What is Toronto?????

11 responses to “What is Toronto?????”

1. Patsy says:

   February 17, 2011 at 11:36 pm

   That whole show was sooo unfair…the split second Alex stopped talking Watson had already buzzed in…lol

2. turtle-doves says:

   February 18, 2011 at 2:05 am

   I watched it last night and couldn’t stop laughing at Watson’s answer…it’s because Watson’s brain was linked to Ottawa http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Watson+computer+Ottawa+roots/4290481/story.html

3. Natalka says:

   February 18, 2011 at 9:17 am

   No, it’s not because of the Ottawa connection!

   David Ferrucci, who heads up the Watson project:

   “First, the category names on Jeopardy! are tricky. The answers often do not exactly fit the category. Watson, in his training phase, learned that categories only weakly suggest the kind of answer that is expected, and, therefore, the machine downgrades their significance. The way the language was parsed provided an advantage for the humans and a disadvantage for Watson, as well. “What US city” wasn’t in the question. If it had been, Watson would have given US cities much more weight as it searched for the answer. Adding to the confusion for Watson, there are cities named Toronto in the United States and the Toronto in Canada has an American League baseball team. It probably picked up those facts from the written material it has digested. Also, the machine didn’t find much evidence to connect either city’s airport to World War II. (Chicago was a very close second on Watson’s list of possible answers.) So this is just one of those situations that’s a snap for a reasonably knowledgeable human but a true brain teaser for the machine.”

   The explanation of Watson’s answer – at 3:13…
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI-M7O_bRNg&annotation_id=annotation_383798&feature=iv#t=3m11s

4. adora says:

   February 18, 2011 at 10:08 am

   In an episode of 30ROCK, Steve Martin’s character told Liz, “Come with me to Toronto. It’s just like New York, but without all the stuff!”

5. James says:

   February 18, 2011 at 10:45 am

   Explanation of the “Toronto” answer:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI-M7O_bRNg&feature=player_embedded
   If you want to skip straight to the part, scroll to the 2:50 mark. I’m just in awe of future applications this project may bring.

6. baggypants says:

   February 18, 2011 at 11:49 am

   I also liked one of Watson’s questions that he didn’t give to the answer “home is where this is”…his second choice was “the delete key”!!

7. Scarecrow says:

   February 18, 2011 at 11:53 am

   ya, it was kind of a tricky question for Watson but it was only 3% away from the right answer. I was impressed nevertheless with it’s performance in the tournament.

8. Sallycat says:

   February 18, 2011 at 12:40 pm

   I enjoyed how whenever Watson got the Daily Double he would bid a very unusual amount like $1,417. 🙂

9. CarlyinCanada says:

   February 18, 2011 at 7:23 pm

   It was fun to watch!! LOL at Watson’s name! Reminded me of “Watson” the basketball in the Tom Hanks movie Castaway!!! haha 🙂

10. Glen says:

    February 18, 2011 at 11:28 pm

    Wilson?

11. Snoocy says:

    February 19, 2011 at 9:09 pm

    …the volleyball?