:computer: I have thoroughly enjoyed Jeopardy the last three days in which a computer that understands natural language was playing against Ken Jennings and Brad somebody. Watson, while making some hilarious mistakes, did very well. I realized this afternoon, as I was super excited to come home and watch the final day of the game, that I could watch Watson answer questions for a couple of hours. And I’m not sure what that says about me. :what:
My own foray into AI was fifteen years ago when I programmed a computer to play Battleship, and it started beating me. While that was pretty good for my own level of computer programming, it was nothing compared to what we saw this week. And it definitely helps me appreciate the complexity of the problem of getting a computer to understand natural language, puns, jokes, and all that people just naturally pick up on. It’s a huge step even to get a computer to this level that we are watching this week. And it’s fun.
Some fun articles from Wired about the match:
- Watson Supercomputer Terminates Humans in First Jeopardy Round – 15 February 2011
- What IBM’s “Watson” Finds Elementary, And Not So Much – 16 February 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1c7s7-3fXI
I am an educator and PhD. I quilt, belly dance, run, read, and try to grow things. I am a Mormon. I am infertile. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, grand-daughter, friend, wife, and mom.
Brett L. Dennis
Mama g
Giggles
AmandaStretch
Us, too! Watson is really incredible! Drex and I both thought that it was interesting, though, that the computer had so much trouble figuring out the Final Jeopardy clue from last night (U.S. city). It was a question about the city with two airports, one named for a WWII hero and one named for a WWII battle. We were surprised that Watson actually guessed a Canadian city – Toronto. And both humans got the correct response – Chicago.
Dad was listening to NPR today and they were interviewing Ken Jennings. They asked Ken if he would like a rematch with Watson. Ken said no, he would like to see Watson stretch himseld and try Dancing with the stars. 😆 😆 :star: :star: :star: :star: :woot: :woot: :woot:
I love his sense of humor.