IBM supercomputer 'Watson' to challenge 'Jeopardy' stars

An IBM supercomputer system named after the company's founder, Thomas J Watson senior, is almost ready for a televised test: A bout of questioning on the quiz show "Jeopardy".

IBM and the producers of "Jeopardy" will announce on Tuesday that the computer, "Watson," will face the two most successful players in "Jeopardy" history, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, in three episodes that will be broadcast February 14-16, 2011.

For IBM, "Watson" is an important test of artificial intelligence. Scientists there have been talking to "Jeopardy" about a man vs. machine match-up for the better part of two years. "If the program beats the humans, the field of artificial intelligence will have made a leap forward," John Markoff of The New York Times wrote in April 2009.

In a news release, the companies said the format of "Jeopardy" was "the ultimate challenge" for "Watson" because "the game's clues involve analyzing subtle meaning, irony, riddles and other complexities in which humans excel and computers traditionally do not."

IBM and the show's producers have agreed that $1 million will be on the line. If "Watson" wins, all of the money will be donated to charity. If one of the humans wins, half of the money will be donated.

"Jeopardy" producers said the computer qualified for the show by passing the same test that human contestants must pass. Lately "Watson" has been playing games with former "Jeopardy" contestants for practice. IBM will share some of the highlights of those games on its Web site in the coming weeks.

For "Jeopardy," which has been on television for nearly 50 years, the supercomputer match-up is an opportunity to gain attention. It's an endorsement of sorts for the format -- as Harry Friedman, the show's executive producer, put it in a news release, "We're thrilled that Jeopardy is considered a benchmark of ultimate knowledge."