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"By Molly Harbarger Hearst Newspapers WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Jim Himes knows his chicken. In a mock “Jeopardy!” competition Monday for IBM to showcase its Watson computer, the Connecticut Democrat scored most of his points from naming ways to cook poultry because he thought that was the most human of the categories. The competition between the computer and five congressmen, a reprise of sorts to the ballyhooed clash in which Watson defeated two of the all-time champions of “Jeopardy!,” saw Himes take third place. Watson, again, triumphed. Perhaps the politician’s defeat was proof of a major technological breakthrough. Or maybe it was a mildly embarrassing but ultimately humanizing experience for Himes and fellow Reps. Rush Holt, D-N.J.; Nan Hayworth, R-N.Y.; Jared Polis, D-Colo., and Bill Cassidy, R-La. Watson may have won, but the humans got the majority of cheers from the crowd of IBM employees and legislators’ staffs. “I came in behind Watson and a nuclear physicist, so while I’m not a winner, I don’t feel bad about it,” Himes said. IBM held the competition as part of its annual lobbying campaign. Besides trying to showcase the role technology like Watson could play in government analytics, the company is urging that the patent system be reformed and asking for more money to be put toward research and development in the areas they work. It took IBM four years to get Watson to the point where it could beat past “Jeopardy!” champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. Now, IBM wants to prepare Watson for its next role — as a data analyst in health care in 18 to 24 months. IBM wants to adapt it to more areas, such as assisting air traffic controllers, analyzing census data or helping legislators, said Chris Padilla, the company’s vice president of governmental programs. IBM scientists scanned huge volumes of data into the machine, which it searches through, synthesizes and creates scenarios with predicted outcomes. It lists the scenarios with its best possible choice and a confidence rating. Instead of using Google to search for results, scientists tap Watson to provide the information that provides solutions. “What we want to do is get beyond that paradigm and into a system that shifts the burden off of the user to gather and analyze all the evidence to a system that does all that for you,” Eric Brown, one of the scientists who created Watson, said. Watson’s biggest sweep in Monday night’s competition came in the fashion category, which might be more of a statement on legislators’ sense of style than the computer’s ability to mine data. Watson was not infallible, though. Holt, a former “Jeopardy!” competitor, came in second and gave it a run for IBM’s money in several categories. Watson also experienced some technical difficulties. “It malfunctioned more than the Democrats or the Republicans,” Himes said. Holt, a five-time Jeopardy! winner, gave Watson a challenge, earning $8,600 against the computer’s $6,200 before the game progressed to Double Jeopardy. Himes ($7,600) and Polis ($6,800) stayed competitive. But Watson eventually pulled away. Final score: Watson $40,300; congressmen $30,000. Brown hosted the event at the Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel. It went three rounds with two legislators facing off against each other and Watson at a time. Himes sees merit in using the technology to analyze and collect data, but is wary of giving it too much control in making decisions. “As impressed as I am with this thing, emotions, values and wisdom are three innately human things that this thing is a long way from having,” Himes said. Himes said that America’s future depends on innovation and the government should be more concerned with developing developers than better computers. “Much more serious than the question of ’What is this computer going to do?’ is the question of, ’How can we have more engineers of the type that built it?’” Himes said."
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