>> what is jericho. >> correct. >> reporter: well enough to play jeopardy at the highest level. with top money winner brad rudder and ken jennings who won 74 games in a row in 2004. jennings' amazing run caught the nation's attention including i.b.m. executives who were looking on for a follow-up to their man versus machine triumph. the computer they called deep blue beat the grand master in a celebrated tournament in 1997. they wondered if a machine could beat the best humans at jeopardy. >> we knew it would be hard. we knew it wouldn't be easy but to have an opportunity to get the resources to sort of push the limits in advance of technology was just irresistible. >> reporter: getting machines to truly understand language is the holy grail of a field called artificial intelligence. you know, making computers more like us. able to comprehend, learn and solve problems. in the early days of computing, it seemed so easy. >> i confidently expect within 10 or 15 years we will find emerging from the laboratories something not too far from the robot of science fiction fame. >> reporte

>> what is jericho. >> correct. >> reporter: well enough to play jeopardy at the highest level. with top money winner brad rudder and ken jennings who won 74 games in a row in 2004. jennings' amazing run caught the nation's attention including i.b.m. executives who were looking on for a follow-up to their man versus machine triumph. the computer they called deep blue beat the grand master in a celebrated tournament in 1997. they wondered if a machine could beat the best humans at jeopardy. >> we knew it would be hard. we knew it wouldn't be easy but to have an opportunity to get the resources to sort of push the limits in advance of technology was just irresistible. >> reporter: getting machines to truly understand language is the holy grail of a field called artificial intelligence. you know, making computers more like us. able to comprehend, learn and solve problems. in the early days of computing, it seemed so easy. >> i confidently expect within 10 or 15 years we will find emerging from the laboratories something not too far from the robot of science fiction fame. >> reporte