Chez PLJ

…which would be all of us here at Chez PLJ. I recently read an interesting article in the New York Times Magazine about current attempts to create a computer that could compete at a game as complex as Jeopardy!

Even though the quest to build computers that could beat grand masters in chess have been largely successful, that is considered by computer scientists to be a fairly straightforward undertaking. (Straightforward, but not easy: It’s taken until now—after decades of research, and much more powerful computer processors—to accomplish such a thing.) Chess is a fairly logical, mathematical game; with clearly defined operations of play. Jeopardy!, by constrast, is filled with arcane and quirky questions, word play and puns, and a very short time limit (no leisurely opportunity for a machine to crunch through huge databanks to calculate its answers before ringing in).

The article is a lengthy and fascinating look at what variables the researchers at IBM have had to deal with to make such a machine—their current star is named Watson—possible. Obviously computers are great at storing huge amounts of information, but putting bits of information together in amusing and odd ways, or even parsing what a tortuously-worded question actually means, isn’t so easy. Some of Watson’s answers are so off-topic or bizarre that they leave everyone scratching their heads. Sometimes humans have an advantage: Jeopardy! winners often ring in immediately after the clue is read, before they actually have the answer, and then work out the answer in the 5 seconds answering time; whereas Watson only rings in after it’s calculated its best answer. Where the computer’s superiority is undisputed is in its lack of nerves: Watson never gets tired, or rattled by the amounts of money won or lost.

Currently Watson can beat most duffers, but its record is spottier against champion-level players. IBM is clearly hopeful for Watson’s chances to be competitive with real contestants, to the point of getting the show’s producers to agree to a special tournament (to be aired later this year), pitting Watson against Jeopardy! ex-champions. There is a strong possibility that all-time Jeopardy! champ Ken Jennings will compete; Watson’s chances of winning against Jennings appear pretty slim.