.
I ended up watching it with my wife. Nice ad for IBM.
Well, second night. Watson is giving the humans a pounding, but still has odd gaps. In the Final Jeopardy, in the category U.S. cities, it guessed "Toronto". That surprised me.
Why not just name it "Skynet"...
This evil supercomputer is going to enslave us. Maybe we can convince it to only enslave US cities...
Well, it's over. Computer whupped them, but they made a better showing tonight. Very impressive, all in all.
The ratings were the highest in years. So I guess this was a great ad for IBM & Jeopardy.
Yeah, big, big buzz. My kid, who generally doesn't watch the show anymore, was tremendously excited about this.
-begins stocking up on canned food and ammo.-
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1948125
Fantastic parody.
Last edited by Ramses; 15 Mar 2011 at 08:15 PM.
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