Man vs. Machine: IBM Computer, Jeopardy! Champ Tied after First Day

“Watson”, an IBM (News - Alert) supercomputer, displayed a few quirks but played to a draw on the opening day of a man vs. machine showdown with two human champions of the popular US television game show Jeopardy!. First airing on US television in 1964, Jeopardy! tests a player's knowledge in a range of categories, from geography to politics to history to sports and entertainment. But by putting a spin on the traditional quiz game, contestants are provided with clues and need to supply the questions.

After the first day of the three-day match, Watson, named after Thomas Watson, the founder of the US technology giant, and one of his human counterparts, Brad Rutter each had $5,000. The other human player, Ken Jennings, was trailing the pair with $2,000.

Watson, represented on stage by a large computer monitor, was frequently quicker to the buzzer than Rutter and Jennings, correctly answering questions in its artificial voice. Watson receives the clues electronically by text message at the same time as they are revealed to the human contestants. The first player to hit the buzzer gets to answer the question.

"You are about to witness what may prove to be an historic competition—an exhibition match pitting an IBM computer system against the two most celebrated and successful players in Jeopardy! history," host Alex Trebek said to kick off the show.

Showing  impressive knowledge of the Beatles songbook, Watson answered, "What is Maxwell's silver hammer?" to the clue "Bang, bang, his silver hammer came down upon her head," a reference to the Beatles song. Watson also answered correctly, "What is Eleanor Rigby?", to the clue "She died in the church and was buried along with her name, nobody came."

At one point, Rutter and Jennings each had only $200, with Watson building up a commanding lead with $4,000. But then man began to best machine, with Watson slipping up, oddly repeating a wrong answer to a question Jennings had already answered incorrectly. Asked to identify the decade during which the Oreo cookie and the crossword puzzle made their debuts, Jennings wrongly answered with the 1920s. Given its chance, Watson also said in the 1920s.

"No, Ken said that," Trebek admonished Watson. Rutter then answered correctly—the 1910s.

Machine slipped up again on another question about a one-legged US Olympic champion. The clue was "It was the anatomical oddity of US gymnast George Eyser who won a gold medal on the parallel bars in 1904." Answering “What is a leg” rather than “What is a missing leg”, Trebek quipped, "Watson's very bright, very fast, but he has some weird little moments once in a while.”

Jennings holds the Jeopardy! record of 74 straight wins while Rutter won a record $3.25 million on the show. The winner of the Jeopardy! showdown is to receive $1 million, with second place bringing in $300,000 and the third place finisher walking away with $200,000. IBM plans to donate 100 percent of its winnings to charity. Jennings and Rutter plan to give 50 percent of their prize money to charity.