Advertisement

Saturday 05 March 2011

USA

Congressman outwits supercomputer at Jeopardy!

A quiz-show winning IBM supercomputer known as "Watson" has finally been defeated, by a US congressman who also happens to be a nuclear physicist.

Congressman outwits supercomputer at Jeopardy!
Rush Holt, right, prepares to take on the IBM supercomputer known as 'Watson' Photo: AP

Watson took a giant leap for computer kind last month when it beat two of the most successful ever players on the US game show "Jeopardy!"

But in a showdown with Rush Holt, a Democratic congressman from New Jersey, it was the human who came out on top.

Mr Holt, 62, former assistant director of the Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University, was magnanimous after his victory.

He said: "I wonder if Watson wasn't having a low-voltage night, because I certainly didn't expect to score higher than the computer." Answers he beat Watson to the buzzer on included identifying hippophobia as the fear of horses.

Watson saw off four other members of Congress in a Jeopardy-style competition held at a hotel in Washington DC, but accumulated only $6,200 (£3,800) in winnings to Mr Holt's $8,600 (£5,300.)

Mr Holt said it was a victory for "neuron-based thinking, instead of semiconductor thinking." But IBM spokeswoman Lia Davis said Watson had still won the match, amassing more prize money than the five members of Congress it faced.

She said: "I think we can all be proud of that. It demonstrates that humans are very smart and computers are very smart." Watson took 25 IBM scientists four years to create and is specifically designed to understand natural language used by humans.

It is said to be even more evolved than Deep Blue, the IBM chess-playing supercomputer that beat world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.

Last month Watson easily defeated Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, two of the most successful contestants in the history of "Jeopardy!" which began in the 1960s.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Strange circles for a Duke

The Duke of York’s choice of friends and promotion of his own interests are causing concern to those who know him best.

Advertisement

Classified Advertising

Loading