IBM’s question-answering system that beat human champions on Jeopardy!
Watson was the trivia-night kid with an encyclopedia backpack. The host blinked, and Watson hit the buzzer.
It showed computers could answer open questions. Later, IBM used the name for business AI tools.
QA
Watson gave open-domain QA a famous TV moment.
NLP
Watson used NLP to read the clue and its hints.
IR
Watson used IR to find evidence before choosing an answer.
Deep Blue
Watson and Deep Blue are both landmark IBM AI wins.