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The place to go if youre really interested in this version of the quest for creating Artificial Intelligence AISeattle TimesFor centuries people have dreamed of creating a machine that thinks like a human Scientists have made progress computers can now beat chess grandmasters and help prevent terrorist attacks Yet we still await a machine that exhibits the rich complexity of human thoughtone that doesnt just crunch numbers or take us to a relevant Web page but understands us and gives us what we need With the creation of Watson IBMs Jeopardy playing computer we are one step closer to that goalBut how did we get here In Final Jeopardy Stephen Baker traces the arc of Watsons life from its birth in the IBM labs to its big night on the podium We meet Hollywood moguls and Jeopardy masters genius computer programmers and ambitious scientists including Watsons eccentric creator David Ferrucci We see how a new generation of Watsons could transform medicine the law marketing even science itself as machines process huge amounts of data at lightning speed answer our questions and possibly come up with new hypotheses As fast and fun as the game itself Final Jeopardy shows how smart machines will fit into our worldand how theyll disrupt itLike Tracy Kidders Soul of a New Machine Bakers book finds us at the dawn of a singularity Its an excellent case study and does good double duty as a Philip K Dick scenario tooKirkus ReviewsBakers narrative is both charming and terrifying an entertaining romp through the field of artificial intelligenceand a sobering glimpse of things to comePublishers Weekly starred review.
