Informatics Seminar (Perspective in Informatics 4B) 2011 - 2012

November 7 (Mon), 16:30 - 18:00 (Note: Irregular slot. No talks on November 3)

Place: Lecture Hall 1, Faculty of Engineering Bldg. No.10, Main Campus
Title: IBM Watson and the Jeopardy! Challenge
Speaker: J. William Murdock (IBM Watson Research Center)
Abstract: Jeopardy! is an extremely popular American television quiz show. Contestants are asked questions about a wide variety of topics including movies, sports, history, science, and geography. Many of these questions involve complex concepts and subtle issues with wording. Earlier this year, IBM's Watson computer system competed against the two most successful human champions in the history of the show. The two game match appeared on American television in February of 2011. Watson defeated both of the human champions. In this talk, I will describe how Watson plays Jeopardy! Playing Jeopardy! well involves answering questions quickly and accurately. I will describe how Watson addresses this challenge. I will also discuss how Watson's question answering technology was integrated into the quiz show environment.