Computer Thumps 'Jeopardy' Minds

By SPENCER E. ANTE

Answer: This IBM computer system crushed humans in a "Jeopardy" competition.

Question: What is Watson?

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Associated Press

Contestants Ken Jennings, left, and Brad Rutter and a computer named Watson compete on the game show "Jeopardy!"

In the end, humans were no match for the machines. In a nationally televised competition, the Watson computer system built by International Business Machines Corp. handily defeated two former "Jeopardy" champions.

Watson took an early lead and maintained it throughout the last game Wednesday until the final clue. All three contestants correctly guessed the final clue: Who is Bram Stoker?

So Watson came away the winner with a final three-day tally of $77,147. Contestant Ken Jennings came in second with $24,000 and Brad Rutter came in third with $21,600.

It wasn't the first time that humans have taken it on the chin from technology. In 1997, an IBM supercomputer named Deep Blue defeated Gary Kasparov, then considered the greatest living chess player. But Watson confirms the opening of a new era in the age-old contest between man and machine.

Deep Blue won at chess by crunching millions of mathematical possibilities to determine the best possible move. Watson, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, was designed instead to understand the more complex domain of words, language and human knowledge.

To emulate the human mind, and make it competitive on the TV quiz show, Watson was stuffed with millions of documents—including dictionaries, anthologies and the World Book Encyclopedia.

After reading a clue, Watson mines the database, poring over 200 million pages of content in less than three seconds. Researchers developed algorithms to measure Watson's level of confidence in an answer in order to decide whether it should hit the "Jeopardy!" buzzer.

IBM is trying to commercialize Watson now. On Thursday the company plans to announce a research agreement to develop commercial applications of the Watson technology for the health-care industry. Columbia University Medical Center and the University of Maryland School of Medicine are joining the research effort.

After the match ended, David Ferrucci, the IBM scientist who led the development of Watson, said the machine would help people reach a greater understanding of humanity but wouldn't be a substitute.

"Human intelligence is a whole other leap," he said. "A computer doesn't know what it means to be human."

Mr. Jennings, famous for winning 74 games in a row on the TV quiz show, saw the moment's dark humor. Acknowledging defeat in his final answer, Mr. Jennings wrote on the computer screen, "I, for one, welcome our new computer overlords."