Computer wins 'Jeopardy!' practice round

CULVER CITY, Calif., Jan. 13 (UPI) -- The Watson supercomputer created by IBM won its "Jeopardy!" practice round in California against former champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.

The warm-up round for the supercomputer's Feb. 14, 15 and 16 showdown against the former champions ended with $4,400 for Watson while Jennings earned $3,400 and Rutter had $1,200, ZDNet reported Thursday.

David Ferrucci, principal investigator of Watson DeepQA technology, said the supercomputer has the capability to learn and conduct self-assessments.

John Kelly III, director of IBM Research, said during a question and answer session after the round that computer and human intelligence have reached an intersection point, with computers having nowhere to go but up.

"So we're all extinct," Jennings quipped in response.

IBM said the Watson technology could have implications in several fields, including healthcare. The company said any of the computer's winnings from the $1 million showdown in February will be donated to charities including World Vision and VillageReach.