MANHATTAN, Kan., Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Watson, the computer contestant on the game show "Jeopardy!" is a strong candidate against its human challengers, a Kansas State University professor said.
Watson, designed by IBM, acquires knowledge through questions from previous episodes of "Jeopardy!" and through a Web crawler that collects information from the Internet, William Hsu, associate professor of computing and information sciences at Kansas State University, said Wednesday in a release.
Hsu's research involves building data models that help with making decisions and answering questions, which is closely related to Watson's inner workings.
Unlike Deep Blue, an IBM supercomputer that bested world champion chess player Garry Kasparov in 1997, Watson has learning capabilities, Hsu said. Deep Blue won by using some of the most powerful computer hardware of its time, he said, while Watson consists of software that can run on less specialized computers.
