IBM Computer to Take on “Jeopardy!”
This may be a good time for you all to go call Sam Waterson and grab some Old Glory Robot Insurance. IBM will be announcing that it is in the final stages of completing a computer which can compete on Jeopardy! against human contestants. If you’re thinking this sounds familiar, you are correct. IBM created a computer in 1997 to play against chess champ Garry Kasparov. The main issue for the programmers is to get the computer to play on the terms of the human players, which according to the New York Times are correct an astonishing 85% of the time. Their goal is to not have a “true thinking machine” but to to have a computer which can understand human questions and respond to them.
The rules have been set by the producers of Jeopardy! so it looks like it’s going to happen. The computer will receive the question as electronic text while the two human players see the question and hear it from host Alex Trebek. The computer, if it buzzes in in time, will respond with an electronic voice and choose another category. The computer will not be hooked up to the internet during playing; it will just know information it processed before the game much like the human contestants. It is being debated as to what form the computer will take during the show. “We’ve only begun to talk about it,” said Harry Friedman, the executive producer of “Jeopardy!” “We all agree that it shouldn’t look like Robby the Robot.”
I don’t think this can conceivably and fairly be a regular episode with people who are really in-it-to-win-it. It would probably be better as some special stunt with former contestants. I know I’ve voiced my issues with just shoving Ken Jennings in absolutely anything where they need someone smart, but this episode is practically begging him to come on. May as well get the “Ultimate Tournament of Champions” $2,000,000 winner Brad Rutter up there as well.
Thanks to @theAO from our twitter page for the tip! That’s one of our most direct lines for any story ideas.
Isn’t Garry Kasparov a chess champ?
Wow, did I actually type tennis? That’s really embarrassing, haha.
I scanned this article like three times because I figured I made a mistake. Something felt wrong. I don’t know how I overlooked that. That was rough.
While the Jeopardy staff are discussing how it looks, can they add in the voice of Sean Connery?
And have it choose Swords as a category, even if it’s not there?
I vote that IBM names this machine Turd Ferguson.
J, one of the suggested features was “a rich Scottish accent”…if Sir Sean Himself can’t make it, maybe they can record Jim Ward (Voice Deity for the Stephanie Miller radio show)doing said brogue…
Jennings vs. Rutter vs. IBM……what a competition!
Darrell Hammond needs to provide the voice as Sean Connery.
And if they do call it Turd Ferguson, Norm needs to voice it.
To me, how often the computer responds correctly is less interesting than how it wagers.
If this does indeed happen, “Jeopardy!” will have jumped the shark.
Great idea, Jason!
I do hope this is only a special event and not a permanent addition, though.
I don’t mean to sound like an alarmist, but I think it’s a waste of time and dangerous to yet again try to create an AI, as smart as man in any capacity.
There’s a reason why the PS3 and the Dreamcast systems failed, as they scarred the shit out of consumers (after their newness and costs went down.) Plus, if they get Ken Jennings and Ogi Ogas, are they prepared to lose to a machine on national TV, which I think- sent that certain chess in a psychotic meltdown of epic proportions.
Bonus points if the computer wagers $1337 in Final Jeopardy or answers Who is Kebert Xela?
I’d tune in if someone hacked the computer and all its’ answers consisted of internet slang, references to 4chan, and all its’ audio answers were sound bytes from Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”.
I have one looming question: How will a computer buzz in?
Though even if they figure that out, it won’t be enough to score a victory for IBM. If they can’t get a computer to beat Kasparov, they won’t be able to get a computer to beat Jennings. It’s a one-step-at-a-time approach, y’know?