Artificial intelligence gets put to the test on Jeopardy!

New Scientist : Artificial intelligence hits prime time this week when a computer squares off against two human opponents on the popular quiz show Jeopardy! Watson, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, is one of the most advanced supercomputers to date. In a first-of-its-kind competition, Watson will face two former Jeopardy! champions, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. In a related article, the New York Times‘s John Markoff reflects on the subject of artificial intelligence and its history since the dawn of the modern computer era.