The N. Y. Times article has some fairly hilarious descriptions of
Watson's performance during practice games of Jeopardy, and I think
"performance" is the right word for it:
". . . Watson went on a tear, winning four of six games. It displayed
remarkable facility with cultural trivia (“This action flick starring
Roy Scheider in a high-tech police helicopter was also briefly a TV
series” — “What is ‘Blue Thunder’?”), science (“The greyhound originated
more than 5,000 years ago in this African country, where it was used to
hunt gazelles” — “What is Egypt?”) and sophisticated wordplay (“Classic
candy bar that’s a female Supreme Court justice” — “What is Baby Ruth
Ginsburg?”). . . ."
It is hard to believe that a computer can generate an answer in the form
of a question: "What is Baby Ruth Ginsburg?" I don't think that I myself
could formulate that answer even after years of effort and practice.
I never thought I would see computers simulate flippant or irrational
assertions that somehow makes sense.
This performance does not in any way entail actual sentient behavior. It
merely simulates sentience. But it does that at a level I never thought
would be possible.
Whether machines will actually someday become sentient remains to be
seen. I do not know of any reason to think they will not achieve this,
but there's no telling how much longer it will take or what it will require.
- Jed
