Quiz show Jeopardy! has been stumping human contestants and viewers for more than 45 years. Part of the show’s challenge lies in the way contestants are required to phrase answers, which must be in the form of a question. It can be flummoxing for humans, and would understandably be difficult for a machine.
Apparently IBM’s “Watson” supercomputer is not one of those machines.
Watson is the result of IBM’s effort to create a machine capable of understanding questions asked in “natural language” and responding in kind. In mock Jeopardy! matches, Watson has done remarkably well, handily defeating its human opponents. It’s been so successful, in fact, that IBM has agreed to feature the machine on an upcoming episode of Jeopardy! that could air as early as the fall.
Aside from racking up winnings on trivia game shows, Watson’s technology could revolutionize search engines, enabling computers to correctly interpret questions and provide more accurate answers, rather than require humans to phrase questions in ways machines can understand.
The New York Times has a fascinating feature on Watson, which is part of their ongoing series on artificial intelligence.
(Via Engadget)