This is how supercomputers cook: IBM??s Watson dreams up cre
Source: Adrianne Jeffries
A master chef can think about a combination of two, maybe three ingredients at a time. Watson, the same IBM supercomputer that won Jeopardy in 2011, can crunch through a quintillion. That's a one and 18 zeroes, as the IBM researchers like to say. But does that make their computer a good cook?
For about two years, IBM's cognitive computing group has been working to apply Watson's vast processing ability to food. The system analyzed about 35,000 existing recipes and about 1,000 chemical flavor compounds, which allows it to make educated guesses about which ingredient combinations will delight and, just as importantly, surprise. From there, it tries to encourage unconventional combinations ― like chocolate, coffee, and garlic ― in order to produce dishes that have never been made before.
"Creativity is the crowning achievement of human intelligence," says Steven Abrams, director of the Watson group. "Can we make a computer be creative?"
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