20Q

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Yes/No answers removes/adds a predetermined amount of probability from each answer based on the question. In 1988, Canadian inventor Robin Burgener programmed a neural network (a specialized form of computer program) capable of playing 20 Questions, but without a library of knowledge about common objects. Considering it's essentially just a plastic ball with a few electronic bits inside I still find it pretty amazing and I'm considerably older than the manufacturer's recommended age group! Both games involve asking yes/no questions, but Twenty Questions places a greater premium on efficiency of questioning. It was hosted by Gearóid Ó Tighearnaigh, written by Dick O'Donovan and produced by Bill O'Donovan (occasional panelist) and included Dominic O’Riordan, Tony Ó Dálaigh, Seán Ó Murchú and Máire Noone on the panel.

but the truly remarkable thing is just how often it DOES get it right after asking apparently irrelevant questions. Accordingly, the most effective strategy for twenty questions is to ask questions that will split the field of remaining possibilities roughly in half each time. These categories can produce odd technicalities, such as a wooden table being classified as a vegetable (since wood comes from trees), or a belt being both animal (if leather) or vegetable (if cloth), and mineral (if it has a metal or plastic buckle). Today (or at least as of late 2006, the last time its online FAQ seems to have been updated), the online version of 20Q guesses correctly about 80% of the time, and if you allow it 25 questions, it claims a 98% success rate.What happens is that it is learning to play more kinds of people, people who don't speak English easily, or who have never played 20 questions, or who come from different cultures, and to understand more difficult kinds of things.

I bought one of these little gizmos on a whim just before a recent holiday - it captivated our group and hardly an hour passed between someone grabbing it, saying, "I wonder if it can guess. I had originally bought this for my daughter for Xmas and we both have lots of fun with it and are amazed most of the time. Last year, after 1 million rounds of 20 questions online, the neural net had accumulated 10 million synaptic associations.

The makers of the award-winning 20Q® electronic toy bring its eerily accurate artificial intelligence to an App. A version with a rival line-up, [9] produced by commercial station Radio Luxembourg, is not acknowledged by the BBC. I'll give you two examples: Try thinking of a baby, which we are as we are having one in Feb, answer all it's questions and what did it come up with .