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  • October 2015 (Revised October 2016)
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Building Watson: Not So Elementary, My Dear! (Abridged)

By: Willy C. Shih
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:17
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Abstract

This case is set inside IBM Research's efforts to build a computer that can successfully take on human challengers playing the game show Jeopardy! It opens with the machine named Watson offering the incorrect answer "Toronto" to a seemingly simple question during the championship match. Was the answer a reflection of a strategic weakness, or was it actually consistent with design principles established by the development team?
The case seeks to expand students' view of the product development process. Traditional software development projects begin with the gathering of requirements and analysis of the problem, and the writing of a detailed specification. The Jeopardy! problem is different—it requires a probabilistic approach where there is no closed form solution. Instead statistical patterns in the data are important and there is no obvious mapping to the way queries are expressed. Such problems are increasingly common in data mining, optimization problems, or Internet applications where the goal is to find an acceptably good solution in a short amount of time, when a deterministic approach might be less fruitful or impractical. We aspire for students to recognize that product development can take many forms, and that these are enabled by creativity and the right organizational flexibility and mindset.
This abridged version of the case focuses on the choice of Jeopardy! as the development target, and the approach taken by the development team. The original case is HBS No. 612-017, and has much more detail on the design strategy for the Watson system.

Keywords

Analytics; Big Data; Business Analytics; Product Development Strategy; Machine Learning; Machine Intelligence; Artificial Intelligence; Product Development; AI and Machine Learning; Information Technology; Analytics and Data Science; Information Technology Industry; United States

Citation

Shih, Willy C. "Building Watson: Not So Elementary, My Dear! (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 616-025, October 2015. (Revised October 2016.)
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About The Author

Willy C. Shih

Technology and Operations Management
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Related Work

    • October 2015 (Revised October 2016)
    • Faculty Research

    Building Watson: Not So Elementary, My Dear! (Abridged)

    By: Willy C. Shih
Related Work
  • Building Watson: Not So Elementary, My Dear! (Abridged) By: Willy C. Shih
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