IBM's Watson Has Gone to College

News
By
Published

Even supercomputers need a little schooling.

Latest Videos FromTom's Hardware
TOPICS
Kevin Parrish
Kevin Parrish
Contributor

Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.

18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dameon51
    I wonder how long until this tech is phone sized. Any of you Moores Law/math whizzes wanna crunch some numbers?
    Reply
  • Northwestern
    dameon51I wonder how long until this tech is phone sized. Any of you Moores Law/math whizzes wanna crunch some numbers?20 years tops.
    Reply
  • Northwestern20 years tops.Sounds accurate but don't forget that they'll also find ways to make it more efficient, shave some features off for the mobile version, etc.
    Reply
  • ddpruitt
    dameon51I wonder how long until this tech is phone sized. Any of you Moores Law/math whizzes wanna crunch some numbers?
    The problem isn't shrinking the technology down, it's getting the technology to the point anyone can use it. They Watson (and related systems) work is that the questions have to be properly formatted. Although Watson cleaned up in Jeopardy the questions are worded in a consistent manner and the machine was tweaked to be able to handle the questions. Even supercomputers have problems with natural language processing. Just look at Siri and it's equivalents, every request is sent to a server farm and even then it needs a properly formatted query.

    We can build smart computers, but we've been working to build computers that can understand people for half a century. I figure we need another 15 or so years to have a big computer understand people, then another 7 or 8 to make it available on home computers (desktops/laptops) and another 7 or 8 for low power mobile devices.
    Reply
  • sacre
    I'm impressed, but at the same time not so much. I would like it to be able to scan data on its own and try and solve complex problems without our help.

    Basically like how we try and figure out what Dark matter really is, we'll tell it about dark matter and let it try and come up with ideas or discoveries by itself with it scanning and thinking.

    But unfortunately we're far from that because it requires programming.. and tons of it.. For a machine to discover things by itself.. Wanting to discover, driven by curiosity?

    Thats when i'll be even more impressed.
    Reply
  • sacre
    ddpruittThe problem isn't shrinking the technology down, it's getting the technology to the point anyone can use it. They Watson (and related systems) work is that the questions have to be properly formatted. Although Watson cleaned up in Jeopardy the questions are worded in a consistent manner and the machine was tweaked to be able to handle the questions. Even supercomputers have problems with natural language processing. Just look at Siri and it's equivalents, every request is sent to a server farm and even then it needs a properly formatted query.We can build smart computers, but we've been working to build computers that can understand people for half a century. I figure we need another 15 or so years to have a big computer understand people, then another 7 or 8 to make it available on home computers (desktops/laptops) and another 7 or 8 for low power mobile devices.
    Will it truly ever "understand" what is said or will it just processed based on its input and supply a proper response?

    A machine would have to be aware to truly understand and comprehend what is said to it. Could that be achieved? Well, what is life? Where does it go from random movements in a molecule to life? Is life nothing more than a complex biological system? If so why can a complex mechanical system have life?

    We have a basic programming in us just as a machine does, except ours can grow and expand on its own whereas machine today is extremely limited to what it can "learn" and how it can utilize that information.

    Reply
  • rebel1280
    sacreWill it truly ever "understand" what is said or will it just processed based on its input and supply a proper response?A machine would have to be aware to truly understand and comprehend what is said to it. Could that be achieved? Well, what is life? Where does it go from random movements in a molecule to life? Is life nothing more than a complex biological system? If so why can a complex mechanical system have life? We have a basic programming in us just as a machine does, except ours can grow and expand on its own whereas machine today is extremely limited to what it can "learn" and how it can utilize that information.YOUR A CYLON!
    Reply
  • linkgx1
    I wonder when Cyberdyne will be possible ! :)


    I already have my lawsuit documents prepared against IBM!
    Reply
  • aramisathei
    sacreI'm impressed, but at the same time not so much. I would like it to be able to scan data on its own and try and solve complex problems without our help. Basically like how we try and figure out what Dark matter really is, we'll tell it about dark matter and let it try and come up with ideas or discoveries by itself with it scanning and thinking.But unfortunately we're far from that because it requires programming.. and tons of it.. For a machine to discover things by itself.. Wanting to discover, driven by curiosity? Thats when i'll be even more impressed.
    Isn't that how "The Matrix" started?
    Reply
  • shadowfamicom
    Only 15TB? It may be only text based data (not sure) but I expected way more then that. Even my main rig and smaller one have 15tb in 3tb drives when combined. (if you must know, 3D models, media and archived data going back to 2006). If you had told me Watson used closed to a petabyte I would have believed you.
    Reply