20Q
Encyclopedia
Twenty Questions
Twenty Questions is a spoken parlor game which encourages deductive reasoning and creativity. It originated in the United States and escalated in popularity during the late 1940s when it became the format for a successful weekly radio quiz program....
that began as an experiment in artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
(AI). It was invented by Robin Burgener.
The game 20Q is based on the spoken parlor game
Twenty Questions
Twenty Questions is a spoken parlor game which encourages deductive reasoning and creativity. It originated in the United States and escalated in popularity during the late 1940s when it became the format for a successful weekly radio quiz program....
known as twenty questions, and is both a website and a handheld device. 20Q asks the player to think of something and will then try to guess what they are thinking of with twenty yes-or-no questions. If it fails to guess in 20 questions, it will ask an additional 5 questions. If it fails to guess even with 25 questions, the player is declared the winner. Sometimes the first guess of the object can be asked at question 14.
Principle and history
The 20Q was created in 1988 as an experiment in artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
(AI) The principle is that the player thinks of something and the 20Q artificial intelligence asks a series of questions before guessing what the player is thinking. This artificial intelligence learns on its own with the information relayed back to the players who interact with it, and is not programmed. The player can answer these questions with: Yes, No, Unknown, Irrelevant, Sometimes, Probably or Doubtful. The experiment is based on the classic word game of Twenty Questions, and on the computer game "Animals," popular in the early 1970s, which used a somewhat simpler method to guess an animal.
The 20Q AI uses a true artificial neural network
Artificial neural network
An artificial neural network , usually called neural network , is a mathematical model or computational model that is inspired by the structure and/or functional aspects of biological neural networks. A neural network consists of an interconnected group of artificial neurons, and it processes...
to pick the questions and to guess. After the player has answered the twenty questions posed (sometimes fewer), 20Q makes a guess. If it is incorrect, it asks more questions, then guesses again. It makes guesses based on what it has learned; it is not programmed with information or what the inventor thinks. Answers to any question are based on players’ interpretations of the questions asked. Newer editions were made for different categories, for example music 20Q which has the player think of a song, and Harry Potter 20Q, which has the player think of something from the world of the Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
series.
The 20Q AI can draw its own conclusions on how to interpret the information. It can be described as more of a folk taxonomy
Folk taxonomy
A folk taxonomy is a vernacular naming system, and can be contrasted with scientific taxonomy. Folk biological classification is the way peoples describe and organize their natural surroundings/the world around them, typically making generous use of form taxa like "shrubs", "bugs", "ducks",...
than a taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
. Its knowledge develops with every game played. In this regard, the online version of the 20Q AI can be inaccurate because it gathers its answers from what people think rather than from what people know. Limitations of taxonomy are often overcome by the AI itself because it can learn and adapt. For example, if the player was thinking of a "Horse" and answered "No" to the question "Is it an animal?," the AI will, nevertheless, guess correctly, despite being told that a horse is not an animal.
Patent applications in the US and Europe were submitted in 2005.
Modularity of the artificial intelligence
The modular capability of the 20Q artificial intelligence means that it can be embedded in small screen devices. Currently, there is a handheld version of the AI. The device contains a small portion of the original 20Q website knowledge base; unlike the online versions of the game, the handheld version does not have the ability to learn.The 20Q artificial intelligence is different from less flexible, and extremely large, expert systems. Its modularity, adaptability, and scalability means that it can be applied to other, more complex devices, for more complex uses.
Game show
On June 13, 2009, GSNGame Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
(now Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon is a US cable TV channel.Nickelodeon may also refer to:-In television:*Spinoffs of the Nickelodeon channel:** Nickelodeon Magazine, a children's magazine.** Nickelodeon Universe, an amusement park....
) began a TV version of the game, hosted by Cat Deeley
Cat Deeley
Catherine Elizabeth "Cat" Deeley is an English television presenter and model. Since 2006, Deeley has also been the host of So You Think You Can Dance in the United States, for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition...
of So You Think You Can Dance fame, with Hal Sparks
Hal Sparks
Hal Harry Magee Sparks III is an American actor, comedian, musician and television personality. He is known for his contributions to VH1, hosting E!'s Talk Soup, and the role of Michael Novotny on the American television series Queer as Folk.-Early life:Sparks was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, but...
as the voice of the computer.