Jeopardy!

Machine vs. Human Jeopardy, Coming in February

I'm laying 4-to-1 on the humans -- honor only.

--Dorothy

I read this article describing the thought process Watson (the supercomputer's name) uses to determine the correct response. It's far from perfect, and is not always first to the buzzer. Sometimes short clues, or ones that rely on wordplay, are its downfall.

Two of THE best Jeopardy! players, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, are going up against the machine. I think Watson is going to be impressive, but it going to lose hard.

The two human players are going to donate half of their winnings to charity. Just for showing up, they are taking home at at least $100,000. This also means Brad Rutter could feasibly supplant Ken Jennings as the top-money winning game show contestant of all time, again. Their current standings:

Ken Jennings - $3,623,414.29
Brad Rutter - $3,270,102.00

Only non-charity winnings are counted towards the total, so in order for Brad to take the lead, he must take 1st place, while Ken must take 3rd. If Ken takes 2nd, Brad would still be about $3,300 behind.

Somewhat off topic, but that's interesting that Jennings passed Rutter. Rutter for a time was the highest winner because he won a couple million at the "Ultimate Tournament of Champions," where Jennings finished second. But it looks like Jennings overtook him by appearing on some other game shows. Among quiz aficionados, both Jennings and Rutter have their respective "camps" of advocates. I tend to favor Jennings, so I'm glad he's back on top.

Whatver happend to Deep Blue? Is it still the undisputed world chess champion?

Quote: DorothyGale

I'm laying 4-to-1 on the humans -- honor only.

I think the humans will win, but 4 to 1 is too good of a price to refuse. I accept the bet!

Quote: Nareed

Whatver happend to Deep Blue? Is it still the undisputed world chess champion?

There are computer programs that are much stronger than D.B., and yes, computers are now way better than the top GM's, an order of magnitude better. Off the shelf programs can give odds to GMs. There is now a GM strength mobile phone app.

Google: Rybka, Deep Fritz and Stockfish.

--Dorothy

Quote: DorothyGale

There are computer programs that are much stronger than D.B., and yes, computers are now way better than the top GM's, an order of magnitude better. Off the shelf programs can give odds to GMs. There is now a GM strength mobile phone app.

That's nice. it's good for families to grow and beat the crap out of chess masters ;)

But, really, if you think more about it you realize the whole thing says nothing about human intelligence. Neither does the upcoming Jeopardy stunt.