IBM's 'Jeopardy' Challenge: A Test for Search?

Watson_question_answering_computing_system.jpgIBM said Monday that it plans to produce "Watson," a computing system designed to parse questions intelligently and respond in the manner in which it was intended.

The goal? To knock off human contestants in "Jeopardy," in much the same way IBM's "Deep Blue" computer beat Garry Kasparov in chess.

Watson will be forced to interpret the question, process puns and other word games, search through its database and determine the correct answer, all within less than a second -- the reaction time of "Jeopardy" players. The machine will not be connected to the Internet, but will have to parse its own database of content.

 While IBM has apparently convinced Sony Pictures to stage a match against a Watson system, details of the taping (or if it will be taped) have yet to be disclosed. A Sony spokesman could not be reached for comment.

"The essence of making decisions is recognizing patterns in vast amounts of data, sorting through choices and options, and responding quickly and accurately," said Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM's chairman, president and chief executive officer, in a statement. "Watson is a compelling example of how the planet - companies, industries, cities - is becoming smarter. With advanced computing power and deep analytics, we can infuse business and societal systems with intelligence. This project is the latest example of IBM's longstanding commitment to fundamental research and to overcoming 'grand challenges' in science and technology."

Like Deep Blue, IBM plans to take a massively parallel approach toward the problem, considering solutions, prioritizing some and discarding others. It's a sort of holistic solution to a problem: part hardware, part software, brute force plus intuition.

It's also an interesting test of what search is evolving towards: not just matching keywords, but trying to intuit what the questioner is also asking. Getting to the heart of the question is also a part of what's known as "business intelligence," or trying to find the interesting needles in a haystack of seemingly random data.

One can imagine similarities between these two phrases: "This highly prized form of corundum gets its red color from minute amounts of chromium." "This product commanded the highest margin during the month of June from our "'Lifestyle' product line." In this case, the answer could be the same for both: "rubies".

But could "Watson " also parse this clue: "Apes might enjoy eating these legumes." On its own, no. But under the heading of "anagrams," possibly. (The answer? "Peas".)

The New York Times reported that the Watson prototype for some reason interpreted a "sheet" as a fruit. Small glitch or fatal flaw? We'll find out when the show airs.

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