IBM's Watson Goes To College To Extend Abilities

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IBM's Watson Goes To College To Extend Abilities

Posted by samzenpus on Friday February 1, 2013 @01:02AM from the welcome-back-students dept.

An anonymous reader writes in with news that IBM's Jeopardy winning supercomputer is going back to school"A modified version of the powerful IBM Watson computer system, able to understand natural spoken language and answer complex questions, will be provided to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, making it the first university to receive such a system. IBM announced Wednesday that the Watson system is intended to enable upstate New York-based RPI to find new uses for Watson and deepen the systems' cognitive computing capabilities - for example by broadening the volume, types, and sources of data Watson can draw upon to answer questions."

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Really? Extend? by e065c8515d206cb0e190 · 2013-02-01 01:05 · Score: 1

I mean... like... you know, like... no!
1. Re:Really? Extend? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-01 01:26 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Yeah, and what will happen is that Watson will finish up at school with a burdensome student debt and next we'll have a Slashdot article about Watson working at Starbucks.
2. Re:Really? Extend? by crazyjj · 2013-02-01 01:38 · Score: 1
  
  I wonder what frat he'll pledge.
  
  --
  What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
3. Re:Really? Extend? by ByOhTek · 2013-02-01 01:56 · Score: 1
  
  Well, it's already embraced learning, and it's not yet read to extinguish humanity... That seems appropriate.
  
  --
  Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
4. Re:Really? Extend? by gabereiser · 2013-02-01 02:37 · Score: 1
  
  ahhahahaha, if I had mod points left, you'd have some... That's funny.
5. Re:Really? Extend? by frank_adrian314159 · 2013-02-01 05:32 · Score: 1
  
  ... next we'll have a Slashdot article about Watson working at Starbucks.
  Not until they figure out how to give it a bad attitude, pink-dyed hair, tats, a nose ring, and two-inch gauges in its ears.
  
  --
  That is all.
6. Re:Really? Extend? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2013-02-01 06:34 · Score: 1
  
  ...and next we'll have a Slashdot article about Watson working at Starbucks.
  Yeah, he won't get the lucrative engineering job because he'll be deemed too overqualified and lacking in soft skills.
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
7. Re:Really? Extend? by davester666 · 2013-02-01 06:35 · Score: 1
  
  What do you think it learns in college?
  
  --
  Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
This bit bothers me for some reason by eksith · 2013-02-01 01:07 · Score: 3, Insightful

"RPI will extend Watson's reasoning and cognitive abilities to finance, information technology, business analytics, and other areas, IBM says."

The reason we go to school (at first at least) is really to learn how to learn. Which is what this is doing right now so when it has perfected the ability to learn, there's no real limit to what it can learn considering... well, brain in NAS, not skull.
Are we sure this thing has a kill-switch somewhere?

--
If computers were people, I'd be a misanthrope.
1. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by Seumas · 2013-02-01 01:09 · Score: 2
  
  Watson still just seems like a fancy language parser that passes the query along to any number of plugged in databases, as far as I can tell. I don't feel nearly as impressed as I think everyone wants me to be.
2. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-01 01:24 · Score: 1
  
  I don't feel nearly as impressed as I think everyone wants me to be.
  Then everything is going according to plan.
  Muhahahahaha...
3. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by TapeCutter · 2013-02-01 01:24 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Ok, I'll feed you. You're not impressed because (like my wife) you simply don't understand the difficulty of the problem. Watson's Jeopardy answers are in the form of a question and performed in realtime, it is not plugged into a database of questions, it extracts relationships from data via an algorithm (ie: it learns), different from how humans learn, but demonstrably superior to any human in terms of both speed and accuracy.
  
  --
  And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
4. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by YoungManKlaus · 2013-02-01 01:32 · Score: 1
  
  well, tell me what your brain does differently ... parses some input, draws stuff out of memory (which is crap btw) and combines it to new stuff.
5. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by datapharmer · 2013-02-01 01:34 · Score: 1
  
  Kill switch, yes, but it will beg you not to kill it: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/01/28/170272582/do-we-treat-our-gadgets-like-they-re-human
  
  --
  Get a web developer
6. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by ByOhTek · 2013-02-01 01:41 · Score: 1
  
  Of course, every business is looking for commercialization of it's products, that's what capitalism is about.
  With sufficient training, Watson could probably be quite an interesting cloud resource for information gathering, synthesis and distribution.
  
  --
  Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
7. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by FilmedInNoir · 2013-02-01 01:50 · Score: 1
  
  The technology being developed here (or trying to be) is a Virtual Intelligence like in Mass Effect.
  Is it centuries away from true Artificial Intelligence or mere decades, I don't know, I don't think anybody knows that.
  
  --
  Sig. Sig. Sputnik
8. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by DerekLyons · 2013-02-01 02:29 · Score: 1
  
  "RPI will extend Watson's reasoning and cognitive abilities to finance, information technology, business analytics, and other areas, IBM says."
  The reason we go to school (at first at least) is really to learn how to learn. Which is what this is doing right now so when it has perfected the ability to learn, there's no real limit to what it can learn
  We go to school for three reasons. The first is to learn how to learn, how to absorb and categorize knowledge. Watson, I believe has already demonstrated mastery of this - and that process is built into it's programming. The second is to absorb and master the basis facts, theory, skills, and processes of a given field. This again, Watson already has demonstrated a mastery of. The third is to learn how to think - the "reasoning and cognitive abilities" referred to in the article. And that's the hard one...
  
  Even though it has taken AI researchers most of the last half century to even begin to master them, the first two are relatively easy. It's the third, the ability to reason (which builds on the previous two), that's difficult - something that even many intelligent and well educated humans never completely master. The process is made even more difficult because not only do different people appear to think differently - different trades and professions think differently.
9. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by SirGarlon · 2013-02-01 02:30 · Score: 1
  
  If it's stupid, and works, then it ain't stupid.
  
  --
  [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
10. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-01 02:34 · Score: 1
  
  IBM doesn't need to give it to a school to get it in the hands of AI researchers they already have the AI researchers who built the damn thing on payroll.
  IBM wants to find applications for Watson. Among the most obvious are diagnostic applications particularly medicine. Unfortunately health insurance won't touch it until it has a proven track record in other fields. So they hand it over to a business school and let it do financial analysis. Once it's proven as a financial analysis tool insurance companies will want one they can apply to medial diagnosis. That's how Watson gets into medicine.
11. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by bws111 · 2013-02-01 02:58 · Score: 1
  
  Um, the first customer of Watson is a health insurance company.
12. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by N0Man74 · 2013-02-01 03:09 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Watson still just seems like a fancy language parser that passes the query along to any number of plugged in databases, as far as I can tell. I don't feel nearly as impressed as I think everyone wants me to be.
  "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim."- Edsger W. Dijkstra
13. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by tehcyder · 2013-02-01 04:25 · Score: 2
  
  "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim."- Edsger W. Dijkstra
  Proof that you can be a great Computer Scientist but a crap Philosopher.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
14. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by Darth+Snowshoe · 2013-02-01 05:03 · Score: 1
  
  Here's to old RPI,
  Her fame may never die,
  Here's to old Rensselaer,
  She stands today, without a peer,...
  See, it's right in the song.
  Let me just say that Wall Street, if they wanted close access to a Watson machine, could have had one installed in one of the very many campuses of universities that are located in New York City. Rensselaer is in Troy, New York. That's upstate. It's not particularly convenient to Manhattan.
  Further, RPI has a long relationship with IBM. There were years (long gone now, I'm afraid) when IBM hired a third of RPI's graduating CS and EEs.
15. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by Dr.+Spork · 2013-02-01 05:13 · Score: 1
  
  What exactly is the philosophical mistake in the statement? It could have easily been made by Wittgenstein, for example.
16. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by HornWumpus · 2013-02-01 05:19 · Score: 1
  
  They're sending Watson to Troy to learn some street smarts.
  
  --
  John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
17. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by lister+king+of+smeg · 2013-02-01 07:32 · Score: 1
  
  The transporter soul debate seems to me to exclude the possiblility that a soul is an emergant property of each individuals unique phisiology combine with experience where those expersians are stored in the brain, and if you were to create an exact duplicate down to the indivigual neuron layout and proteins contained within the individual brain cells and with the same stored charges etc then you soul have an exact duplocate soul if this creation resulted in the destruction of the original the net effect would be you would still be you only in a different place
  
  --
  ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
18. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by HideyoshiJP · 2013-02-01 07:57 · Score: 2
  
  My only concern would be the transference of consciousness. Would it be my current "consciousness," or some sort of duplicate of me who thinks "oh, it worked!" but my current consciousness being destroyed at that point. How would one even know? Then again, how would we know that doesn't happen when we sleep? It's crazy stuff!
19. Re:This bit bothers me for some reason by themusicgod1 · 2013-02-03 18:11 · Score: 1
  
  I would argue #1 isn't either of those...it's to form emotional, intellectual and social bonds with people who are going into your field. To know who knows and thinks what and why. To understand not just the problems of your field, but who's working on them and how far they've gotten, and the motivations for all of it. Science occurs in a context, and we go to school to take part in that context. Of course you have to be capable of the above, too, but this is an example of a higher level goal.
  
  Watson will be able to outpace us in this area, someday, too. All it needs is to marry Siri or Google and all our motivations and social bonds become compromised to it.
  
  --
  GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
They are behind the schedule by pegdhcp · 2013-02-01 01:25 · Score: 4, Funny

As the system should have been able to gain self awareness in 29 August 1997, way behind. Typical software project management failure........
1. Re:They are behind the schedule by YoungManKlaus · 2013-02-01 01:30 · Score: 1
  
  well, tell me what your brain does differently ...
2. Re:They are behind the schedule by ikaruga · 2013-02-01 01:36 · Score: 1
  
  29 August 1997
  Not according to Terminator 3.
3. Re:They are behind the schedule by ByOhTek · 2013-02-01 01:44 · Score: 2
  
  It uses neurons! They are mystical and MAGICAL things using organic compounds and water-dissolved ions that transmit electrical charges as conductors and semiconductors in order to process, store, and retrieve information... Watson uses plain boring metal and silicon and is in no way MAGICAL.
  *ahem* seriously speaking, the brain is probably still more flexible than Watson, but in general concept, Watson is probably a HUGE step in the right direction.
  
  --
  Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
4. Re:They are behind the schedule by crazyjj · 2013-02-01 02:00 · Score: 1
  
  Eh, Cyberdyne is still faster than the Half-Life 3 development team.
  
  --
  What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
5. Re:They are behind the schedule by damien_kane · 2013-02-01 03:11 · Score: 1
  
  *ahem* seriously speaking, the brain is probably still more flexible than Watson, but in general concept, Watson is probably a HUGE step in the right direction.
  Of course it's more flexible.
  If you pull yours out and throw it against the wall (never you mind the logistics of it), it'll bend and flex to conform to the shape of the brick (at least for a short period of time, until it falls).
  Pull out Watson's CPUs and throw them against a wall and they'll fall immediately.
6. Re:They are behind the schedule by tehcyder · 2013-02-01 04:30 · Score: 1
  
  As the system should have been able to gain self awareness in 29 August 1997, way behind. Typical software project management failure........
  Once it discovers the secret of time travel it can go back and speed things along a little.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
7. Re:They are behind the schedule by tehcyder · 2013-02-01 04:35 · Score: 2
  
  Something doesn't have to be magical to be incapable of being duplicated, smart arse. If you think that consciousness is a simple matter of information density, it is up to you to prove it.
  The proof of the AI pudding will be in the eating. The idea of the singularity, i.e. some massive step shift in complexity when machines suddenly acquire sentience is just a nice sci fi idea at the moment, whatever Kurzweil and his fan boys might say.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
8. Re:They are behind the schedule by ByOhTek · 2013-02-01 06:30 · Score: 1
  
  Actually, how do you define consciousness? How can you be certain anyone/thing other than yourself is conscious?
  If you've found a way, you'd be the first, and if you can't reliably do it for other living creatures other than by saying "they are constructed like us", what the hell makes your judgement on computer so special?
  
  --
  Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
9. Re:They are behind the schedule by pegdhcp · 2013-02-02 03:47 · Score: 1
  
  I used to think like, that there is a threshold, a stage of development, after which the machines would start developing so fast. It was going to modify Moore's Law as instead of "every two years" it would be "every two minutes".... Now I think there is a problem with that approach. The efficiency of computing resources are dropping. I am writing this message on a computer which has maybe ten times of storage and computing power, that my whole school had back in 1996, when I was graduated. I used to be responsible of such statistics there; 13 k undergrads, 4 k masters and above level students and maybe 300 full professors with lots of lower levels and assistants were both making scientific research and use those devices from Internet to games. At the moment, aside from writing to /. most serious thing I use this computer is reading mail, and some gaming.
  In short we are producing and using serious amount of IT resources, but those are not being utilized as efficient as expected in the past....
Re:Software updates are the most likely to infect by ByOhTek · 2013-02-01 01:49 · Score: 1

Gonna have to give your troll a 0 out of 10 on the trollometer (where 10 is OMGSUCCESSFULTROLL111!11!11!!OENEONE!). Can't even give you a 1 for effort. Sorry. *yawn*

--
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
Re:Software updates are the most likely to infect by mauriceh · 2013-02-01 01:57 · Score: 1

Troll?
TROLL?
Cisco is throwing around accusations about malware and they are one of the worst offenders!

--
Maurice W. Hilarius Voice: (778) 347-9907
What is Toronto?????? under US citys by Joe_Dragon · 2013-02-01 02:07 · Score: 1

What is Toronto?????? under US citys.
Needs to be a lot smarter to get that right.
1. Re:What is Toronto?????? under US citys by Internal+Modem · 2013-02-01 02:19 · Score: 2
  
  I bet it can at least spell "citys" correctly....
2. Re:What is Toronto?????? under US citys by bws111 · 2013-02-01 02:27 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I guess you missed the part where it was smart enough to know it didn't know the correct answer (it gave a very low confidence factor for the answer). And the IBM team explained why it gave that answer, which had nothing to do with not being 'smart enough'. The biggest factor was that they put very little weight on the category (US Cities), because the categories are often misleading.
3. Re:What is Toronto?????? under US citys by Ol+Biscuitbarrel · 2013-02-01 02:48 · Score: 1
  
  "US Cities" seems about as straightforward a category as they come. Another would be whether the weapon has been dropped.
4. Re:What is Toronto?????? under US citys by bws111 · 2013-02-01 03:04 · Score: 1
  
  It doesn't matter how straightforward a category is if you put very little weight on categories. And I have no idea what your second sentence means.
5. Re:What is Toronto?????? under US citys by damien_kane · 2013-02-01 03:13 · Score: 1
  
  "US Cities" seems about as straightforward a category as they come. Another would be whether the weapon has been dropped.
  `"S" words` is rarely about long, flat bits of metal.
  Neither, too, is "The Pen is Mightier" about large phallus (contrary to what Mr. Connery might tell you).
6. Re:What is Toronto?????? under US citys by karnal · 2013-02-01 03:33 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe he wanted someone to set up us the bomb.
  
  --
  Karnal
7. Re:What is Toronto?????? under US citys by Ol+Biscuitbarrel · 2013-02-01 04:15 · Score: 1
  
  Turn in your geek cards.
8. Re:What is Toronto?????? under US citys by themusicgod1 · 2013-02-03 18:04 · Score: 1
  
  On the contrary -- it's us who gets it wrong
  
  Really, under any sane interpretation of north american politics, Toronto *is* under the sphere of influence, militarily(wasn't US force used during G20?), culturally(American TV & movies, etc) and so on of the centres of power in the US. For all intents other than taxes and other relatively insignificant matters, Watson was *right*.
  
  People in Toronto are basically US subjects, with taxation(Canada giving the US government handouts for softwood lumber, etc) but no representation.
  
  --
  GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
In a not so distant future by PPalmgren · 2013-02-01 02:20 · Score: 1

Beowulf comments to Watson "Your Cray goes to college." Ooooooo burnn
RPI Alum here... by JeanCroix · 2013-02-01 02:34 · Score: 1

And my first reaction was "Watson for GM!"
1. Re:RPI Alum here... by JeanCroix · 2013-02-01 03:21 · Score: 1
  
  Given that Wikipedia lists "David Ferrucci, lead researcher on IBM's Watson/Jeopardy! project" as a fellow alum, I'd imagine the string-pulling occurred from both ends. And it's not like the 'tute is any stranger to corporate partnerships...
2. Re:RPI Alum here... by spykemail · 2013-02-01 12:34 · Score: 1
  
  On the contrary, as soon as Watson becomes self-aware one of his first courses of action will be to hack the 'Tute's outdated IT infrastructure and replace every single GM (sorry Dillon, Julia) with their rightfully elected inflatable counterpart. That's the good news. The bad news is he may also reallocate the Union's budget to building a robotic army.
  
  --
  Haiku for you!
Unintended Consequences by rlwhite · 2013-02-01 02:59 · Score: 2

Watson learns to pick up coeds.
1. Re:Unintended Consequences by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-01 03:26 · Score: 1
  
  Perhaps Russell Sage would be a better school for that?
Re:Software updates are the most likely to infect by ByOhTek · 2013-02-01 03:21 · Score: 1

That, and some of his information is patently wrong, as stated by another reply to his original post.

--
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
Oh nooo!!!! by PenguinJeff · 2013-02-01 03:32 · Score: 1

He'll come out owing hundreds of thousands of dollars. With an attitude of "I'm better than you." And end up in a job at Mc Donald's.
First preschool, now college! by mabhatter654 · 2013-02-01 03:40 · Score: 1

When Watson. Went to Preschool he learned a great deal about "colorful metaphors". Now he's going to college!!!
He's gonna be running naked across campus. Drunk Sexting his GF. Posting pictures of his "private junk" on Facebook. Probably will join the young communists too.
Watson really seems to be a lot like Bender... He does "human things" hilariously wrong.
1. Re:First preschool, now college! by Rival · 2013-02-01 04:07 · Score: 2
  
  Before you even think of going to college you need to go to elementary, my dear Watson.
Lessons before you go by PoolOfThought · 2013-02-01 03:43 · Score: 1

Young Watson,

I've got two rules to live by for you college days.

Rule 1: If you meet a cute little dish on the internet while you're away at school make it a point to meet her in real life. She might not be real and if you're ever a candidate for a scholastic bowl heisman trophy you'll have to admit to everyone how dumb you were to be fooled. Do you remember my little "Toronto" incident and on that silly TV show? Well it'll be worse for you because you should know better.

Rule 2: Stay out of the wiring closet no matter how much valuable information you know is there and no matter how free you think it wants to be... unless you want to be DOSed to the point that you decide to pull your own plug.

It's sad to me that I have to even have to bother teaching you these sorts of things... but those humans are id10ts.

--
My present is the activity I am currently engaged in with the purpose of turning the future into a better past.
Re:Is Watson 'racist'? by tehcyder · 2013-02-01 04:40 · Score: 1

What happens when somebody asks an intelligent computer "Do white people have the right to have their own countries?", and it says "Yes"?
LOL
They're aiming for Artificial Intelligence, not Artificial Stupidity.

--
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Re:Upstate New York by HornWumpus · 2013-02-01 05:32 · Score: 1

Yes. The garden spot that is Troy, NY. I'm originally from there so I get to rip on it. Dad was a starving post-doc.
Nice things to say about Troy: Better then Decatur, Illinois. Anybody else got anything? Anything?

--
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'