A Computer Called Watson

“We’re thrilled that Jeopardy! is considered a benchmark of ultimate knowledge. Performing well on Jeopardy! requires a combination of skills, and it will be fascinating to see whether a computer can compete against arguably the two best Jeopardy! players ever.”

“Retrieval of obscure Italian poets is easy—[Watson] will never forget that one. But ‘Jeopardy!’ tends to have a lot of wordplay, and that’s going to be a challenge.”

“It requires critical thinking. It requires a whole lot more than knowledge alone. So when people hear about this project and they say ‘Well, isn’t this just sort of Google on steroids?’ No, it is not.”

“Our responsibility to the scientific community is to push this technology as hard as we possibly can, because when we get out there in public, what we’re demonstrating is what is the state of the art, what can we really do.”

… Watson-level artificial intelligence could make it significantly easier for citizens to get answers quickly from massive, ponderous bureaucracies. “You can imagine if I’m applying for health insurance, having to explain the details of my personal situation, or if I'm trying to figure out if I'm eligible for a particular tax deduction. Any place there’s massive data that surpasses the human’s ability to sort through it, and there’s a time constraint on getting an answer.”

“I think about call centers. I think about getting staff precise medical information, getting people access to information quicker and more effectively to make more rapid decisions in business.”

“I want to create something that I can take into every other retail industry, in the transportation industry, you name it, the banking industry. Any place where time is critical and you need to get advanced state-of-the-art information to the front of decision-makers. Computers need to go from just being back-office calculating machines to improving the intelligence of people making decisions.”