Which kind of machine learning concept / model is used in 20 Questions?Is this kind of thing best solved by a neural network?Where I can read something about it?
What kind of model is used by 20 Questions?
machine learning;neural networks;data mining
this is a large collaboratively edited database of conditional branches basically, but it is probably not so reliable unless humans review/correct its collection (not sure how much that is done). it uses some principles similar to binary search. it is also similar to expert systems except that its modifiable. basically the answers to the questions serve as a unique address of the different objects in memory ie it can probably be modelled largely as a huge decision tree. it also has some rough similarity to a famous CS project called Cyc, part of the Symbolic AI school of thought, that attempted to categorize all human knowledge. 20Q has a FAQ here. another somewhat related/more recent technology in this area is rules engines.as an example/single random sample of its reliability/coverage, picked tv as the object & it basically failed. also some of the guesses dont really seem to make sense, hence possibly a poor quality of samples collected from random web users who dont have much incentive to provide high quality responses (and might amuse themselves by not doing so).You won!Q30.  I am guessing that it is a Pikachu (Pokemon character)?Right, Wrong, Close 29.     I guessed that it was a record (before CD's)? Wrong.28.     Is it heavy? No.27.     I guessed that it was a cartoon? Wrong.26.     Do you make something with it? No.25.     Is it smaller than a loaf of bread? No.24.     Do you use it in cooking? No.23.     I guessed that it was a model train? Wrong.22.     Does it use electricity? Yes.21.     Can it be played? No.20.     I guessed that it was a hairdryer? Wrong.19.     Was it used over 100 years ago? No.18.     I guessed that it was an autoharp? Wrong.17.     Do you use it in your home? Yes.16.     Does it have a horn? No.15.     Is it worth a lot of money? No.14.     Is it larger than a pound of butter? Yes.13.     Would you use it in the dark? No.12.     Is it straight? No.11.     Do you need batteries to use it? No.10.     Can you put something into it? No.9.      Is it larger than a microwave oven (or bread box)? No.8.      Do you use it at work? No.7.      Does it ring? No.6.      Is it a root vegetable? No.5.      Does it have buttons? Yes.4.      Does it play music? Sometimes.3.      Does it make noise? Yes.2.      Is it used for entertainment? Yes.1.      It is classified as Other.