One morning in 2010, Alex Trebek walked onto the IBM campus not far outside New York City and prepared to inspect what would become the most unusual player in Jeopardy! ’s history.

The trip, clear across the country from the show’s Culver City set, had been carefully planned. David Ferrucci, a computer scientist at IBM, had spent years leading a team to develop what would become the first and, so far, last nonhuman ever to compete on Jeopardy! Longtime host Trebek would watch three practice games played with “Watson,” as the system was named, and two human contestants. Then the Jeopardy! team would be taken to lunch nearby, and Trebek would ultimately take the stage and host two more Watson practice games himself.

By then the preparations for a future televised Jeopardy! contest

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