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IBM Computer Program To Take On 'Jeopardy!'

longacre writes "I.B.M. plans to announce Monday that it is in the final stages of completing a computer program to compete against human 'Jeopardy!' contestants. If the program beats the humans, the field of artificial intelligence will have made a leap forward. ... The team is aiming not at a true thinking machine but at a new class of software that can 'understand' human questions and respond to them correctly. Such a program would have enormous economic implications. ... The proposed contest is an effort by I.B.M. to prove that its researchers can make significant technical progress by picking "grand challenges" like its early chess foray. The new bid is based on three years of work by a team that has grown to 20 experts in fields like natural language processing, machine learning and information retrieval. ... Under the rules of the match that the company has negotiated with the 'Jeopardy!' producers, the computer will not have to emulate all human qualities. It will receive questions as electronic text. The human contestants will both see the text of each question and hear it spoken by the show's host, Alex Trebek. ... Mr. Friedman added that they were also thinking about whom the human contestants should be and were considering inviting Ken Jennings, the 'Jeopardy!' contestant who won 74 consecutive times and collected $2.52 million in 2004."

31 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. Great... more phone-bots by plasmacutter · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why employ real people when you can annoy the hell out of everyone who calls in by subjecting them to yet another tier of phone-bots.

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    1. Re:Great... more phone-bots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Why employ real people when you can annoy the hell out of everyone who calls in by subjecting them to yet another tier of phone-bots.

      Or reverse it:

      1) Use on telemarketers that call you.
      2) Record
      3) ...
      4) Profit

  2. The code name by Dystopian+Rebel · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sources say the code-name for IBM's project is "Connery".

    Trebek : This nobleman is believed to have written many of Shakespeare's works.

    "Connery" : [pause] So that's your game, is it, Trebek? I was a coveted performer among the brothel ladies while you were still pissing your knee-pants, boy.

    Trebek : Can one of the IBM people fix the computer?

    "Connery" : Your mother's a whore. But don't feel badly, Trebek. She's not a very good one. Ha ha, ha ha!

    --
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    1. Re:The code name by A.+B3ttik · · Score: 5, Funny

      IBM: I'll take Jap Anus Relations for $200.
      ...
      TREBEK: I'm sorry, that's "Japan US Relations." That's just awful and you know it.

    2. Re:The code name by Locke2005 · · Score: 4, Funny

      IBM: Well, the game is afoot. I'll take anal bum cover for 7,000.

      Alex Trebek: That's An album cover, not anal bum cover.

      IBM: I can read, Trebek. That says Anal bum cover. I've spent five years of my life trying to invent an anal bum cover, failing to do so is my greatest regret

      --
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  3. Wierd by Ded+Bob · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anyone else hearing "I Lost on Jeopardy" in their heads at the moment?

    1. Re:Wierd by Captain+Spam · · Score: 2, Funny

      I was there
      To match my intellect
      On national TV
      Against an AI
      Backed with a database
      Both made by PhDs...

      --
      Demanding constant attention will only lead to attention.
    2. Re:Wierd by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Oh-oh-oh-oh

      I was there to match my intellect on national TV
      Against a plumber, oh, and an architect, both with a PHD
      I was tense, I was nervous, I guess it just wasnt my night
      Art Fleming gave the answers
      Oh, but I couldnt get the questions right, -ight, -ight

      I lost on jeopardy, baby (oooh)
      I lost on jeopardy, baby (oooh)

      Well, I knew I was in trouble now
      My hope of winning sank
      Oh, cause I got the daily double now
      And then my mind went blank
      I took potpourri for one hundred
      And then my head started to spin
      Well, I'm givin' up
      Don Pardo: Just tell me now what I didnt win, yeah, yeah

      I lost on jeopardy, baby (oooh)
      I lost on jeopardy, baby (oooh)

      Thats right, Al--you lost.
      And let me tell you what you didnt win: a twenty volume set of the encyclopedia international, a case of turtle wax, and a years supply of rice-a-roni, the San Francisco treat.
      But that's not all.
      You also made yourself look like a jerk in front of millions of people.
      You brought shame and disgrace to your family name for generations to come.
      You dont get to back tomorrow.
      You dont even get a lousy copy of our home game.
      You're a complete loser!

      Don't know what I was thinkin of
      I guess I just wasnt too bright
      Well, I sure hope I do better
      Next weekend on the price is right, -ight, -ight

      I lost on jeopardy, baby (oooh)
      I lost on jeopardy, baby (oooh)
      I lost on jeopardy, baby

  4. Hmm.. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm afraid you'll have to answer in the form of a question, Alex...

  5. Jeopardy doesn't work that way by cjh79 · · Score: 5, Funny

    FTA: The team is aiming not at a true thinking machine but at a new class of software that can 'understand' human questions and respond to them correctly.

    I feel like someone should tell them how Jeopardy works... That thing isn't going to have too many questions to respond to.

    Except at the "meet the contestant" part, maybe, which by the way should be fascinating.

  6. Re:Weird Al (or is it A.I.?) by O-Deka-K · · Score: 5, Funny

    Anyone else hearing "I Lost on Jeopardy" in their heads at the moment?

    Now I am. Thanks for that. Jerk.

  7. Re:Leap Forward? by Thelasko · · Score: 3, Funny

    Exactly what I was thinking.

    Jinx! You owe me a Coke.

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
  8. if this computer uses Google, by archangel9 · · Score: 2, Funny

    God help us if Jeopardy comes out with an answer containing the words "accidentally" and "the whole thing".

  9. This is how it starts by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 5, Funny

    After years of trying to kill John Connors, Skynet realized its failure to achieve victory through brute strength and went back in time with a new objective: to win all human gameshows and use the prize money to buy off the entire planet instead.

    1. Re:This is how it starts by Thelasko · · Score: 4, Funny

      new objective: to win all human gameshows and use the prize money to buy off the entire planet instead.

      I think Pinky and the Brain already used that plot device.

      --
      One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
    2. Re:This is how it starts by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 2, Funny

      "I'll take Swords for 400$, Trebek!" "That's S-Words, mister Connery."

  10. Re:Is this what we really want? by HasselhoffThePaladin · · Score: 4, Funny

    Robot: This is place where your papers are.

    Subjugated Human: What is my home?

    Robot: That is the incorrect question. Please follow me to a "processing station".

  11. Re:Leap Forward? by thrillseeker · · Score: 4, Funny

    In what way would this be a leap forward?

    Well, at least a computer program will bother to RTFA.

  12. Re:Leap Forward? by Comboman · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm sorry, that response is not in the form of a question.

    --
    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
  13. Re:Leap Forward? by Joey+Vegetables · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is exactly why this sounds so implausible to me. You often have to take the category name and weave it in with the question (or rather, answer). A lot depends not on the knowledge, but on the phrasing of the "queries". Give me one example of translation software which can translate entire paragraphs well.

    Sure! From my handy-dandy English-to-Tech Manual-to-English translator:

    According to precise how from unlikely sounding me hereto. Must needs question category name sewing needle rapprochement. Mucho lots of good knowling head phrases queryig well; show you macihine human texts swimmingly.

  14. I have a prediction for the meet the contestant... by jonaskoelker · · Score: 2, Funny

    Except at the "meet the contestant" part, maybe, which by the way should be fascinating.

    "So, computer, you're about two months old, and you grew up in IBM's labs, right?"

    "Bite my shiny metal ass"

  15. Re:Past Jeopardy questions by travdaddy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Anyone who thinks this is a trivial project has never watched Jeopardy.

    Um... hello? Jeopardy is a trivia game show.

    j/k

    --
    Adidas To Bring Back Sneakernet
  16. game show is gonna be a real wopper by Tablizer · · Score: 3, Funny

    Mr. Trebek, would you like to play a game?

  17. I'll take The Rapists for $300 by Amazing+Quantum+Man · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's "Therapists"

    --
    Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
  18. Re:Leap Forward? by cheftw · · Score: 2, Funny

    *You* might not, but us 5-digiters do. Mwahahahahah.

    What is... be really old?

    --
    Always back up, never back down. ---- Think you're cool 'cos your uid is prime? Take mine, modulo the one digit integers
  19. That's why IBM didn't buy Sun . . . by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 3, Funny

    They had to make some tough investment decisions: Either buy Sun, or build a Jeopardy playing supercomputer, but not both.

    I'm sure that the machine's performance in Final Jeopardy will awe us sufficiently, and IBM's management will be exonerated from walking away from Sun.

    IBM: "Hey, Larry Ellison! Have fun in your toy sailboat! Call us when your database and hardware synergies can compete with us in pre-prime time light entertainment game shows!"

    Rumor has it that HP is working on a massively parallel Intel supercomputer that can calculate the strategic advantage of bidding one dollar ($1) on "The Price is Right."

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  20. Re:Leap Forward? by Sancho · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sounds like they're guaranteed to win. The human contestants won't be given the questions at all :(

  21. Re:Leap Forward? by operagost · · Score: 2, Funny

    I have the internet on a single floppy! The diskette reads, "AOL 3.0".

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  22. Head to head with IBM by GeoSanDiego · · Score: 3, Funny

    I got the chance to play this computer in a full game of Jeopardy. I must admit he had a decent lead right up to the point where he foolishly decided to bet 3/4 of his stack on the Audio Daily Double.

    We were about even going into final Jeopardy when he stubbornly refused to offer any question for the answer "Smartest ever computer in the movies". I got it right (HAL) and took the prize.

  23. Re:Mod parent up by Roland+Deschene · · Score: 2, Funny

    All they are proving is that it can recognize and parse human speech. Oh, I thought they were trying to do something difficult for a second. Thanks for the clarification..

  24. IBM better win or else... by lateralus_1024 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I heard if IBM doesn't win, they will lay off 10,000 employees.

    15,000 if it does win.

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