This week marks the one-year anniversary of the historic Watson Jeopardy! match. The victory was the culmination of an intensive four-year research effort by a team of IBM scientists who set out to accomplish a grand challenge – a system that rivals a human's ability to answer questions posed in natural language with speed, accuracy and confidence.
Using advances in natural language processing and analytics, the Watson technology can process information in a similar way that people think. It represents a significant shift in system architecture and the ability for organizations to quickly analyze, understand and respond to a vast sea of Big Data.
Today IBM is on a new quest, turning the breakthrough Watson computing system into a commercial offering that is helping to transform industries from health care, to retail, telecommunications and financial services.
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To view the Infographic - One Year Later, Watson by the numbers, click here
To read the Smarter Planet blog post on "Business Analytics: It's More Than a Career; It's a Passion for Making the World Better," click here
IBM's Watson is a deep analytics and natural language processing computer that has tackled the issue of processing and recognizing ambiguous words, allowing it to compete on Jeopardy!.
Experts discuss how Watson's natural language search capabilities can benefit real world and real business solutions.
Watson - A System Designed for Answers
IBM created artificial intelligence with Watson by using natural language understanding, therefore enhancing its innovative question answering ability.
In three videos IBM's Ian Jarman explains the significance of a system called Watson. Ian is a leader in the Power Systems community and a frequent speaker at events and user groups around the world. He worked closely with the team of IBM Research scientists that developed Watson.
With companies increasingly capturing critical business information in unstructured natural language documentation, there is growing interest in workload optimised systems that deeply analyse natural language content, answering questions with precision. Advances in question answering technology will increasingly help support professionals in critical and timely decision making in areas such as health care, business intelligence, knowledge discovery, enterprise knowledge management, and customer support.
With the advancement of the science of question answer technology in mind, IBM created 'Watson', an optimised system based on IBM DeepQA analytics technology running on a cluster of commercially available IBM POWER7 processor-based servers.
Watson successfully competed on Jeopardy! in February 2011, performing at the level of human experts in terms of precision, confidence and speed against two of the best-known and most successful Jeopardy! Champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. The challenge was rerun last week on TV in North America.
Watson - A System Designed for Answers
Watson Jeopardy! Challenge - A UK Perspective
To access IBM's White Paper, on 'Watson – A System Designed for Answers - The future of workload optimized systems design', please click here
Images
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Infographic - ONE YEAR LATER, Watson by the Numbers
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
Infographic - One Year Later, Watson by the Numbers
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IBM and Jeopardy! Relive History with Encore Presentation of Jeopardy!: The IBM Challenge
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
IBM's Watson computer system, powered by IBM POWER7, competes against Jeopardy!'s two most successful and celebrated contestants -- Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Jeopardy! will broadcast an encore presentation of the first-ever man vs. machine Jeopardy! competition airing on September 12, 13 and 14, 2011.
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Congressional Members Vs. Watson
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
Dr. Eric Brown from IBM Research preps four members of congress - Jared Polis (D-Colo.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Jim Himes (D-Conn.), Rush Holt (D-N.J.) - for an exhibition game against IBM's Watson on Monday, Feb. 28, 2011. The match fostered a conversation among government leaders about the importance of IT to U.S. global competitiveness and encouraged greater focus on math and science education. Final score: Watson $40,300, Congressional Members $30,000. (Feature Photo Service)
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University of Texas at Austin Scientists Collaborate With IBM Researchers
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
Ken Barker (on left), research scientist, Department of Computer Science and Bruce Porter, professor and department chairman, Department of Computer Science, and a team of researchers from the University of Texas at Austin are collaborating with IBM Researchers to advance the Question Answering (QA) technology behind the "Watson" computing system, which will compete against humans on the quiz show, Jeopardy!, airing February 14-16.
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Carnegie Mellon University Researchers Collaborate With IBM Researchers
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, led by Eric Nyberg, professor, Language Technologies Institute, Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science, are collaborating with IBM researchers to develop the Question Answering (QA) technology that enables the "Watson" computing system, which will compete against humans on the quiz show, Jeopardy!, airing February 14-16.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology Researchers Collaborate With IBM Researchers
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
A team of researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, led by Boris Katz, principal research scientist at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, is working with IBM Researchers on the development of the Question Answering (QA) technology behind the "Watson" computing system, which will compete against humans on the quiz show, Jeopardy!, airing February 14-16.
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Jeoparty! Host, Alex Trebek, leads a Q&A session at a News Conference
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
Jeopardy! Host, Alex Trebek (standing), leads a Q&A session for reporters during a press conference at IBM's Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY on January 13, 2011. Seated (from left): Harry Friedman, Executive Producer, Jeopardy!; Brad Rutter, Jeopardy! record holder for the highest cumulative amount ever by a single player, earning $3,255,102; Ken Jennings, Jeopardy! record holder for the most consecutive games played - winning 74 games in a row during the 2004-2005 season - netting more than $2.5 million; David Ferrucci, Principal Investigator of Watson DeepQA technology, IBM Research; and John E. Kelly III, IBM Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research.
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IBM's John Kelly Introduces the Watson Computer System at a News Conference
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
John E. Kelly III, IBM Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research introduces IBM's Watson computer system to the media during a press conference at IBM's Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY on January 13, 2011. Watson competed against Jeopardy!'s two most successful and celebrated contestants -- Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter -- in the first-ever man vs. machine Jeopardy! competition, which aired on February 14, 15 and 16, 2011, with two matches being played over three consecutive days. Jeopardy! will broadcast an encore presentation of the Jeopardy!: The IBM Challenge on September 12, 13 and 14, 2011.
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IBM Watson
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
Watson, powered by IBM POWER7, is a work-load optimized system that can answer questions posed in natural language over a nearly unlimited range of knowledge.
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IBM Watson
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
(l. to r.) Brad Rutter, Alex Trebek, Ken Jennings
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IBM Watson
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
Jeopardy Studio
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IBM Watson
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
IBM Watson
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Ken Jennings (l.) and Brad Rutter
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
IBM and Jeopardy! today announced that an IBM computing system named “Watson” will compete on Jeopardy! against the show’s two most successful and celebrated contestants -- Ken Jennings (l.) and Brad Rutter. The first-ever man vs. machine Jeopardy! competition will air on February 14, 15 and 16, 2011, with two matches being played over three consecutive days.
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Dave Ferrucci
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
Dave Ferrucci, IBM Chief Scientist of IBM's Watson Computing System. The company today announced that the Watson system will compete on Jeopardy! against the show’s two most successful and celebrated contestants -- Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. The first-ever man vs. machine Jeopardy! competition will air on February 14, 15 and 16, 2011, with two matches being played over three consecutive days.
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IBM Watson Computing System
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
IBM's Watson computing system is made up of electronically generated graphic compositions in which computer algorithms define the shape, texture and motion.The visual identity provides a peak at what a computer goes through as it responds to a Jeopardy! clue. Watson’s on-stage persona shares the graphic structure and tonality of the IBM Smarter Planet logo, a symbol of the company's effort to make the world work better.
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Jeopardy! The IBM Challenge
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
Jeopardy! The IBM Challenge
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Single Jeopardy Game Board
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
Photo courtesy of Jeopardy Productions Inc.
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Watson - Question Answering Computing System
Date added: 28 Feb 2012
For nearly two years IBM scientists have been working on a highly advanced Question Answering (QA) computing system, codenamed "Watson" -- aimed to compete in a human vs. machine contest on Jeopardy! - America’s favorite quiz show. Pictured: Dave Ferrucci, IBM scientist and Watson project director
Contact(s) for the Press kit
John Galvez
UK External Relations
+44(0)7734 104 275
john.galvez@uk.ibm.com