Jeopardy Champion Watson Headed For A Life Of Mediocrity [After Beating Two Of Jeopardy's Best Players, What's Next For IBM's Watson Seems A Little Less Glamorous Than Expected]

Posted on TFTS by Eric Abent on Tuesday, 22. February 2011 under: Computers & Computing, News in Brief

Ever since the show down between IBM’s Watson and Jeopardy champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, people have been wondering what’s next for the A.I., with more than few nerds out there thinking that the singularity is now only a hop, skip, and a jump away. Well, the singularity doesn’t seem to be much closer than it was before Watson was conceived, especially after finding out what Watson is destined for now that his Jeopardy stint is over with.

No, instead of overthrowing the human race and paving the way for the army of Terminators to invade, Watson’s first task in the real world will be to help doctors diagnose and treat patients through an IBM partnership with Nuance and Columbia University Medical School.

After that, it’s off to a career in customer assistance – IBM is currently working on a version of Watson that will be able to help consumers make purchasing decisions and offer them technical support.

So much for sitting on a mountain of Jeopardy winnings, huh?

[Source: Geeky Gadgets]