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Day 1: IBM Watson Ties for first on Jeopardy

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Re: Day 1: IBM Watson Ties for first on Jeopardy

#11

Post by shkb »

cryptoz wrote: post #10

I couldn't have wished for a more exciting opening to this game. Watson just shot right off into the lead like there was no tomorrow, jetting ahead by thousands! I was blown away. Then he slowly started to crumble a bit and his answers were faulty more and more. But his strategy is amazing! He hops from category to category, while most humans pick a category and stick with it. I wonder if IBM has him do that purely b…

I suspect the hopping categories was to try and buy time to calculate what sort of questions would be asked in each. But it's first move of getting into the lead (and the daily double) I would say is a combination of good strategy and PSYOP.

Re: Day 1: IBM Watson Ties for first on Jeopardy

#12

Post by AgentConundrum »

cryptoz wrote: post #10

I couldn't have wished for a more exciting opening to this game. Watson just shot right off into the lead like there was no tomorrow, jetting ahead by thousands! I was blown away. Then he slowly started to crumble a bit and his answers were faulty more and more. But his strategy is amazing! He hops from category to category, while most humans pick a category and stick with it. I wonder if IBM has him do that purely b…

He hops from category to category, while most humans pick a category and stick with it.

I noticed the same thing, but I really hoped it was unintentional. It doesn't feel like it's a fair fight otherwise, since it means he's exploiting a weakness intrinsic to his competitors. The whole point of this competition is to show that a computer can compete and win at a human level. If it weren't, then why force him to physically push a button to ring in? If Watson is intentionally jumping categories to confuse humans, then it sort of feels like he's cheating a bit.

As I write this, I realize a lot of this comment is motivated by my bruised human ego, but it just doesn't feel quite right to me.

Re: Day 1: IBM Watson Ties for first on Jeopardy

#13

Post by nyellin »

Does anyone want to create a community site for the contest? I am looking for another Django developer who can participate in an all-night code sprint. The site would:

1. Show an online score board.

2. Track Watson's performance (like shkb is doing on Google Docs)

3. Aggregate pictures, videos, and written analysis of the event

Re: Day 1: IBM Watson Ties for first on Jeopardy

#14

Post by steveklabnik »

AgentConundrum wrote: post #12
cryptoz wrote: post #10

I couldn't have wished for a more exciting opening to this game. Watson just shot right off into the lead like there was no tomorrow, jetting ahead by thousands! I was blown away. Then he slowly started to crumble a bit and his answers were faulty more and more. But his strategy is amazing! He hops from category to category, while most humans pick a category and stick with it. I wonder if IBM has him do that purely b…

He hops from category to category, while most humans pick a category and stick with it. I noticed the same thing, but I really hoped it was unintentional. It doesn't feel like it's a fair fight otherwise, since it means he's exploiting a weakness intrinsic to his competitors. The whole point of this competition is to show that a computer can compete and win at a human level. If it weren't, then why force him to physi…

The first rule of competitive game playing is that anything in the rules is... game.

If it helps your bruised human ego, another human player could attempt to exploit this exact same weakness.

(I don't know if Watson is programmed to do this or if it is an actual weakness of human players.)

Re: Day 1: IBM Watson Ties for first on Jeopardy

#15

Post by markszcz »

Going the Sci-Fi route, I would love this technology to expand and become an interactive Wikipedia. How cool would it be to go to your local library, (you remember those?) and ask it a series of questions and get answers.

But thinking about how quickly archaic the library is turning into these days, I see it going this route: You call this service from your computer or phone and ask it anything. But by then Goggle will already have that feature. Google AI (Beta)

Re: Day 1: IBM Watson Ties for first on Jeopardy

#16

Post by hvs »

powrtoch wrote: post #8

"Watson can’t adjust its answers to what the other players say and so it simply answers with whatever comes up as its top answer." This is false, in fact they specifically mentioned Watson learning from the answers of the other players. In the game, Watson answers "The 1920s" after Jennings answers incorrectly with "the 20s". Basically, it didn't write off its own answer because it thought Jennings' was different eno…

I believe that it learns from the correct answers. i.e. once the question is complete, it can use the known correct answer in its analysis. But it can't "hear" anything.

Re: Day 1: IBM Watson Ties for first on Jeopardy

#17

Post by asuth »

powrtoch wrote: post #8

"Watson can’t adjust its answers to what the other players say and so it simply answers with whatever comes up as its top answer." This is false, in fact they specifically mentioned Watson learning from the answers of the other players. In the game, Watson answers "The 1920s" after Jennings answers incorrectly with "the 20s". Basically, it didn't write off its own answer because it thought Jennings' was different eno…

I was at an event at MIT with one of Watson's designers as I watched the show. I asked him about the 20s thing, and he said they talked about it when they were designing Watson but they figured the scenario wouldn't happen where another contestant gave the wrong answer and Watson gave the same-but-different wrong answer. Edge case!

Re: Day 1: IBM Watson Ties for first on Jeopardy

#18

Post by joezydeco »

shkb wrote: post #11
cryptoz wrote: post #10

I couldn't have wished for a more exciting opening to this game. Watson just shot right off into the lead like there was no tomorrow, jetting ahead by thousands! I was blown away. Then he slowly started to crumble a bit and his answers were faulty more and more. But his strategy is amazing! He hops from category to category, while most humans pick a category and stick with it. I wonder if IBM has him do that purely b…

I suspect the hopping categories was to try and buy time to calculate what sort of questions would be asked in each. But it's first move of getting into the lead (and the daily double) I would say is a combination of good strategy and PSYOP.

I thought Watson was searching for the daily double spot to jump ahead $1000 right away.

Re: Day 1: IBM Watson Ties for first on Jeopardy

#19

Post by Maro »

powrtoch wrote: post #8

"Watson can’t adjust its answers to what the other players say and so it simply answers with whatever comes up as its top answer." This is false, in fact they specifically mentioned Watson learning from the answers of the other players. In the game, Watson answers "The 1920s" after Jennings answers incorrectly with "the 20s". Basically, it didn't write off its own answer because it thought Jennings' was different eno…

They say that Watson has no "ears or eyes". So I assume it's not aware what others answer in real-time, hence that mistake. Were it not for this trivial mistake, Watson could be winning!

Re: Day 1: IBM Watson Ties for first on Jeopardy

#20

Post by barrkel »

AgentConundrum wrote: post #12
cryptoz wrote: post #10

I couldn't have wished for a more exciting opening to this game. Watson just shot right off into the lead like there was no tomorrow, jetting ahead by thousands! I was blown away. Then he slowly started to crumble a bit and his answers were faulty more and more. But his strategy is amazing! He hops from category to category, while most humans pick a category and stick with it. I wonder if IBM has him do that purely b…

He hops from category to category, while most humans pick a category and stick with it. I noticed the same thing, but I really hoped it was unintentional. It doesn't feel like it's a fair fight otherwise, since it means he's exploiting a weakness intrinsic to his competitors. The whole point of this competition is to show that a computer can compete and win at a human level. If it weren't, then why force him to physi…

I think this is precisely the thing about AI which makes it so interesting. An intelligence which is not a mere emulation of the human will be alien, and through its strangeness we can learn more both our limitations, as well as complement our own abilities.
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