{from a 'Google-News' page search, on "IBM's Watson"}
 
"Watson is not a fantasy prop in a science fiction movie. It is a real computer with artificial intelligence capable of responding to Jeopardy questions posed not in binary code, but in natural human language with all of its complications," UTEP President Diana Natalicio said. "Watson is not only capable of answering such questions, it's really good at it."
 
Watson, named for IBM's founder Thomas J. Watson, was pitted against two of the most successful contestants in Jeopardy history last Feburary, including Jeopardy legend Ken Jennings. The result left many astounded. Watson not only won, it won by a large margin. Furthermore, Watson did not cheat by getting help through any sort of Internet access; it relied entirely on its own capacity.
 
"Watson represents an accomplishment that at one point in time we thought impossible to achieve," Talbot said. "The challenge was to retrieve, analyze and retain massive amounts of information, which here means about a million books, and then come back with accurate answers very quickly."
 
Talbot said Watson's capabilities are very different from the Google search engine, because when people use Google they typically receive many answers that need to be sort through to find the information required. Watson responds to questions quickly and with a high level of confidence that it is the correct answer.
 
According to Talbot {a 'Watson' team member}; Another characteristic that sets Watson apart is its ability to learn from its mistakes. While on the show Jeopardy, Watson got a few of the questions wrong because of the way Watson phrased the answers. After its feedback let it know that it was guessing incorrectly, it used a system of algorithms to change its strategy and went on to win the game without missing more questions, a feat that has even technical-minded people baffled.