Ideas worth spreading

Watson, Jeopardy and me, the obsolete know-it-all

1,456,213 views |

Ken Jennings |

TEDxSeattleU

• February 2013

Trivia whiz Ken Jennings has made a career as a keeper of facts; he holds the longest winning streak in history on the US quiz show Jeopardy. But in 2011, he played a challenge match against IBM's supercomputer Watson -- and lost. With humor and humility, Jennings tells us how it felt to have a computer literally beat him at his own game, and makes the case for good old-fashioned human knowledge.

Trivia whiz Ken Jennings has made a career as a keeper of facts; he holds the longest winning streak in history on the US quiz show Jeopardy. But in 2011, he played a challenge match against IBM's supercomputer Watson -- and lost. With humor and humility, Jennings tells us how it felt to have a computer literally beat him at his own game, and makes the case for good old-fashioned human knowledge.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxSeattleU, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

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Ken Jennings

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Ken Jennings holds the record for most consecutive wins on the classic American trivia game show, Jeopardy.

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This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxSeattleU, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.