IBM computer will compete for a $1 million prize on Jeopardy! against the show’s two most successful contestants - Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.

It was announced recently that an IBM computing system named Watson will compete in the first-ever man vs. machine Jeopardy! competition. It will air on February 14, 15 and 16, 2011, with two matches being played over three consecutive days.

"After four years, our scientific team believes that Watson is ready for this challenge based on its ability to rapidly comprehend what the Jeopardy! clue is asking, analyze the information it has access to, come up with precise answers and develop an accurate confidence in its response,” said Dr. David Ferrucci, the scientist leading the IBM Research team that created Watson.

“Beyond our excitement for the match itself, our team is very motivated by the possibilities that Watson's breakthrough computing capabilities hold for building a smarter planet and helping people in their business tasks and personal lives," Ferrucci said.

Watson, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, was built by a team of IBM scientists who set out to accomplish a grand challenge - build a computing system that rivals a human’s ability to answer questions posed in natural language with speed, accuracy and confidence. The Jeopardy! format provides the ultimate challenge because the game’s clues involve analyzing subtle meaning, irony, riddles and other complexities in which humans excel and computers traditionally do not.

Competing against Watson will be two of the most celebrated players ever to appear on the show.  Jennings broke the Jeopardy! record for the most consecutive games played by winning 74 games in a row during the 2004-2005 season, resulting in winnings of more than $2.5 million. Rutter won the highest cumulative amount ever by a single Jeopardy! player, earning $3,255,102. The total amount is a combination of Rutter’s original appearance in 2000, plus three tournament wins:  the “Tournament of Champions” in 2001, the "Million Dollar Masters Tournament" in 2002 and the "Ultimate Tournament of Champions" in 2005.

"We're thrilled that Jeopardy! is considered a benchmark of ultimate knowledge,” said Harry Friedman, executive producer of Jeopardy!. “Performing well on Jeopardy! requires a combination of skills and it will be fascinating to see whether a computer can compete against arguably the two best Jeopardy! players ever."

The grand prize for this competition will be $1 million with the second-place contestant earning $300,000 and the third-place finisher will receive $200,000. Rutter and Jennings will donate half of their winnings to charity and IBM will donate 100% of its winnings to charity.

This fall Watson played more than 50 sparring games against former Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions contestants in final preparation for its television debut. In addition, Watson took and passed the same Jeopardy! qualifying test that humans take Highlights of the sparring matches can be viewed and tracked over the next few weeks at www.ibmwatson.com.

Beyond Jeopardy!, the technology behind Watson promises to be adapted to solve problems and drive progress in various fields. The computer has the ability to sift through vast amounts of data and return precise answers, ranking its confidence in its answers. The technology, according to IBM, could be applied in areas such as healthcare, to help accurately diagnose patients, to improve online self-service help desks, to provide tourists and citizens with specific information regarding cities and prompt customer support via phone, among other things.

Watson is a breakthrough human achievement in the scientific field of question and answering, also known as "QA." The Watson software is powered by an IBM POWER7 server, optimized to handle the massive number of tasks that Watson must perform at rapid speeds to analyze complex language and deliver correct responses to Jeopardy! clues. The system incorporates a number of proprietary technologies for the specialized demands of processing an enormous number of concurrent tasks and data while analyzing information in real time.

For more information about Jeopardy!, visit Jeopardy.com. For more information about Watson, visit ibmwatson.com. Additionally, to join the social discussion about Watson, visit ibm.com/social/Watson. For Twitter, include the hashtag #ibmwatson in a tweet and follow Watson on Facebook: facebook.com/ibmwatson.

Photo of Ken Jennings/Brad Rutter by Charles William Bush.