this! is! kind of scary!

IBM’s Watson Loses to Congressman, Discovers Love

It’s time for Rush Holt, a Democratic congressman from New Jersey, to seriously start thinking about running for the presidency in 2016, for he seems to be the only person capable of leading the country — and the human race — to victory in the coming war against the machines. Holt, a bona fide rocket scientist before joining Congress in 1999 and an actual five-time winner on Jeopardy!, defeated IBM’s seemingly unstoppable triviabot Watson during an untelevised practice round of Jeopardy! in Washington last night. Holt tweeted the news: “I played a full round against @IBMWatson tonight and was proud to hold my own: the final tally was Holt $8,600, Watson $6,200.”

The world is rejoicing — Nancy Pelosi tweets: “Congratulations to @RushHolt for showing @IBMWatson human intelligence isn’t in #jeopardy!” — and rightly so, but don’t get carried away. Despite Holt’s victory, the match still contained some ominous signs of Watson’s growing sophistication, according to CNN:

Watson knows what love is! We are running out of time!

Rep. Rush Holt beats IBM’s Watson in ‘Jeopardy!’ [Asbury Park Press]

IBM’s Watson Loses to Congressman, Discovers Love