Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything [Hardcover]

This is a highly readable and exciting narrative about how a team of computer scientists at IBM built Watson, a machine capable of taking on, and maybe beating, the best Jeopardy! players in the world. The story begins in 2004 when IBM executives are pressing the research division to come up with a high impact "grand challenge" that will be comparable to IBM's chess-playing computer that was able to defeat the best player in the world. Jeopardy! is suggested as the next challenge, but initially no one is willing to take it on because it's seen as almost impossibly difficult and likely to result in damage to both careers and the company's reputation.

The book follows the story from there, telling how the team eventually accepted the challenge, began to build the system and then overcame problems along the way. There's lots of interesting detail such as how the team selected which information Watson needed to know about, and how they used machine learning to improve its performance. The book also covers the negotiations between IBM and Sony (owner of the Jeopardy! game show), sparring matches with former contestants on the show, and how the public relations, design and marketing side was handled. The book is engaging and fun throughout with many amusing stories, such as how during a test match, when asked to come up with a certain four-letter word, Watson responded with "What is %@$#." That required the team to develop a profanity filter.

The book also contains a more general discussion of research in artificial intelligence and how other experts in the field view the Watson project. It is non-technical and easy to read. Anyone interested in the broader implications of the advances taking place in artificial intelligence and robotics should be sure to also read The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future, which looks at how these technologies may affect society, the job market and the economy down the line. Overall, this is a great book that will be of interest to anyone interested in either the Jeopardy! show or artificial intelligence.

Stephen Baker's account of the creation and teaching of IBM's Watson computer, preparing it for the climactic Jeopardy contest with the two top living human Jeopardy champions, is a delight to read AND a highly informative overview of artificial intelligence and the role computers will play in our lives from here on out. You get to know and appreciate the complex, talented characters of the story at IBM and in Hollywood. The growing sense of drama makes the book un-put-downable. Will IBM's engineers prepare Watson to figure out the pun-filled, playful and quirky categories of Jeopardy? Will the Hollywood execs agree to fair terms of engagement? And, most intriguingly, who will win the final showdown?

I love what Baker's publisher has done with the Kindle version of this book - making the first 11 chapters available well before the showdown Jeopardy match airs on Feb. 14-15-16. After the actual match took place, in great secrecy, Baker wrote the final chapter of his book, which will arrive as a Kindle download the day after the final match, when the hardcover will also be available, with all the chapters. This is a fantastic use of e-book technology, so bravo to Houghton Mifflin for such a clever and Kindle-friendly innovation.

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Heard the author's interview with Len Edgerly on the Kindle Chronicles on February 5, 2011 (TKC 133). Had to purchase and read the book after listening. I finished the book last night and am looking forward now to the match this next week. I learned a lot about what IBM had to do to get ready for the match and the problems that needed to be overcome. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to know about AI and especially about the people who are working on this project. I am thankful to the publisher for putting the book out in e-book form prior to the match. I really look forward to reading the last chapter this next week!!!