U.S. quiz show pitting man against machine

It was one of the most spectacular showdowns between man and machine: Chess genius Gary Kasparov in 1996 played a very special game. No enemy of flesh and blood he had to overcome, but a computer in the U.S. company named IBM "Deep Blue".

In the end, the Russians had to admit defeat.

Now the duel between such diverse partners experienced a remake. Another IBM computer is in the air, this time with name "Watson". When his opponents lurking but not a chess wizard - but proven players of the popular U.S. quiz show "Jeopardy."

Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings are among the best candidates in the nearly 50-year history of the program. Since Monday, they try to provide the bits and bytes to their electronic opponent stand up, will be available this Wednesday the winner. The standings after the first round gives hope to humanity: a draw. Rutter and "Watson" each won $ 5,000 (3700 €), Jennings took third place and ran at least a $ 2,000.

"Jeopardy" revolves around the concept of most quiz shows. The candidate will read answers to which they must find the right question. Unlike then, "Deep Blue" must "Watson" According to IBM, therefore, be able to more than just logical thinking, and moreover, to even recognize language.

For three years, the U.S. computer giant tinker to "Watson" and invested according to expert estimates, about $ 100 million (74 million €). How much has really tasted the computer reveals the company, however.

"Watson" is a technology-Hercules: He has the computing power of 2,800 average computers and 15 terabytes of RAM (Random Access Memory). This gives access to more than 200 million pages of content. Internet connection he has not.

If the computer is to answer a question, he must, as are the human candidates and press a buzzer. This is done by a robot arm. Since "Watson" is the size of an average bedroom, the show is exceptionally shot in the IBM headquarters in Armonk (U.S. state of New York). The spectators can see only a small part of the mega-computer.

"It's mainly the social benefits of the experiment, which we were interested in was," said the producer of the show, Harry Friedman, the U.S. magazine "Time". The editorial staff had agreed to allow the computer as a candidate, after assuring that it would go completely fair. "I hope the next idea, it is not now, replace the presenter with a computer," meanwhile, host Alex Trebek jokes.

The experiment with "Deep Blue" had then brought a breakthrough in computer technology: instead of one large, were then used multiple processors simultaneously. Thus, the computing power increased significantly and the energy consumption can be reduced.

The manufacturer, meanwhile, already is thinking beyond "Jeopardy." "IBM is it certainly not only about playing," said the Vice President for Research, Katherine Fraser, the television channel CNN. "We find the best ways to use Watson's technology to solve real problems."

You can use the computer, for example, as a question-and-answer application for customer service or as an analysis tool for financial institutions. "IBM has always been very efficient when it came to profit from its previous investments," White Charles King, president of the Institute for Technology Analysis, "Pund-IT."