VIDEO: Johnson Students Take On IBM's "Watson"

"All great people push themselves and others to do the unthinkable, to stretch the boundaries of what they think they can do," Phil Guido, class of 1979, told the classes of 2011 and 2012 on Wednesday at Arthur L. Johnson High School. Guido, a general manager for IBM, decided to return to Johnson to tell his career story – and bring with him a version of the company's famous artificial intelligence computer system "Watson" – as part of the IBM's call to service in honor of its 100th anniversary.

The program began with a short video detailing IBM's achievements since 1911 and demonstrating that the company that originally sold meat slicers had to be willing to adapt to become to the technology giant it is today. IBM's innovations have led them to more than 5,800 patents. Watson, which just defeated Jeopardy Grand Champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter this January, was named for the company's first president, Thomas J. Watson. 

Following the video, Guido told the story of his journey from ALJ to IBM, complete with his 1979 yearbook photo. Guido never expected that he'd wind up at IBM. After graduating from Montclair State with a degree in international business – a stint studying in Copenhagen – Guido wanted to go to law school. He had been working at IBM his senior year as a marketing assistant when he was offered a permanent position with the company. He turned down the offer originally but later accepted. That decision eventually landed him in Paris as vice president of IBM's Europe, Middle East and Africa divisions. Today, Guido is IBM's East Region general manager.

After telling his story, Guido then played a video IBM uses to inspire employees, further emphasizing his point with "you can do it" scenes from movies like Rocky and Remember the Titans. Guido closed with a few words of wisdom, telling the students, "The key is don't let fear of failure hold you back. ... It's okay to ask for help. ... Define success for yourself. ... Life is a great journey – buckle up and enjoy the ride." 

Then Ed Nazarko, an IBM IT architect, explained how Watson thinks. "If you know how Watson works, you might know how to beat him," said Nazarko, before he got into the ins and outs of Watson's many layers of knowledge. "You can't win Jeopardy by having everything in a database and looking it up," said Nazarko, explaining how Watson needs to be able to decipher puns and clue systems. "You have to figure out what the questions mean." 

The program culminated in 10 Johnson students playing a Jeopardy game against Watson. The students in the audience cheered on their classmates, united in an attempt to take down the computing behemoth. Johnson students did incredibly well against Watson. Although they ultimately succumbed to the system's lightning-fast answers, the Johnson team was beating Watson at one point, especially after learning to choose the categories that were more difficult for system to tackle. 

The program was presented twice, first to juniors and seniors and then to freshmen and sophomores. Students had rave reviews. "It was cool to know that Watson was beatable," said Vince Yau. Loretta Vill, who beat Watson to an answer in the Chief Justices category, said "It was fun to see how I fare against the computer. I expected we would do well because he have such a great education program here in Clark."

When Guido thought about coming to speak at Johnson, he noticed a familiar name on the school's website. Johnson history and English teacher Franklin Stebbins is the son of David Stebbins, who Guido played soccer with during his years at ALJ. Stebbins helped coordinate Guido's visit. "I think it's great for IBM to take this service initiative and provide an opportunity for Phil to come back to a small town and tell his success story," said Stebbins. "The past week here there's been so much student excitement over this. The buzz has been amazing." 

"It was great to come back and give back to a school that had a big impact on my life," said Guido. "These kids have such bright futures. I never would have expected to be where I am when I was in their shoes. I hope the takeaway is that the world is their oyster."