

On ‘Jeopardy,’ Watson’s [Redacted: Spoiler]  - ugh
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/science/17jeopardy-watson.html

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ugh
Nice to see some numbers on Watson’s much discussed reaction time:

 _Watson, on the hand, does not anticipate the light, but has a weighted
scheme where when it is highly confident it can buzz in as short a time as 10
milliseconds, making it very hard for humans to beat. Less confident, and it
buzzed more slowly._

Also, this quote:

 _“It sort of wants to get beaten when it doesn’t have high confidence,” Dr.
Ferrucci said. “It doesn’t want to look stupid.”_

This line:

 _The researchers also acknowledged that the machine benefited from the
“buzzer factor.”_

And the other players’ take on it:

 _Both human players felt that Watson’s button pushing skill wasn’t
necessarily an unfair advantage. “I beat Watson a couple of times,” said Mr.
Rutter._

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rkudeshi
After yesterday's dominance, it was a little surprising to see how
(relatively) few questions it answered this time, and with lower confidence.
Any explanations?

