Kitcatt Nohr Digitas

IBM’s Watson supercomputer chalked up another victory for the cyborgs yesterday by beating the two best-ever contestants in the US game show Jeopardy.

Jeopardy’s twist is that the host provides the answer and the contestants supply the question.

The final Jeopardy category was 19th century novelists.  And the answer: William Wilkinson's "An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia" inspired this author's most famous novel.

The question - which all three contestants got right was "Who is Bram Stoker?"

Watson wagered $17,973 (£11,154) to cement his victory.

In the end Watson accumulated $77,147 (£47,923) versus Mr Jennings' total of $24,000 (£14,907) and Mr Rutter's $21,600 (£12,416). A handsome victory.

While we may raise a wry smile, this really marks a milestone in developing the ability of computers to understand natural language. Take for example NHS direct. By building a really powerful human language interface you could replace the people with a supercomputer. The eventual result would be lower cost and better outcomes.

In social engineering terms this is as much a threat to knowledge workers as automation was to craftspeople in the industrial revolution. Want legal advice? Talk to Watson. Want IT support? Talk to Watson.

And when Mum rings up for an hour long chat when you are trying to get the kids to bed, how will she know that you haven’t just passed the call over to your butler, Watson?