The Boomer Chronicles

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A Computer Beats ‘Em at Jeopardy, Partly Because It Buzzes Faster Posted: 17 Feb 2011 10:58 AM PST I watched some of the Humans vs. Watson episodes of Jeopardy! this week. In this game, it’s not enough just to know the correct answer. One must also be able to buzz the soonest in order to get the opportunity to give the answer. Right away I thought that the computer was out-buzzing the humans.  And sure enough, according to this New York Times story, Watson does buzz faster: Both Mr. Jennings and Mr. Rutter are accomplished at anticipating the light that signals it is possible to "buzz in," and can sometimes get in with virtually zero lag time. The danger is to buzz too early, in which case the contestant is penalized and "locked out" for roughly a quarter of a second. Watson, on the other hand, does not anticipate the light, but has a weighted scheme that allows it, when it is highly confident, to buzz in as quickly as 10 milliseconds, making it very hard for humans to beat. When it was less confident, it buzzed more slowly. In the second round, Watson beat the others to the buzzer in 24 out of 30 Double Jeopardy questions.

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