‘Jeopardy!’ to pit man vs. machine

Associated Press

NEW YORK

The game show “Jeopardy!” will pit man versus machine this winter in a competition that will show how successful scientists are in creating a computer that can mimic human intelligence.

Two of the venerable game show’s most successful champions — Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter — will play two games against “Watson,” a computer program developed by IBM’s artificial intelligence team. The matches will be spread over three days that will air Feb. 14-16, the game show said on Tuesday.

The competition is reminiscent of when IBM developed a chess-playing computer to compete against chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.

The “Jeopardy!” answer-and-question format is a different kind of challenge. It often requires contestants to deal with subtleties, puns and riddles and come up with answers fast.

“Watson” is named for IBM founder Thomas J. Watson. IBM said its on-screen appearance will be represented by a round avatar.

The computer has already been tested in some 50 games against past “Jeopardy!” champions. But neither IBM nor “Jeopardy!” representatives would say what “Watson’s” record was.