David Ferrucci, Principal Investigator for IBM’s
DeepQA/Watson project, wants me to understand something very, very important about what makes Watson work. The algorithms, software and massively parallel architectures underlying the Jeopardy-winning technology’s design are undeniably important, he says. But the essential breakthrough, Ferrucci asserts, is that Watson — like a dog, a dolphin, a killer whale or a high school apprentice — could be successfully trained.