IBM, Public Relations, and Rocket Science
January 19, 2011
IBM has time on its hands. The idea that its staff has time, energy, and management support to win a TV game show speaks volumes about the company. We prefer the Google approach of creating a product or service and making it available. There’s not much available about a game show demo.
We did enjoy the write up in It’s Nuts Out There by one of our friends, a former big-time magazine publisher. Navigate to “Artificial Intelligence (AI): Why Didn’t I Think of That?” Here’s the passage we liked:
Watson has been taught (programmed) to buzz and answer, with a simulated masculine voice, in the form of a question. Watson claims to know slang, contemporary jargon, trivia, subtleties of language, puns and riddles. In a practice game, the category was “Chicks Dig Me.” The answer: “Kathleen Kenyon’s excavation of this city mentioned in Joshua shows that the walls had been repaired 17 times.” Watson buzzed in first with “What is Jericho?” Bingo! Next answer: “He was the 16th president of the United States.” Watson again: What is Jericho? (Joke.) Fear not human beings… Watson doesn’t kill–to the best of the creators’ knowledge– nor does it play Wheel of Fortune. Lucky for us. If this trend of creating artificial intelligence continues, we may not need monkeys any more.
Stephen E Arnold, January 19, 2011
Freebie
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