IBM's Watson To Smash Its Human Opponents On Jeopardy Tonight

Be sure to check your local listings today to see when Jeopardy airs. Why would you want to do that? Oh, you know why: tonight is the first night of the IBM Challenge, starring Watson the artificial intelligence. Oh, and two human opponents. Humans are old news.

You’ll recall that IBM ran a brief exhibition match last month against the two previous Jeopardy champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, and you’ll also recall that Watson won. Software out-thought the human brain right before my very eyes. It was a genuine “this is awesome” moment.

Prediction: if Watson wins the three-day tournament (the tournament airs tonight, Tuesday, and Wednesday) it will be on the cover of Time or Newsweek magazine with a headline along the lines of: “Machine 1, Man 0: Why IBM’s Watson Matters.”