[infoshare] This is JEOPARDY! - News and Events - Announcement
- From: "Luis Guerra" <screenreader@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:32:12 -0500
IBM's "Watson" Computing System to Challenge All Time Greatest Jeopardy!
Champions
Competition Scheduled for February 2011
ARMONK, N.Y. and CULVER CITY, CALIF. (December 14, 2010) -- IBM and
America's Favorite Quiz show® Jeopardy! today announced that an IBM
computing system
named "Watson" will compete on Jeopardy! against the show's two most
successful and celebrated contestants -- Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.
The first-ever man vs. machine Jeopardy! competition will air on February
14, 15 and 16, 2011, with two matches being played over three consecutive
days.
Watson, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, was built by a team of IBM
scientists who set out to accomplish a grand challenge - build a computing
system that rivals a human's ability to answer questions posed in natural
language with speed, accuracy and confidence. The Jeopardy! format provides
the
ultimate challenge because the game's clues involve analyzing subtle
meaning, irony, riddles, and other complexities in which humans excel and
computers
traditionally do not.
Competing against Watson will be two of the most celebrated players ever to
appear on Jeopardy! Ken Jennings broke the Jeopardy! record for the most
consecutive
games played by winning 74 games in a row during the 2004-2005 season,
resulting in winnings of more than $2.5 million. Brad Rutter won the highest
cumulative
amount ever by a single Jeopardy! player, earning $3,255,102. The total
amount is a combination of Rutter's original appearance in 2000, plus three
Tournament
wins: the "Tournament of Champions" in 2001, the "Million Dollar Masters
Tournament" in 2002 and the "Ultimate Tournament of Champions" in 2005.
The grand prize for this competition will be $1 million with second place
earning $300,000 and third place $200,000. Rutter and Jennings will donate
50
percent of their winnings to charity and IBM will donate 100 percent of its
winnings to charity.
"After four years, our scientific team believes that Watson is ready for
this challenge based on its ability to rapidly comprehend what the Jeopardy!
clue
is asking, analyze the information it has access to, come up with precise
answers, and develop an accurate confidence in its response," said Dr. David
Ferrucci, the scientist leading the IBM Research team that has created
Watson. "Beyond our excitement for the match itself, our team is very
motivated
by the possibilities that Watson's breakthrough computing capabilities hold
for building a smarter planet and helping people in their business tasks and
personal lives."
"We're thrilled that Jeopardy! is considered a benchmark of ultimate
knowledge," said Harry Friedman, Executive Producer of Jeopardy!.
"Performing well
on Jeopardy! requires a combination of skills, and it will be fascinating to
see whether a computer can compete against arguably the two best Jeopardy!
players ever."
Prepping a Machine to Play a Human
This fall, Watson played more than 50 "sparring games" against former
Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions contestants in final preparation for its
television
debut. In addition, Watson has taken and passed the same Jeopardy!
contestant test that humans take to qualify to play on the show, giving
Jeopardy! producers
confidence that the match will be both entertaining and competitive.
Highlights of the sparring matches can be viewed and tracked over the next
few weeks at
www.ibmwatson.com.
Real World Applications for Watson's Technology
Beyond Jeopardy!, the technology behind Watson can be adapted to solve
problems and drive progress in various fields. The computer has the ability
to sift
through vast amounts of data and return precise answers, ranking its
confidence in its answers. The technology could be applied in areas such as
healthcare,
to help accurately diagnose patients, to improve online self-service help
desks, to provide tourists and citizens with specific information regarding
cities,
prompt customer support via phone, and much more.
What is Watson?
Watson is a breakthrough human achievement in the scientific field of
Question and Answering, also known as "QA." The Watson software is powered
by an
IBM POWER7 server optimized to handle the massive number of tasks that
Watson must perform at rapid speeds to analyze complex language and deliver
correct
responses to Jeopardy! clues. The system incorporates a number of
proprietary technologies for the specialized demands of processing an
enormous number
of concurrent tasks and data while analyzing information in real time.
About Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!, the winner of 28 Emmy awards since its syndicated debut in 1984,
is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most awards won by a TV
Game
Show. The series is the #1-rated quiz show in syndication with nearly 9
million daily viewers. Jeopardy! is produced by Sony Pictures Television, a
Sony
Pictures Entertainment Company. It is distributed domestically by CBS
Television Distribution and internationally by CBS Television International,
both
units of CBS Corp.
For more information about Jeopardy!, visit
www.Jeopardy.com
For photos and art work of Jeopardy!, visit
www.cbspressexpress.com
About IBM
For more information, please visit
www.ibm.com/smarterplanet
http://www.jeopardy.com/news/watson1x7ap4.php
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