IBM’s Watson to take on Jeopardy!
If you haven’t heard already, IBM recently built an analytical computing system that specializes in analyzing natural human language and provides specific answers to complex questions at rapid speeds- and it’s taking on two of Jeopardy!’s top contestants. Named Watson, after IBM’s founder, this computing system is NOT connected to the Internet and is capable of understanding and responding to human puns and questions. So what? Big deal. Yes! It is a big deal.
Image source: Kalurkeyitech.com
Think about how computers store information. They are programmed in a way that only understands the language they were built in; however, Watson understands “real language.” It understands facts and is able to apply them in a way that humans do- rather than how computers (the way we think of them) do. Watson also has a confidence level, similar to humans. He (it) will not answer a question that he isn’t confident he will answer correctly. He’s not a guesser. He’s a thinker, an investigator of the more than 1 million books he has tucked away in his system, and he’s an understander. What doesn’t he have? Feelings.
So, does he win? You’ll have to watch and find out Feb. 14-16!
