4 ms·

engadget reported that Watson "destroyed" its human competition while others reported that humans were "taken down." In reality, Ken Jennings was beaten on the

engadget reported that Watson "destroyed" its human competition while others reported that humans were "taken down." In reality, Ken Jennings was beaten on the final answer. I'm interested in seeing whether Watson has an "aggressiveness" algorithm that allows it to respond before the answer is fully spoken. Humans have an advantage in this regard because it goes right to the heart of intelligence. If the game boils down to reaction time, Watson will probably win.

deleted 16y ago
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senthil_rajasek 16y ago
"I'm interested in seeing whether Watson has an "aggressiveness" algorithm that allows it to respond before the answer is fully spoken. You cannot buzz in until the question is completely read out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy!#cite_note-9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy!#cite_note-9
- CWuestefeld 16y ago
  True. But along the same lines... I wonder if it's able to say to itself "I think I'm in the right ballpark, so I'll buzz now" and then take the 3-4 seconds it takes the host to recognize the buzz and ask for an answer, to finish its processing to get to the answer it's most confident of. In other words, it doesn't need to actually have the answer to buzz. It just needs some confidence that the answer is close at hand.
  - johnohara 16y ago
    Given the number of servers (and cores) plus 16TB of memory, 1ms is an enormous amount of time. 500ms is 1/2 a second.
  - Splines 16y ago
    I'd wager that humans do the same thing (e.g., when they have an answer and it's on the tip of their tongue)
    - kingkilr 16y ago
      It wouldn't surprise me, when watching (and playing along) I often start saying the "What is" or "Who was" before I have the answer.
  - Qz 16y ago
    I read an in depth article on Watson a few months back and I remember that it said it does in fact do that sort of confidence-based buzzing, but I'm not 100% sure.
hencq 16y ago
I remember reading somewhere earlier that it did have an "aggressiveness" algorithm in the sense that it would take more risks if it was behind, i.e. answer questions with a lower threshold of "sureness".

deleted 16y ago

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senthil_rajasek 16y ago

"I'm interested in seeing whether Watson has an "aggressiveness" algorithm that allows it to respond before the answer is fully spoken. You cannot buzz in until the question is completely read out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy!#cite_note-9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy!#cite_note-9

CWuestefeld 16y ago
True. But along the same lines... I wonder if it's able to say to itself "I think I'm in the right ballpark, so I'll buzz now" and then take the 3-4 seconds it takes the host to recognize the buzz and ask for an answer, to finish its processing to get to the answer it's most confident of. In other words, it doesn't need to actually have the answer to buzz. It just needs some confidence that the answer is close at hand.
- johnohara 16y ago
  Given the number of servers (and cores) plus 16TB of memory, 1ms is an enormous amount of time. 500ms is 1/2 a second.
- Splines 16y ago
  I'd wager that humans do the same thing (e.g., when they have an answer and it's on the tip of their tongue)
  - kingkilr 16y ago
    It wouldn't surprise me, when watching (and playing along) I often start saying the "What is" or "Who was" before I have the answer.
- Qz 16y ago
  I read an in depth article on Watson a few months back and I remember that it said it does in fact do that sort of confidence-based buzzing, but I'm not 100% sure.

hencq 16y ago

I remember reading somewhere earlier that it did have an "aggressiveness" algorithm in the sense that it would take more risks if it was behind, i.e. answer questions with a lower threshold of "sureness".