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'Jeopardy!'-Playing Computer Owns Two 'Jeopardy!' Champions; Is Humanity Next?
by Danny Gallagher, posted Jan 14th 2011 3:00PM
Awhile back when news of IBM's "Watson," the computer designed specifically to compete as a 'Jeopardy!' contestant, first surfaced, I actually tried to reach out to champion Ken Jennings for his reactions to it. He declined the opportunity saying that the people at 'Jeopardy!' had asked him not to speak on the subject for the time being.He was very nice and cordial, but there was a weird omniousness in his letter, almost a twinge of fear in his voice. Something tells me if we had spoken over the phone or in person, his voice would have cracked more than a teenager tenor in training.
Now I know why. IBM held its first public demonstration of Watson against Jennings and 'Jeopardy!' champion Brad Rutter, who holds the show's record for the most money won and the computer absolutely cleaned both of their clocks.
And just to deepen the humiliation, someone took a video of the clock-cleaning on their cell phone, which you can see below. The rest of us will have the opportunity to watch Watson take on the two champions when 'Jeopardy!' brings Watson on the show in February. I'd start working on your fallout shelter now to prepare for the inevitable robot overlord uprising, which is bound to happen when IBM finally perfects their 'Wipeout' contestant playing computer.
Tell us: Are you looking forward to seeing Jennings and Rutter vs. Watson on 'Jeopardy!'?
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