Comments on: Tonight: Watson, the Jeopardy-Playing Computer, Faces Its Human Foes http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/02/14/tonight-watson-the-jeopardy-playing-computer-faces-its-human-foes/ 80beats is DISCOVER's news aggregator, weaving together the choicest tidbits from the best articles covering the day's most compelling topics. Wed, 23 May 2012 16:07:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: nick http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/02/14/tonight-watson-the-jeopardy-playing-computer-faces-its-human-foes/comment-page-1/#comment-640365 nick Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:18:30 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=26228#comment-640365 1) Watson does not buzz in until he is confident of an answer (programmed-in behavior) - something that humans are not limited by, and in fact Jeopardy! champions say they routinely buzz in before they're sure they know the answer and use the extra time to think up the answer. Ken Jennings did indeed say this is part of his strategy (as well as watching the guy activate as JaberwokWSA mentions). 2) It's not just looking up answers in an encyclopedia - as Ken sorta mentioned, Jeopardy! is rife with puns and word-play, something computers are f-cking stupid at. That's why Watson is such a breakthrough in machine intelligence. This is actually the main challenge and accomplishment of the Watson research team, understanding the vagaries of English and dealing with the clever mis-direction of puns and other word play. 3) Watson is fed the questions as text. They could have gone with voice recognition but A) The contestants read the clue before Alex is finished speaking, he's mainly there to clarify pronunciations and B) if they were doing voice recognition only Watson would be hampered by homonyms and puns, as he wouldn't be able to read the text like the human contestants could. 4) It's mostly a publicity stunt for IBM to flex and floss just how amazing the Watson system is - and according to reports on round 2, Watson whomped on the champs after tying one (not Ken) in round 1. 5) I can't wait until Google gets ahold of a Watson system and feeds in its collection of books, scholarly articles, and the cache of the whole internet (oh yes they have it) and allow us to start asking questions. 1) Watson does not buzz in until he is confident of an answer (programmed-in behavior) – something that humans are not limited by, and in fact Jeopardy! champions say they routinely buzz in before they’re sure they know the answer and use the extra time to think up the answer. Ken Jennings did indeed say this is part of his strategy (as well as watching the guy activate as JaberwokWSA mentions).

2) It’s not just looking up answers in an encyclopedia – as Ken sorta mentioned, Jeopardy! is rife with puns and word-play, something computers are f-cking stupid at. That’s why Watson is such a breakthrough in machine intelligence. This is actually the main challenge and accomplishment of the Watson research team, understanding the vagaries of English and dealing with the clever mis-direction of puns and other word play.

3) Watson is fed the questions as text. They could have gone with voice recognition but A) The contestants read the clue before Alex is finished speaking, he’s mainly there to clarify pronunciations and B) if they were doing voice recognition only Watson would be hampered by homonyms and puns, as he wouldn’t be able to read the text like the human contestants could.

4) It’s mostly a publicity stunt for IBM to flex and floss just how amazing the Watson system is – and according to reports on round 2, Watson whomped on the champs after tying one (not Ken) in round 1.

5) I can’t wait until Google gets ahold of a Watson system and feeds in its collection of books, scholarly articles, and the cache of the whole internet (oh yes they have it) and allow us to start asking questions.

]]> By: Ken http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/02/14/tonight-watson-the-jeopardy-playing-computer-faces-its-human-foes/comment-page-1/#comment-639266 Ken Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:22:12 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=26228#comment-639266 The English language is rife with 'word-play' sound-alike words, made-up words puns, idioms and the rest. I made a list of idioms - at last count there were over 16,000. If I could write the answers/questions for the game, I'm sure I could stump the computer. For example; 'the workers raised the house' or 'the workers razed the house'. Both sentences sound exactly the same, yet mean opposite things - so it's added context which reveals what is being said. Also, emphasis on certain words can change the meaning of a statement. Probably most confusing for a computer would be made-up words that a person could de-code, but a computer probably couldn't. Additionally, there are myriad cultural twists and turns that a computer couldn't handle. Example; which Beatle had the Beatliest mop of the bunch? A person could decipher that oddball question, but it's doubtful a gazillion bit computer could. The English language is rife with ‘word-play’ sound-alike words, made-up words puns, idioms and the rest. I made a list of idioms – at last count there were over 16,000. If I could write the answers/questions for the game, I’m sure I could stump the computer. For example; ‘the workers raised the house’ or ‘the workers razed the house’. Both sentences sound exactly the same, yet mean opposite things – so it’s added context which reveals what is being said. Also, emphasis on certain words can change the meaning of a statement. Probably most confusing for a computer would be made-up words that a person could de-code, but a computer probably couldn’t. Additionally, there are myriad cultural twists and turns that a computer couldn’t handle. Example; which Beatle had the Beatliest mop of the bunch? A person could decipher that oddball question, but it’s doubtful a gazillion bit computer could.

]]> By: JaberwokWSA http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/02/14/tonight-watson-the-jeopardy-playing-computer-faces-its-human-foes/comment-page-1/#comment-639085 JaberwokWSA Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:16:30 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=26228#comment-639085 My understanding of the buzzer is that there is a person sitting offstage. When Alex finishes reading the clue, he flipps the switch to activate the buzzer. I believe Ken Jennings himself mentioned that the key to winning was watching that guy and timing when to buzz in. If you've noticed, Alex is never interrupted from reading the clue. My understanding of the buzzer is that there is a person sitting offstage. When Alex finishes reading the clue, he flipps the switch to activate the buzzer. I believe Ken Jennings himself mentioned that the key to winning was watching that guy and timing when to buzz in. If you’ve noticed, Alex is never interrupted from reading the clue.

]]> By: Daniel J. Andrews http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/02/14/tonight-watson-the-jeopardy-playing-computer-faces-its-human-foes/comment-page-1/#comment-638166 Daniel J. Andrews Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:59:12 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=26228#comment-638166 How is Watson given the clue? Does it register it verbally, or is it transmitted via some other means? And if transmitted, then when? As Jaberwok points out, most people playing know the answer before the clue is read. If Watson needs to hear the clue first, this gives humans a bit of an advantage (assuming buzzers are active--maybe they aren't active until Alex finishes reading, in which case, advantage greatly lessened). I'm hoping we'll see lots of word play. It'll be interesting to see how the computer handles some of those creative puns and clues. How is Watson given the clue? Does it register it verbally, or is it transmitted via some other means? And if transmitted, then when? As Jaberwok points out, most people playing know the answer before the clue is read. If Watson needs to hear the clue first, this gives humans a bit of an advantage (assuming buzzers are active–maybe they aren’t active until Alex finishes reading, in which case, advantage greatly lessened).

I’m hoping we’ll see lots of word play. It’ll be interesting to see how the computer handles some of those creative puns and clues.

]]> By: JaberwokWSA http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/02/14/tonight-watson-the-jeopardy-playing-computer-faces-its-human-foes/comment-page-1/#comment-637979 JaberwokWSA Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:00:46 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=26228#comment-637979 When I (and I assume most) play Jeopardy, I will typically know the answer before the clue is completely read and they throw the switch to allow the competitors to buzz in. So, in the real sense of competition, it isn't necessarily who can figure out the answers fastest, but who can buzz in with the answer fastest. The computer will of course have faster reaction time to buzz in with an answer, so the entire concept of human versus computer Jeopardy is skewed in favor of the computer. I do think that the exercise of whether you can program a computer to learn to understand the subtlies of English grammar and understand the relevant bits of information is a remarkable advancement. This is the important part - not what a computer knows or how fast it is. But I think the concept of a computer versus human Jeopardy game demonstrates only the speed of a computer over a human. After all, give me an encyclopedia as vast to reference, and give me time to perform searches at an equivalant reaction time scaling, and I bet I can come up with answers too. When I (and I assume most) play Jeopardy, I will typically know the answer before the clue is completely read and they throw the switch to allow the competitors to buzz in. So, in the real sense of competition, it isn’t necessarily who can figure out the answers fastest, but who can buzz in with the answer fastest. The computer will of course have faster reaction time to buzz in with an answer, so the entire concept of human versus computer Jeopardy is skewed in favor of the computer.

I do think that the exercise of whether you can program a computer to learn to understand the subtlies of English grammar and understand the relevant bits of information is a remarkable advancement. This is the important part – not what a computer knows or how fast it is.

But I think the concept of a computer versus human Jeopardy game demonstrates only the speed of a computer over a human. After all, give me an encyclopedia as vast to reference, and give me time to perform searches at an equivalant reaction time scaling, and I bet I can come up with answers too.

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