(SPOILER WARNING: Don't read ahead if you don't want to know who — or what — won the Jeopardy IBM Challenge.)
"I for one welcome our new computer overlords," Ken Jennings wrote after his Final Jeopardy answer Wednesday, signaling that he hadn't bet enough to beat IBM's trivia supercomputer, Watson.
But he came close.
In an almost (and this is a compliment) machine-like performance, Jennings gave Watson serious competition on the second and final game of the matchup. Fellow human Brad Rutter came in third.
Watson's two-game total was $77,147, which means IBM will receive $1 million to give to charity. Jennings and Rutter will get $300,000 and $200,000, respectively, and each will give half to charity.
Also winners? The humans at "Jeopardy" and IBM who formulated what amounted to a three-night commercial for the company — albeit an entertaining one.
On Tuesday, "Jeopardy" scored a 9.5 household rating in overnight metered markets — its highest score in nearly six years. Tuesday’s episode was up 9 percent from Monday’s, which scored an 8.7 HH rating.
"Jeopardy" and IBM did not respond to queries by TheWrap about whether the company is paying "Jeopardy" for the in-show product placement.
