Watson destroys all humans in Jeopardy

[badger]

Let's finish 'Chicks dig me'

WFR3lOm_xhE

Only a practice round to get the specifics down. Very cool video. Enjoy!

[Mississippi Sooner]

I wasn't surprised at all by this. Playing a trivia game against a computer isn't even close to the same thing as playing a strategy game like chess.

[rekamrettuB]

Is it fair to the humans that the computer doesn't have to "push" the button. That's part of the game. How fast can your brain tell you to push the button and you react. I would assume the computer's command is virtually instant.

Saying that, I was kind of creeped out by the fact the computer was actually acting human by saying "same category" and stuff. I think this WATSON is the beginning of the end for humanity as we know it. SkyNet has begun.

[badger]

Watson pushes a button, but he only pushes it if he is confident in his answer - when that bar is green as opposed to yellow or orange on that screen shown in the video.

But, this isn't foolproof. Don't count us humans out yet:


Earlier that day, Trebek explained, Watson had once grown very green — only to pull an incorrect response. "The answer we were going for was Jamie Foxx. For 'The Soloist' he learned to play the cello. But Watson came in with 'Who is Beethoven?' And Brad said, 'I always get the two of them mixed up.'"

[My Opinion Matters]

Watson is just a pseudonym. This computer's real name is Skynet.

[badger]

Apparently in a practice round, it was asked what grasshoppers eat, and it's answer was "Kosher" :P

Seriously - it was as much a practice round for the humans as it was for the Watson. Now that they know what they're up against, the humans themselves will turn back into the robotic answering devices that we all witnessed them as throughout their record setting runs.

Seriously - any contestant that lasts as many rounds of Jeopardy that Ken has, and won as much money as Brad has on that show DESERVE to face a computer.

[rekamrettuB]

Watson pushes a button, but he only pushes it if he is confident in his answer - when that bar is green as opposed to yellow or orange on that screen shown in the video.

But, this isn't foolproof. Don't count us humans out yet:

Right, but is it instant? The humans have their delay time to press the button the same way as the delay time to hit the brakes of your car when something runs out in front of you. What I'm asking is this; is there a human delay time built into this computer? You could know every answer asked and not get $1 because you can't beat the computer to the buzzer.

[setem]

Let me just say as a Jeopardy watcher I am excited to see this go down. I have been waiting for a while and this look like it will be Ken Jennings Vs Watson.

That being said....WATSON DIDN'T DESTROY KEN JENNINGS! WATSON ANSWERED A QUESTION AT THE END TO TAKE A $1000 LEAD! Maybe you are implying that Ken Jennings is not human, but some kind of trivia oriented Alient? If that is the case you might be correct!

WATSON SUCKS NUTS!!!

[badger]

There must be a human delay built in to make it fair, but I am guessing that is what these practice rounds are designed for, to compare how fast the computer presses the button to its competitors, to give Ken and Brad a chance to get used to being next to a Jeopardy-Bot, to see what types of questions confuse Watson (the fill-in-the-blanks apparently).

I also am excited about when they do this for real, just because the computer will say things that are hilarious just because a computer is saying them (Like "Let's finish 'Chicks Dig me'")

[badger]

So apparently this is airing now? Anyway, after one round, Ken is actually losing for once, only at $2k. Brad and our future computer overlord Watson are tied at $5k each after some embarrassing gaffs by benevolent future dictator Watson:

Ken: What are the 20s?

Alex: No. Watson!

Watson: What is 1920s?

Alex: No... KEN said that...

Here's the episode on youtube if you missed it. Check it out fast if you want to, it'll probably get yanked for copyright laws before long.
4PSPvHcLnN0
CtHlxzOXgYs

[Jammin']

I wasn't surprised at all by this. Playing a trivia game against a computer isn't even close to the same thing as playing a strategy game like chess.

chess is math, plain and simple. current computers are well passed being able to play chess better than humans.

jeopardy is not, it relies on so much more than just book knowledge. the fact that the computer can even keep up is amazing. the reality that it may win is mind-boggling for our future.

where will we be in another 30 years? (hint: my computer tells me the odds are i'll be dead)

[bigfatjerk]

So apparently this is airing now? Anyway, after one round, Ken is actually losing for once, only at $2k. Brad and our future computer overlord Watson are tied at $5k each after some embarrassing gaffs by benevolent future dictator Watson:

Ken: What are the 20s?

Alex: No. Watson!

Watson: What is 1920s?

Alex: No... KEN said that...

Here's the episode on youtube if you missed it. Check it out fast if you want to, it'll probably get yanked for copyright laws before long.
4PSPvHcLnN0
CtHlxzOXgYs

Jennings was only good about 5 years back because he could ring in so fast and then guess the right answer. He came back to do another Jeopardy a few years back and was horrible at it because he couldn't ring in as fast. That seems to be his problem right now too. He had a few clues in a row where he seemed to have the buzzer timed pretty good. Outside of that he had a tough time.

[AlboSooner]

So basically it a race between the "natural" processor, the brain, and the "artificial" one in Watson.

[Jammin']

So basically it a race between the "natural" processor, the brain, and the "artificial" one in Watson.

somewhat. The fact that humans are capable of creating a computer that can "think" through the subtelies (etc) of language, is pretty cool and could mean significant advances in the years to come.

[Pricetag]

They need to throw Watson a bone and have an answer about "motorcycle club."

[bigfatjerk]

Watson kicked major butt today. Even though he thought Toronto was a US city somehow.

[dwarthog]

Watson kicked major butt today. Even though he thought Toronto was a US city somehow.

I bet whatever algorithm determined Toronto was a US city, got a closer examination after that round.

[sooner59]

Yeah I watched it today as well. Watson destroyed those guys. But that was a WTF moment on Final Jeopardy with that Toronto answer. I wouldn't put much faith in it at this point, just say that it is pretty dang good. Biggest thing that I saw was Ken and Brad knew most of those answers that Watson got. They were mashing the button vigorously but the computer kept beating them on the button. It sure looks like if Watson knows it, it is nearly locked in to buzz first. It looks rigged in Watson's favor on the buzzer. And neither Ken nor Brad ever buzzed in before the entire answer was read. That doesn't seem like a Jeopardy champion. Many of them know the answer before it is read entirely and buzz in. Looks like they are not allowed to. Like I said, Watson is amazing in its ability to pick up on everything and answer the questions, but this event reeks of being rigged for publicity for IBM.

[badger]

The whole Watson thing has triggered the internets on bringing up past man versus machine (because computers know better than to mess with us chicks) battles. The one that's commonly brought up was Gary Kasparov vs. Deep Blue in 1997, the final battle where Deep Blue won.

Basically, Gary accused Deep Blue of cheating, not out of sour loserspeak, but rather, because he noticed that the computer suddenly stopped making machine-like moves and seemed to be acting a little too... human. Accusing IBM of interfering beyond the preset rules (no changing the computer's mechanics till between games), Kasparov demanded a rematch. IBM instead dismantled Deep Blue.

I also call shenanigans on the button mashing. However, the purpose of Watson seems to be to find the answers/questions to strangely worded answers/questions, not to mash a button faster than the humans. Thus, even if Ken and Brad start hitting the button faster, it's still a victory for Watson.

Did anyone else LOL at the non-dairy answer/question response?

Watson: What is milk?
Trebek stand-in: NO!
(audience laughs)

[sooner59]

Oh no doubt its a win for Watson and IBM that it works. It does what they wanted it to do, and it does it well. It just makes IBM look better if Watson is dominating the masters at their own game. I believe if anyone could ring in at any time, and if Watson was programed to have a delay of the time it takes a human to press the button...then the Brad guy would probably beat Ken Jennings and Watson. That guy was buzzing in as fast as he could on every answer and just couldn't buzz in. But yeah Watson is amazing. I'm just waiting until they build a computer that learns exponentially and it reaches the singularity and becomes self-aware. I said wait....not looking forward to.

[MR2-Sooner86]

I have a few questions that lean towards the computer.

They say they all "get" the information at the same time. How?

The computer can't 'hear' Alex Trebek so how does it get the question? When? Is it sent from a laptop as a data packet? Is what Alex Trebek's says converted into text and then sent? Is it sent right after Alex Trebek stops talking or before and the computer knows it can answer the question afterwards? When the question appears does the computer get it and has time to look it up and once Alex Trebek stops talking he can "go" and press the button?

[TMcGee86]

yeah i was thinking that as well, I seem to remember people buzzing in before the entire answer is read, so unless they changed the rules it looks like they are told not to do so because Watson can't work without the whole question.

[dwarthog]

I have a few questions that lean towards the computer.

They say they all "get" the information at the same time. How?

The computer can't 'hear' Alex Trebek so how does it get the question? When? Is it sent from a laptop as a data packet? Is what Alex Trebek's says converted into text and then sent? Is it sent right after Alex Trebek stops talking or before and the computer knows it can answer the question afterwards? When the question appears does the computer get it and has time to look it up and once Alex Trebek stops talking he can "go" and press the button?

I would imagine Watson gets the question at the same time as the other contestants which means he "sees" it at the same time it is shown to them, in the form of a text file, which he has to parse first for the words and then for the meaning and come up with an answer and statistically rate it's potential as the most correct answer.

What I would like to know is if they are using solid state storage or hard drives?

[John Kochtoston]

Human players aren't allowed to buzz in until a (unseen on TV) light comes on, which doesn't happen until Trebek finishes reading the answer.

[Leroy Lizard]

Human players aren't allowed to buzz in until a (unseen on TV) light comes on, which doesn't happen until Trebek finishes reading the answer.

For all shows, or just the Watson show?

[sooner59]

Has to be just the Watson show. I have watched Jeopardy for years and contestants seem to always buzz in before Alex reads the entire answer. Alex stops and they have to answer based only on what was said.

[starclassic tama]

i think they can buzz in before he is finished reading the question, and it is logged and as soon as he is finished reading the question whoever was first lights up. i could be wrong though.

[dwarthog]

From the Jeopardy Wiki.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy!


Ringing in

Contestants must wait until the host finishes reading the clue before ringing in. Ringing in before this point locks the contestant out for one fourth of a second.[10] Lights mounted around the game board illuminate to indicate when contestants may ring in, and the contestant has five seconds to offer a response. Additionally, a tone sounds in conjunction with the illuminated lights on episodes that feature visually-impaired contestants.

Before Trebek's second season, contestants were able to ring in at any time after the clue had been revealed, and a buzzer would sound whenever someone rang in. According to Trebek, the buzzer sound was "distracting to the viewers" and sometimes presented problems, as contestants would inadvertently ring in too soon, or ring in so quickly that by the time he finished reading the clue, the contestant's five-second limit had expired.[11] He also said that, by not allowing anyone to ring in until the clue was finished, home viewers could play along more easily, and faster contestants would be less likely to dominate the game

[MR2-Sooner86]

Alright, so after the question is read you can buzz in.

How does the computer know? That's what I don't like. If the computer had "ears" and was programmed to answer after it knew the question was done, that'd make sense. Does it really know when to buzz or are there people there telling it when to buzz? Like I said, too many questions to answer.

Personally, I'd think it'd be fair if the information was sent to the computer right after the question was read aloud. I'm assuming that even with all the processes and information this computer can bring up what you want almost instantly. Also if it had "ears" it'd have to wait until the statement was read out to get all the information.


What I would like to know is if they are using solid state storage or hard drives?

From the looks of it hard drives. We've gone a long way on flash drives and such but we still have a ways to go before terabytes can be offered in the same space as a compact disc. We'll get there.

[dwarthog]

Alright, so after the question is read you can buzz in.

How does the computer know? That's what I don't like. If the computer had "ears" and was programmed to answer after it knew the question was done, that'd make sense. Does it really know when to buzz or are there people there telling it when to buzz? Like I said, too many questions to answer.

Personally, I'd think it'd be fair if the information was sent to the computer right after the question was read aloud. I'm assuming that even with all the processes and information this computer can bring up what you want almost instantly. Also if it had "ears" it'd have to wait until the statement was read out to get all the information.



From the looks of it hard drives. We've gone a long way on flash drives and such but we still have a ways to go before terabytes can be offered in the same space as a compact disc. We'll get there.

Re SSD storage, check out the Blue Darter.


Agree, it certainly looks like they are using regular drives instead of SSD's.


Probably little need for disk storage anyway, with that many servers in the configuration, they have 45tb of memory to play around with.

[49r]

Creators: Watson has no speed advantage as it crushes humans in Jeopardy

Watson, the computer built by IBM to play Jeopardy, outdid itself in the second half of its first official game against champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Watson finished with $35,734 to Rutter's $10,400 and Jenning's $4,800, despite coming up with a very wrong answer to what appeared to be a fairly straightforward final Jeopardy question on the topic of "US Cities."

The answer was, "Its largest airport was named for a World War II hero; its second largest, for a World War II battle." Both Jennings and Rutter got the correct question— "What is Chicago?"— while Watson put down "What is Toronto???" Dr. Chris Welty, who worked on the algorithms team during Watson's development, said that the phrasing of the question demonstrated again Watson's difficulty with implicit meanings and how quickly it can become tough for the computer to sort out what type of question the answer is looking for.

"If you change the question to 'This US City's largest airport…', Watson gets the right answer," Welty said during a panel at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center. Welty pointed out that though categories in Jeopardy seem like they will have a set type of answers, they almost never do, and Watson was taught not to assume they would.

For instance, in the category of state capitals, it might seem like the answer will always be of the form "What is [state capital]?" But an answer could be "The capital of New York is bordered by this river," making the question "What is the Hudson?" Because the phrasing of the answer was not precise enough for Watson to pinpoint the type of the question it was looking for, it struggled to get the correct question. "We do look at the category, but we don't necessarily trust that information as a 'type,'" Welty said. Toronto was also associated more with World War II battlefields than Chicago was in Watson's information store.

Welty said Watson was also confused by the second clause of the answer, "its second largest, for a World War II battle," because it can't understand context. It's obvious to humans based on phrasing that the second part of the answer is also referring to an airport, but Watson is unable to parse implicit information.

Fortunately, Watson only bet $947 on the final question, so it held on to most of what it had earned through the rest of the game and the two Daily Doubles it nailed earlier, questions on which it also bet very specific dollar amounts. While most humans bet in round numbers, the game theorist that worked on Watson's gambling abilities chose not to make the computer so reserved. On its first Daily Double, Watson told Trebek, "I'll wager 6,345 dollars." Trebek shook his head and said, "I won't even ask."

Buzzer beaters

Though Watson seemed to be running the round and beating Jennings and Rutter to the punch with its answers many times, Welty insisted that Watson had no particular advantage in terms of buzzer speed. Players can't buzz in to give their questions until a light turns on after the answer is read, but Welty says that humans have the advantage of timing and rhythm.

"They're not waiting for the light to come on," Welty said; rather, the human players try to time their buzzer presses so that they're coming in as close as possible to the light. Though Watson's reaction times are faster than a human, Welty noted that Watson has to wait for the light. Dr. Adam Lally, another member of Watson's team, noted that "Ken and Brad are really fast. They have to be."

Welty also commented on Watson's seemingly scattershot process of selecting squares on the board, saying it is similar to Jennings' approach of Daily Double-hunting. "Jennings opened up starting to look for the Daily Double right away—that's the style he plays—but Watson was doing the same thing. That's why they were always selecting clues in the bottom three," Welty said.

Though Watson enjoyed a landslide victory in the first game, Welty and Lally said they weren't at all confident Watson would go on to win the second game and therefore the match. When the first game was over, "our anxiety had not lessened by even a slight bit," Welty said. "The next game could very easily go the other way." Watson, Jennings, and Rutter will play a second game of Jeopardy tonight, and the player with the highest winnings over both games will be declared the winner of the Jeopardy IBM Challenge.

http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2011/02/creators-watson-has-no-speed-advantage-as-it-crushes-humans-in-jeopardy.ars

[bigfatjerk]

Anyone see what Jennings wrote after final Jeopardy? Something like "I too welcome our computer overlords"

[dwarthog]

Resistance is futile....


http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k19/dwarthog/LocutusOfBorg.jpg

[AlboSooner]

When Watson plays Jeopardy while doing this:


http://staff.jccc.net/pdecell/cellresp/glycolysis.gif




this
http://www.pharmabase.org/graphicNavigator/TCA-Cycle.jpg





this
http://www.uic.edu/classes/phar/phar332/Clinical_Cases/vitamin%20cases/thiamin/ppp.gif



this
http://themedicalbiochemistrypage.org/images/gluconeogenesis.jpg


this

http://users.humboldt.edu/rpaselk/BiochSupp/PathwayDiagrams/FAbioSynRxns.gif

this
http://lecturer.ukdw.ac.id/dhira/Metabolism/images/CAIRsyn.gif

and this

http://users.humboldt.edu/rpaselk/C431.F01/C431Notes/aaMetab/UreaCycle.gif

all at the same time, coupled with hundreds of other processes more complicated than this......then I will be impressed.

So far Watson, is just the iPhone 7. ;)

[GKeeper316]

chess is math, plain and simple. current computers are well passed being able to play chess better than humans.

jeopardy is not, it relies on so much more than just book knowledge. the fact that the computer can even keep up is amazing. the reality that it may win is mind-boggling for our future.

where will we be in another 30 years? (hint: my computer tells me the odds are i'll be dead)

chess is not math. chess is strategy.