IBM Watson Computer Beats Jeopardy Pros - Page 6

On February 16 2011 03:27 metaphoR wrote:
The thing is, humans win this challenge no matter what. as said in the 20 minute video in the OP, all it takes is a tuna sandwich and a glass or water to power a human brain that can fit in a shoebox. compare that to what it takes Watson to compete, humans win every time.

On February 16 2011 04:03 Souljah wrote:
Ive got my own Watson. Its called www.google.com

On February 16 2011 04:36 Nizaris wrote:

I wish Google would return only 1 result ever, the one i was looking for. Which is precisely one of the applications of Watson.

On February 16 2011 06:04 michaelthe wrote:
Does it instantly buzz in then get the 5 seconds to try and find an answer? Or find the answer then buzz in?

On February 15 2011 14:51 catamorphist wrote:


i know the secret to eternal life

Step 1: don't get hit by a bus
Step 2: eat fucking vegetables and shit
Step 3: cure aging

congradulations was it that hard?? y doesnt ibm do this

On February 16 2011 06:04 michaelthe wrote:
Does it instantly buzz in then get the 5 seconds to try and find an answer? Or find the answer then buzz in?

On February 16 2011 04:07 mcc wrote:

So a very muscular person loses by default to a non-muscular one ? The point of this game is to come up with the correct answer, weight and power requirements are not part of it yet

On February 16 2011 04:52 metaphoR wrote:


its only right 70% of the time though

https://spreadsheets.google.com/lv?hl=en&key=tth_jhM8vyBAuogqHllHmHQ&toomany=true

On February 16 2011 06:32 EscPlan9 wrote:


It should be noted that is based on an extremely small sample size, so it is not conclusive that Watson is "70% accurate" at producing the correct answer. Also, what many still fail to realize is how difficult it is to program a computer to understand the nuances of the english language into such a way to be able to discern the important information from the unimportant bits, and then also find the correct answer. For instance, you need to program the AI to understand the context of a sentence to understand the keywords and puns.

To everyone critical of Watson: Read some articles and videos on how Watson operates before forming your opinions on whether or not it is an impressive feat.

Instead of using specialised databases for Jeopardy, it uses alogarithms to break down text and attempts to find the subject matter, verbs, grammar, etc. From there correlates and interrelates words and phrases so it can make confidence percentages (Jeopardy displays this as the answer panel) and hypotheses. Basically it can "learn" by itself in a very primative way and if it gets something wrong it goes "oh I'm wrong, these sets of words can be used in this way!" and changes its confidences and construct possibly more accurate hypotheses.

it develops confidence in an answer based on a % it thinks it's correct. when confidence reaches a certain point it buzzes in. the percentage of confidence it needs to buzz in is based on it's current score compared to the score of it's opponents.

On February 16 2011 07:56 lixlix wrote:
The people relating this to Google are missing the point. The practical applications for something like Watson are super vast.

For one, human helpdesks and tech support will be rendered obsolete and that is only the start.

On February 16 2011 06:26 travis wrote:


it develops confidence in an answer based on a % it thinks it's correct. when confidence reaches a certain point it buzzes in. the percentage of confidence it needs to buzz in is based on it's current score compared to the score of it's opponents.





wow this post is amazing lol