I blogged a few weeks ago about IBM's brainchild "Watson." IBM developed Watson basically to establish the fact that they have the capability to turn our planet into a real life I, Robot. In light of my theory, I suggest everyone does anything and everything that IBM wants. Who knows what they are hiding in their labs.
All jokes aside, Watson showed up strong. The computer smoked Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. The computer displayed its ability to comprehend even the most abstract questions. It really is impressive what IBM constructed.
I do think it was a little unfair in one aspect. There were many questions that these three geniuses obviously knew the answer too. When this was the case it seemed like Watson was always the first to buzz in. You can see the expressions on especially Ken's face when his finger just was not fast enough. If the questions were presented in Scantron format, I think the scores would be much closer. Anyway, IBM deserves some major credit. The experience was pretty cool to witness. Start the clock on the Chinese to respond with something to one up Watson. 1 pt America.
Super interesting, I like this post a lot. Not sure if you are taking requests BUT - ya know those Toyota commercials where the Toyota owners are driving their cars explaining to someone how great Toyota's technology is and then they come up with some idea of how to use it on other things (that guy who explains to his daughter about a self-sustaining roller coaster and that girl who talks about solar powered disaster relief tents). I'd like to know if the Toyota technology is actually being used for those purposes or if its just puffery for the commercial.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sydney!
ReplyDeleteI looked into it and I am pretty sure what you are talking about is actually a contest Toyota is conducting. It's at toyota.com/ideasforgood. People can submit their ideas and after the deadline a winner will be announced.
I'm sure they could use that technology and are looking into it. I would imagine the first place idea will come to life with the help of Toyota.