Who is Watson?

If this were a game of Jeopardy!, that would be the answer — answered in the form of a question — and the clue would read: This name, famous to devotees of English literature, is also the name of IBM’s founder, and the name of an IBM supercomputer designed to win on Jeopardy!.

When Alex Trebek first heard the proposal to match a supercomputer against Jeopardy!‘s champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in a two-game, winner-take-all contest between man and machine, he thought: good idea. No more, no less.

He did not think it was demeaning to Jeopardy!‘s name and reputation, or a cheap ratings ploy.

Nor did he wet his pants in giddy anticipation at what promises to be a water-cooler talking point for Jeopardy! enthusiasts: a challenge for supremacy between artificial intelligence and the human brain that could be the TV equivalent of the late ’90s chess matches between Russian chess master Garry Kasparov and the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue.

Starting Monday, IBM’s latest example of wires-and-semiconductor thought processes will face 74-game Jeopardy! champion Jennings and all-time Jeopardy! money winner Rutter in a two-game match spread over three nights.

“My initial reaction was, ‘Great!’ and nothing more than that,” Trebek told Postmedia News by phone from his home in Los Angeles. “If somebody came to me and said, ‘We’ve got a car that flies,’ I’d say, ‘Great idea. I don’t know how you’re going to do it, but great idea.’”

Trebek says that was his only initial misgiving: Could IBM pull it off? Jeopardy! is more complex a game than many people assume. It’s more than a simple knowledge test.

All the familiar Jeopardy! signature touches will be in play, from the buzzer to random categories to Double Jeopardy! and the often decisive Final Jeopardy! question, in which players gamble part or all their winnings to that point on one final, all-encompassing question.

At stake is bragging rights for man or machine, and $1 million US in prize money. If Watson wins, the money will be donated entirely to charity. If either Rutter or Jennings win, the total will be split 50-50 between the contestant and a charity of the contestant’s choosing.

On one level, Watson vs. Jennings/Rutter is just another game of Jeopardy!, Trebek says. He has hosted Jeopardy! for 27 years now, and he’s seen a lot of contestants come and go during that time. At the end of the day, the game remains the same.

On another level, though — like Kasparov vs. Deep Blue before it — Watson vs. Jennings/Rutter poses any number of existential questions.

Trebek, born in Sudbury, Ont., and raised in Toronto, holds a degree in philosophy from the University of Ottawa, and so he had more than a passing curiosity about the outcome.

“Having a person lose to a machine on Jeopardy! would not bother me whatsoever,” Trebek said. “I’m an advocate of technological advances, and this is cutting-edge technology. I’m not cheering for one side or the other.”

The matches have been taped and edited, so there won’t be any live, on-air hiccups, conniptions, tantrums, technical difficulties, lost signals, “wardrobe malfunctions” or other assorted disasters.

Without tipping his hand as to the eventual outcome — do you really want to know? — Trebek believes the audience, Jeopardy! fans and casual viewers alike won’t be disappointed.

Trebek was invited to several practice games featuring Watson and IBM programmers during the preliminary run-up to the official tapings with Jennings and Rutter. IBM’s programmers used the session to re-tune their baby to be more adept at game strategy, wagering and understanding the subtleties and nuances of the English language, so it would be better able to interpret the wording of certain Jeopardy! questions.

“There’s a lot at stake here for IBM,” Trebek explained. “This is a major, major investment for them. This is a billion-dollar possibility. This is cutting-edge computer technology — a computer that understands the human language. The real-world implications down the road are tremendous. Keep in mind they spent four years and had at least 25 IBM PhD minds working on this. They spent millions of dollars to make Watson. This computer is 100 times more powerful than Deep Blue. So, yeah, they spent a substantial amount of time, money and effort pulling this together. Their prestige is at stake, definitely.”

One thing was certain, going into the Jeopardy! tapings: After all that, Watson was unlikely to forget to answer in the form of a question.

Jeopardy!’s two-game, three-night man-vs.-machine challenge airs Monday through Wednesday, Feb. 14-16 on CBC at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT.

   

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