IBM’s ‘Watson’ earns a draw in first Jeopardy round
The first of three rounds of Jeopardy in which humanity attempts to retain the mantle of top dog against the growing abilities of machines has ended in a draw.
Watson, a 4 years in the making supercomputer, battled against the world’s top two Jeopardy players in the competition. A quiz show which requires contestants to dredge up the questions to given answers..
With a database comprising millions of books and stacks of data it might seem an unfair contest but the enigmatic lump of silicon is actually amongst the first of its kind capable of (for the most part) correctly analysing meaning, humour and riddles which have been the preserve of humans – until now.
For fairness Watson was disconnected from the web during the show, the equivalent of having your smartphone confiscated during the pub quiz.
The draw leaves everything still to play for in rounds two and three, pre-recorded shows which will be broadcast tonight and tomorrow in America.