[Web4lib] Watson - IBM's "question-answering" machine (potential implications for libraries?)

[Robert Balliot]

I don't think that matching answers to questions is particularly ground
breaking from an AI standpoint - coming up with the questions would be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aboZctrHfK8

R. Balliot
http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm



On Sun, Feb 6, 2011 at 12:26 PM, B.G. Sloan <bgsloan2 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> From the New York Times:
>
> "I.B.M.’s groundbreaking question-answering system, running on roughly
> 2,500 parallel processor cores, each able to perform up to 33 billion
> operations a second, is playing a pair of 'Jeopardy!' matches against the
> show’s top two living players, to be aired on Feb. 14, 15 and 16."
>
> I'm definitely going to be tuning in to these Jeopardy episodes. I'm
> curious to see how well "Watson" does against two smart humans.
>
> Can't help but wonder about long-term implications for libraries, say, ten
> years down the road? What if we had sophisticated affordable
> "question-answering" machines in ten years? What would that mean for
> libraries?
>
> For some background, here's a link to an Op Ed piece in today's New York
> Times: http://nyti.ms/hXaoWX
>
> Bernie Sloan
>
>
>
>
>
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