Google vs IBM Watson: The Power of Search in Jeopardy!

[Vinni]

IBM's Watson looks very impressive...But try using Google for the Answers or hints on Jeopardy. Guess what, if you had access to Google you'd score on Jeopardy! So what Watson appears to be doing is performing a search with something similar to Google and then parsing out the search hit results and using some kind of priority or probabilistic algorithm to formalize the "What" or "Who" question. It only takes the very first page of a Google search to get a good hit for Jeopardy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6oS64Bpx0g&feature=related

Any PC or for that matter a smart phone could parse out the search hit results from Google and formalize a "Who" or "What" question...

 

[Vinni]

Also note that the answer to "What is Pinky and the Brain" get's a hit on Google on the first line! Since Watson didn't respond to that answer it would appear that IBM's search engine isn't as good as Google's.

 

[Vinni]

Watson doesn't even have the ability to answer to his name or is able to convert voice into text! Something that most PCs and Smart phones can do, also the Kinect can do such tasks as well.

http://ibmresearchnews.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-watson-sees-hears-and-speaks-to.html

I mean if one were to use Kinect or technology like it, such a system could identify contestants, the host and remember their names and respond to questions or commands directed at it!