AND ITS BUZZER REFLEXES WILL MAKE ME LOOK LIKE... WHAT'S AN EXAMPLE OF SOMEONE WITH REALLY BAD REFLEXES? Ken Jennings talks about Monday's Jeopardy! battle with IBM's Watson.
Adam, I hope you'll post your thoughts next week about the show. There is a customer event at the IBM Helsinki office on Monday (I am guessing they have some version released internally since it won't have yet aired in the US), but I have started my maternity leave and won't be able to sneak in to see it! I hope everyone enjoys it!
I think the fact that they are putting not one but two excellent players up against Watson gives Watson a big advantage. Watson will presumably be great (as the linked post on Lindsay notes) at the straightforward fact questions. He will not be good when the question (answer, whatever) is subtle, full of puns and riddles, and without obvious references to the answer (question, whatever). But the two humans will probably SPLIT those. If there were only one human going up against Watson, that one human would be better able to leverage his human-ness. What I'm saying is that if the survival of humanity were on the line here, one of the humans ought to agree to refrain from buzzing in, for the greater good.
If you haven't already, watch this week's Nova episode The Smartest Machine on Earth, for a fascinating look at the development of Watson. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/smartest-machine-on-earth.html
ReplyDeleteI meant to mention that. I don't watch Nova, but I sought this out. Lucy is excited for Monday.
ReplyDeleteAdam, I hope you'll post your thoughts next week about the show. There is a customer event at the IBM Helsinki office on Monday (I am guessing they have some version released internally since it won't have yet aired in the US), but I have started my maternity leave and won't be able to sneak in to see it! I hope everyone enjoys it!
ReplyDeleteSecond on the Nova episode.
ReplyDeleteI think the fact that they are putting not one but two excellent players up against Watson gives Watson a big advantage. Watson will presumably be great (as the linked post on Lindsay notes) at the straightforward fact questions. He will not be good when the question (answer, whatever) is subtle, full of puns and riddles, and without obvious references to the answer (question, whatever). But the two humans will probably SPLIT those. If there were only one human going up against Watson, that one human would be better able to leverage his human-ness. What I'm saying is that if the survival of humanity were on the line here, one of the humans ought to agree to refrain from buzzing in, for the greater good.
ReplyDelete