Watson, a computer designed over the course of four years, costing hundreds of millions of dollars, will be one of the three contestants on “Jeopardy!” next week. The IBM machine is designed to decipher English-language clues and then search more than half-million books for the answer; and it does it all under three seconds.
If successful, scientists think it could have real-world benefits.
We talk withMichael Bicks producer and director of the new NOVA documentary, “Smartest Machine on Earth,” which airs on PBS at 10pm on Wednesday night.
We also talk with Rodney Brooks, the former director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and an emeritus professor of robotics.
The story you just read is not locked behind a paywall because listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Now more than ever, we need your help to support our global reporting work and power the future of The World. Can we count on you?