IBM Jeopardy Challenge Day Two Report: Spoiler Alert!

OK, let’s try this again. What we have here is a quick summary of night two of the IBM Jeopardy Challenge, starring Watson and two other past Jeopardy champions. There will be spoilers, so West Coasties are encouraged to watch funny YouTube videos for the time being.

Are you ready? Because here come the spoilers.

At the end of last night the totals stood at $5,000 Watson and Brad Rutter, while Ken Jennings had $2,000.

Watson opened night two absolutely crushing his human competition, opening the scoring and not looking back for several straight minutes. Watson wagered some $6,000 and change in the first Daily Double—he got it!

The first few minutes were simply outstanding for those of us cheering for Watson. And how weird it was to see humans in the audience cheering on the A.I.

Our only hope is that Watson doesn’t rebel against his masters and cause a bit of havoc à la Shodan (not that I’m altogether opposed to a robot takeover, mind you).

The night ended with Watson at $35,734 Brad Rutter at $10,400, and Ken Jennings at $4,800 after an exciting round of final Jeopardy in which Watson, bizarrely, thought Toronto was a U.S. city.

Until tomorrow!