IBM’s Jeopardy-playing machine can now beat human contestants

Network World – IBM’s Jeopardy-playing supercomputer is now capable of beating human Jeopardy contestants on a regular basis, but has a ways to go before it takes on the likes of 74-time champion Ken Jennings.

IBM announced plans to build a computer that can win on Jeopardy last April, and expects to stage a public tournament involving human players and the machine within the next year or so.

The question-answering system, nicknamed “Watson”, is already doing trial runs against people who have actually appeared on the Alex Trebek-hosted Jeopardy. Watson’s competition includes people who qualified for the show but lost, people who appeared and won once, and people who appeared and won twice.

IBMs jeopardy challenge site