UW CSE’s Oren Etzioni was interviewed today on NPR’s “Morning Edition” regarding the forthcoming Jeopardy match pitting IBM’s Watson AI system against two human champions.
“Artificial intelligence experts say that even with the occasional error, Watson has what it takes to perform very well against humanity’s best. Etzioni expects to see a Watson win in the competition, which will air Feb. 14, 15 and 16. ‘Does that mean that it’s ‘Game Over’ for humans, that robots will keep us as pets? Absolutely not,’ Etzioni says. ‘But it does mean it’s a demonstration that we’ve significantly expanded the envelope of what computers can really achieve.'”
Listen to the interview here. Read a transcript here. (Former UW CSE faculty member Henry Kautz is also quoted.)
Related: An interesting New York Times article by John Markoff on “Artificial Intelligence” vs. “Intelligence Augmentation,” dating back to John McCarthy vs. Doug Engelbart, mentions UW CSE’s Foldit protein folding game.