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vgaffney's picture

Watson

I plan to go as Watson—the IBM computer designed to be the first artificially intelligent jeopardy contestant. The computer is designed to answer questions asked in natural language and is also capable of robotically pressing the buzzer—which it routinely got to first during the tournament. Watson is programmed with an absolutely enormous wealth of information designed to allow the computer to answer questions without seeking outside assistance. The computer itself fills up an entire room and so an avatar was used to represent it during the game. The development of Watson holds a number of implications for the future of robotics/artificial intelligence. As IBM states: "The goal is to have computers start to interact in natural human terms across a range of applications and processes, understanding the questions that humans ask and providing answers that humans can understand and justify,” the primary goal is developing artificially intelligent software which can process natural language and thus be able to interact with humans on a deeper and more complex level. Watson’s “life” or development would be a fascinating thing to explore—the intricacies of the process of programming the data/information into this software. Also, it is curious to consider Watson as gendered. He is undoubtedly male: has a male name and male voice, manifesting an interesting gendered technology. The development of this software, the implications of its gendered nature, and the implications for the future are all interesting questions to explore.  

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