Final Jeopardy : man vs. machine and the quest to know everything /

Researchers at IBM launched a billion-dollar project to develop a machine that could compete in the quiz show Jeopardy--and win. The machine faced off in a high-ratings match against two former champions, Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. Journalist Stephen Baker carries readers on a captivating journey...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Baker, Stephen, 1955 November 15-
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.
Subjects:
Description
Summary:Researchers at IBM launched a billion-dollar project to develop a machine that could compete in the quiz show Jeopardy--and win. The machine faced off in a high-ratings match against two former champions, Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. Journalist Stephen Baker carries readers on a captivating journey from the IBM labs to the showdown in Hollywood. The story features brilliant Ph.D.s, Hollywood moguls, knowledge-obsessed Jeopardy masters--and a very special collection of silicon and circuitry named Watson. It was a classic match of Man vs. Machine, not seen since the chess-playing computer Deep Blue bested the world's reigning grandmaster, Garry Kasparov. And Watson needed to do more than churn through chess moves or find a relevant Web page--it had to understand language, including puns and irony and master everything from history and literature to science, arts and entertainment.
Physical Description:268 pages ; 22 cm.
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages [267]-268).
ISBN:9780547483160 (hbk.)
0547483163 (hbk.)