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Jeopardy Computer Trounces Humans On Day 2

Watson wins big despite naming Toronto as US city

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 15, 2011 10:53 PM CST

(Newser) – Watson trounced its human opponents on the second day of the 3-day Jeopardy challenge, but humanity saved some face after the IBM supercomputer goofed on the final question. The category was US cities and the clue was "Its largest airport was named for a World War II hero; its second for a World War II battle." The two human contestants correctly answered "Chicago" while Watson answered "Toronto," reports the Huffington Post.

The computer—which correctly answered 24 out of 30 question in the Double Jeopardy round—had only wagered $975, however, and it finished the game with $35,734 to Brad Rutter's $10,400 and Ken Jennings' $4,800. The manager of the Watson project says the computer was probably confused by the fact that there are cities called Toronto in the US, and the Toronto in Canada has a baseball team in the American league. If Watson finishes a winner when the challenge wraps up Wednesday, IBM will donate the $1 million prize to charity.

Contestants Ken Jennings, left, and Brad Rutter and a computer named Watson compete on Jeopardy.
Contestants Ken Jennings, left, and Brad Rutter and a computer named Watson compete on "Jeopardy."   (AP Photo/Jeopardy Productions, Inc., Carol Kaelson)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 15 comments
NoddaAndYou
Feb 16, 2011 4:27 PM CST
The first two shows have been amazing. If you've dealt with natural language processing, you'd agree, this is quite a feat. I'm surprised they didn't go with a more natural voice (Like the ones being developed by AT&T and IBM), but maybe they just didn't want to freak people out. Today's show should prove quite interesting, this one's for all the marbles. ^_^
homerbalboa
Feb 16, 2011 7:44 AM CST
Not a fair test. Watson's response time should have been adjusted to that of human levels, something not done (part 1 did not state this), resulting in the other players not being to answer questions they probably knew but did not react fast enough to answer
hopeandchange
Feb 16, 2011 7:01 AM CST
"The two human contestants correctly answered "Chicago" while Watson answered "Toronto," reports the Huffington Post." thats ok Watson. in most high schools that would be considered a creative answer and you would get an "A".

 
artificial intelligence • IBM • Ken Jennings • game show • Jeopardy • supercomputer • Watson

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