Jeopardy news stories on Newser

IBM's Watson Gets a Job

Matt Cantor — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 06:59:52 CDT

Looks like Watson’s Jeopardy appearance was the ticket to a high-profile job. As the health field goes increasingly digital, health insurer WellPoint is teaming up with IBM to use the technology in medical settings. Watson will ultimately help doctors with diagnoses and treatment suggestions, the Wall Street Journal reports. The...

Jeopardy Host Hurt Chasing Hotel Burglar

Rob Quinn — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 02:22:00 CDT

"I deal with answers and questions," Jeopardy host Alex Trebek told the crowd at the National Geographic World Championship after hobbling onstage on crutches. "Today I'm going to start with the answer to a question on many of your minds right now. The answer is: 'At 2:30 yesterday morning,...

Congressman Beats Watson in Jeopardy

anothernewsjunkie — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:58:04 CST

Watson, the IBM computer that took on and beat two of Jeopardy 's greatest players last month, lost a round of the game show yesterday to a surprising opponent: a US congressman. Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat, won $8,600 to the machine's $6,200 in the first round...

Watson's Win a Victory ... for Humans

Matt Cantor — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:32:05 CST

Going into his Jeopardy! match against IBM’s Watson supercomputer, champ Ken Jennings saw himself as humanity’s representative, "the Great Carbon-Based Hope against a new generation of thinking machines," he writes for Slate . But victory wasn’t to be: Watson played Jeopardy much like a top-ranked human. (Quipped Jennings: "It's very smart,...

Jeopardy Challenge Ends With Humans Crushed

Rob Quinn — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:03:07 CST

"I for one, welcome our new computer overlords," defeated Jeopardy contestant Ken Jennings wrote below his final answer as the game show's 3-day supercomputer challenge wrapped up. IBM's Watson finished way ahead with $77,147 while Jennings and Brad Rutter—the two most successful human contestants in Jeopardy history—finished...

Jeopardy Computer Trounces Humans On Day 2

Rob Quinn — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 22:53:09 CST

Watson trounced its human opponents on the second day of the 3-day Jeopardy challenge, but humanity saved some face after the IBM supercomputer goofed on the final question. The category was US cities and the clue was "Its largest airport was named for a World War II hero; its second...

Man Ties With Machine in Jeopardy Showdown

Rob Quinn — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 23:09:56 CST

The first round of Jeopardy 's three-game man versus supercomputer showdown finished Monday night with humanity having fended off the rise of the machine. Human player Brad Rutter, the game show's record money-winner, was tied with IBM supercomputer Watson at $5,000 at the close of play, AP reports. The...

Why Watson Will (or Won't) Beat Jeopardy's Kings

Matt Cantor — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:43:06 CST

Tonight, IBM’s Watson computer will go head-to-head with Jeopardy legends Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in the first of three matches. Do they stand a chance against the machine? Definitely, writes Greg Lindsay for Fast Company . He’s an actual human who’s beaten the computer three times, thanks in part to...

Bing or Google? According to Jeopardy! , the Winner Is...

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 08:32:53 CST

Bing vs. Google: How will we ever really know which search engine is superior? Easy: Jeopardy! will tell us. A computer expert ran 200,000 of the game show’s clues into common search engines to see which came up with the correct answer—in the form of a question—most...