Answers.Body: <p>IBM clearly don't provide all the details / "secret sauce" but there is some information out there on how Watson works.  Some of the text search / retrieval stuff uses a technology called <a href="http://uima.apache.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">UIMA</a> which IBM open-sourced a few years ago.  It also uses Prolog and some custom C++ code.    Some more information can be found <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20161106224106/http://learning.acm.org/webinar/lally.cfm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2016-08-08T18:14:45.737Z
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Answers.Body: <p>Watson starts off by searching its massive database of sources for stuff that might be pertinent to the question. Next, it searches through all of the search results and turns them into candidate answers. For example, if one of the search results is an article, Watson might pick the title of the article as a possible answer. After finding all of these candidate answers, it proceeds to iteratively score them to determine which one is best.</p>
  
  <p>The scoring process is very complicated, and involves finding supporting evidence for each answer, and then combining many different scoring algorithms to determine which candidate answer is the best. You can read a more detailed (but still very conceptual) overview <a href="http://www.aaai.org/Magazine/Watson/watson.php" rel="nofollow">here</a>, by the creators of Watson.</p>
  
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Body: <p>Is there any simple explanation how <em>Watson</em> finds and scores evidence after gathering massive evidence and analyzing the data?</p>
  
  <p>In other words, how does it know which precise answer it needs to return?</p>
  
Tags: <watson>
Title: How does Watson find and evaluate its evidence to the answer?
UserDisplayName: kenorb
ThreadText: # How does Watson find and evaluate its evidence to the answer?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2016-08-04)
  
  Is there any simple explanation how *Watson* finds and scores evidence after gathering massive evidence and analyzing the data?
  
  In other words, how does it know which precise answer it needs to return?
  
  **Tags:** watson
  
  
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  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2016-08-04. Score: 4 | Accepted answer
  
  Watson starts off by searching its massive database of sources for stuff that might be pertinent to the question. Next, it searches through all of the search results and turns them into candidate answers. For example, if one of the search results is an article, Watson might pick the title of the article as a possible answer. After finding all of these candidate answers, it proceeds to iteratively score them to determine which one is best.
  
  The scoring process is very complicated, and involves finding supporting evidence for each answer, and then combining many different scoring algorithms to determine which candidate answer is the best. You can read a more detailed (but still very conceptual) overview [here](http://www.aaai.org/Magazine/Watson/watson.php), by the creators of Watson.
  
  
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  ### Answer by username_1 on 2016-08-08. Score: 3
  
  IBM clearly don't provide all the details / "secret sauce" but there is some information out there on how Watson works. Some of the text search / retrieval stuff uses a technology called [UIMA](http://uima.apache.org/) which IBM open-sourced a few years ago. It also uses Prolog and some custom C++ code. Some more information can be found [here](https://web.archive.org/web/20161106224106/http://learning.acm.org/webinar/lally.cfm).
  
  
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