Computer Learns Trivia or Birth of the Matrix? - Page 2

kael03 · 02-14-2011, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stubborn_d0nkey

damn, i was gonna make you make the bunker they way i want it and steal it from you

Go make your bunker under Microsoft HQ.

stubborn_d0nkey · 02-14-2011, 05:50 PM

I'll make it under IBM

Freshgrease · 02-14-2011, 06:32 PM

To give you a size comparison of the amount of servers behind Watson, I have attached a picture of my Valhalla cluster which, while not containing 2 x POWER 7 chips per server that Watson does, can represent a decent size comparison.

Each blade chassis holds 14 servers. Each blade chassis is 7U tall in a server rack that is 42U or 47U tall. Essentially 5 of these if you include networking and other stuff in the rack. The IBM article assumes that there are thousands of cores of processing in Watson. There are typically 6 cores per processor, 2 processors per POWER 7 blade. This means:

70 Servers per rack or 840 cores per rack. Without knowing exact amounts, I can tell you that the storage, processing, and cooling racks do not take that much space at all. If you would imagine a file-cabinet at 1.5x the width and multiply that by 5-6, that is the physical size of the compute cluster. It's nothing short of amazing. That kind of processing power can be easily afforded by medium to high level universities.

To what end, I'm sure, but tonight will be the make or break for marketing for the POWER 7 processing infrastructure. You can thank IBM for the processors they put in your Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii.

EDIT: I would assume Watson compute cluster takes atleast 3 racks worth of servers)

LonelyNinja · 02-15-2011, 01:11 AM

Watson enjoys the sight humans on their knees.

That is a joke.

ACt · 02-15-2011, 03:39 PM

What is leg?

stubborn_d0nkey · 02-15-2011, 03:44 PM

^I lol-ed

ACt · 02-15-2011, 03:45 PM

Found a video with it that focuses on the sports questions, but there are bits about the Watson development. Anyway, to catch my point, 2:50.

ACt · 02-15-2011, 07:45 PM

After watching a few minutes today, I'm almost certain the computers reflexes are kicking their asses.

I'm told the question is electronically sent to the computer the same time it is read. I'd like to know if it is sent in one package or slowly revealed over the time read. If it is the first, the computer actually has a big extra advantage in time to take it all in at once, rather than the contestants.

In the end, that's just nitpicking over the fairness of the competition - which probably doesn't matter to the contestants because I'm certain they are being paid regardless. It is a remarkable feat in computer design regardless.

ask me anything · 02-15-2011, 09:07 PM

I was off work yesterday so I got the chance to watch the 1st of the 3 part Watson special. Half the episode was info on Watson, and they mentioned a few things that answer some of your questions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkamaruChewtoy

Anyway, it should be rather interesting. I most intrigued to see if the Jeopardy question writers have created any particularly tricky questions to try and defeat the program (which is what they should do).

There was one question Watson messed up on. I can't remember word for word how it was phrased but it was something like "First invented in year 19?? this was the worlds first NON-DAIRY coffee creamer.", to which Watson answered milk. LOL, word association fail.

Quote:

I think the Before and After ones should be really tough on it.

They didn't have any category like that :/ Not on that episode at least.

Quote:

Also, will the computer answer wrong?

Yes. It missed 3 or 4 questions, mainly due to flawed interpretations of word associations. The Milk example was one of them, but there were others. One category was a 'guess the decade' topic, where you had to name the decade the answer was describing. Watson missed 2 of those. One question was to name the decade of the birth of Swing music. The answer was the 30's, but it answered the 40's. If I had to guess it was because the 40's were when that music genre was at it's peak so it associated it more with that decade then any other.

Another of the major drawbacks to Watson is that it can't hear the answers other contestants give, since that info isn't available. It only has access to the text file of the question. This means if another player answers the question wrong, it won't know that answer is wrong, and it could answer the same thing. There was one time when it did just that. For some weird reason Alex Trebeck decided to was scold Watson for it. Oh those silly canadians.

Quote:

Or only ring in when it is 99% certain it is correct.

It has a certain threshold for certainty. It's threshold changes from question to question for reasons I don't know why, but it averages around 50%-75%. If it's not that certain it just won't answer.

BTW, on the episode it actually displays (for the viewers at home) the top 3 answers Watson has come up with and the probability on success it thinks each answer has.

Quote:

Finally, I wonder the advantage of the computer having near instantaneous reflexes to ring in while the others, though good, will have human reactions. That should give some of the easier questions to the computer.

Watson uses the same buzzer the rest of the contestants use. It's altered slightly, in that they have a hydraulic pump that pushes the button to answer. So in terms of the time it takes to physically push the button Watson doesn't have an advantage there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkamaruChewtoy

Thought of something else: how are they going to do Final Jeopardy? It's like 30 seconds or something like it. That's plenty of time for the computer to search and come up with the correct answer which can be captured and printed immediately rather than written out. HUGE advantage for the computer.

From what I've seen Watson has usually searched it's database and come up with an answer in less then a second. I don't think the 30 seconds will give it any edge. If anything it gives the human players the edge here, to think over the answers more carefully.

The main thing I'm interested in, is what Watsons' Final Jeopardy gamble will be. Just how much money will it risk, and what thought processes were behind it.

ACt · 02-15-2011, 09:34 PM

Umm... some problems from episode two. One, Watson seems to have trouble with punctuation and less standard wording of questions. When the question contains "this author of "Narnia"" in a row he's 99% certain, but when they add "this king" separated by words in brackets then more, his % goes way down, often below 50%.

Also, Watson does not take the category into account. I say this because no one should have answered "Toronto" in a final jeopardy of "US Cities." Whoops.

Freshgrease · 02-16-2011, 01:46 AM

I wanna note that I did further research, and confirmed my beliefs. Watson is made of 5 short racks of servers. For some reason they aren't using blades for rack density, so I am far more impressed. They are just using standard 2U servers.

Axiom · 02-21-2011, 05:27 PM

I watched and was not particualrly impressed. First IBM may be a little late. Leslie Spring has been working on a converstional AI platform for years, and had a showcase a while back. WATSON seems to be a point for point reasembly of Leslie's SILVIA AI, all the way down to the predictive reasoning or lack thereof. What we have here is another state machine. Albeit an advanced one.

Also

WOPR>watson/silvia. "Hello Dr Falken, would you like to play global thermonuclear war?" /wargames was my shit

edit

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mal

From my understanding, Watson doesn't search the web for its information on the fly. Instead, it can be connected to any database of information (including the web) and begin "learning" by constructing its own database of highly interconnected information.

@Bold
My question to developers is what system is being conceptualized to allow for increasing capacity as memory needs rise. It should have to be an automated process in my mind, and while the obvious answer of the internet probably comes to most minds. I feel as if having an external system separate from the internet is prudent on several levels. Especially if the threat of it gaining sentience is even minutely real. AI+internet= superintelligence. Beware the technological singularity.

02-15-2011, 01:11 AM	#19
LonelyNinja Fight On, Fight Hard Join Date: May 2009 Location: Fistopia Age: 21 Posts: 388 Thanks: 111 Thanked 4,210 Times in 1,439 Posts	Re: Computer Learns Trivia or Birth of the Matrix? Watson enjoys the sight humans on their knees. That is a joke. __________________

02-15-2011, 03:39 PM	#20
ACt Heart Wizard Join Date: May 2009 Location: The Halls of Irreverence Posts: 3,257 Thanks: 5,326 Thanked 18,705 Times in 4,853 Posts	Re: Computer Learns Trivia or Birth of the Matrix? What is leg?

02-15-2011, 03:45 PM	#22
ACt Heart Wizard Join Date: May 2009 Location: The Halls of Irreverence Posts: 3,257 Thanks: 5,326 Thanked 18,705 Times in 4,853 Posts	Re: Computer Learns Trivia or Birth of the Matrix? Found a video with it that focuses on the sports questions, but there are bits about the Watson development. Anyway, to catch my point, 2:50.

02-15-2011, 07:45 PM	#23
ACt Heart Wizard Join Date: May 2009 Location: The Halls of Irreverence Posts: 3,257 Thanks: 5,326 Thanked 18,705 Times in 4,853 Posts	Re: Computer Learns Trivia or Birth of the Matrix? After watching a few minutes today, I'm almost certain the computers reflexes are kicking their asses. I'm told the question is electronically sent to the computer the same time it is read. I'd like to know if it is sent in one package or slowly revealed over the time read. If it is the first, the computer actually has a big extra advantage in time to take it all in at once, rather than the contestants. In the end, that's just nitpicking over the fairness of the competition - which probably doesn't matter to the contestants because I'm certain they are being paid regardless. It is a remarkable feat in computer design regardless.

02-15-2011, 09:34 PM	#25
ACt Heart Wizard Join Date: May 2009 Location: The Halls of Irreverence Posts: 3,257 Thanks: 5,326 Thanked 18,705 Times in 4,853 Posts	Re: Computer Learns Trivia or Birth of the Matrix? Umm... some problems from episode two. One, Watson seems to have trouble with punctuation and less standard wording of questions. When the question contains "this author of "Narnia"" in a row he's 99% certain, but when they add "this king" separated by words in brackets then more, his % goes way down, often below 50%. Also, Watson does not take the category into account. I say this because no one should have answered "Toronto" in a final jeopardy of "US Cities." Whoops.

02-16-2011, 01:46 AM	#26
Freshgrease ▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂ Join Date: Feb 2005 Age: 25 Posts: 4,112 Thanks: 1,489 Thanked 1,005 Times in 546 Posts	Re: Computer Learns Trivia or Birth of the Matrix? I wanna note that I did further research, and confirmed my beliefs. Watson is made of 5 short racks of servers. For some reason they aren't using blades for rack density, so I am far more impressed. They are just using standard 2U servers. __________________

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