Elementary, Dear Watson?

I found this fascinating article from the New York Times (yes...I know...) about a machine IBM has programmed to play Jeopardy. I'm impressed with the success they've had; after all, Jeopardy's quirky and pun-filled clues wouldn't be easy for those without a sense of humor to play. But the business implications are interesting. Will in a few years the Watsons be cost-effective to install in minor businesses? I'm sure they will. But to insert a baseball analogy, what's the value over replacement? A business would need to have a customer service department, for example, of several people to even break even, and that's ignoring the human-interaction component that is tough to value, especially in an era of self-checkout and call-center menus that dehumanize business. Most of all, if anything, the internet has shown the importance of contextualized information, not the answers to specific questions. I think IBM might find greater success using this technology to present information in new, predictive, contextualized ways, rather than pigeonholing question-answering into specific and pre-existing business models. What do you think? Would you rather browse or find out exactly, and find it out now?