Watson's friends help you and Social Security 

[July 01, 2011]  In February 2011, Jeopardy! broadcast its first competition that pit man against machine. Watson, an artificial intelligence computer system developed by IBM, competed against the show’s two most successful champions: Ken Jennings (longest winning streak) and Brad Rutter (biggest money winner).

Watson won, with the help of a four-terabyte memory that included 200 million pages of encyclopedias — including the full text of Wikipedia.

We at Social Security have known for some time that computers can help people. As a result, we developed and now have some of the best online services in the world. Time and time again, Social Security’s online services are at the top of customer satisfaction surveys.

So here’s a Jeopardy! answer of our own: “You can conduct these online services at www.socialsecurity.gov.” What is the question?

• What is “get an instant, personalized estimate of future benefits with the Retirement Estimator at www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator”?
• What is “apply for Social Security retirement, spouse’s, Medicare, or disability benefits at www.socialsecurity.gov/applyonline”?
• What is “apply for Extra Help with Medicare prescription drug costs at www.socialsecurity.gov/prescriptionhelp”?
• What is “request a replacement Medicare card at www.socialsecurity.gov/pgm/links_medicare.htm”?

All of the above are acceptable answers.

Computers are capable of making our lives much easier. In fact, you might say that using our online services makes doing business with Social Security … elementary, dear Watson.

See for yourself at www.socialsecurity.gov.

By Judith Bartels

Social Security District Manager in Springfield, IL 

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