No longer confined to science fiction, artificial intelligence is here and it’s set to transform the way we live and work.
At the forefront of this computing revolution is IBM, which has its sights set on changing the world with its cognitive computing engine Watson. As many will know, Watson shot to fame in 2011 when it appeared on US game show Jeopardy, beating two previous winners to secure the $1m prize.
Since then IBM have put the technology to use in various industries including retail, healthcare and financial services. A survey carried out by IBM earlier this year showed that 50% of top CEOs predict AI and Cognitive Computing will disrupt their industry.
An incredible example of this disruption is Watson Ads. A consumer will be able to ask Watson questions via voice or text about the product or offering, and Watson’s machine learning and natural language capabilities will allow it to provide accurate responses. A consumer might ask by voice interaction, “What can I make for dinner tonight?” Based on its machine learning and reasoning ability from the data it has ingested, Watson can sort through ingredient and flavor profiles to make recommendations based on the weather, time of day, location and even ingredients users have on hand.
Watson-powered Developer Tools
IBM Watson’s ability to process and create context from large amounts of unstructured data will help marketers provide consumers with meaningful, true brand and product engagement. In this example, creating recipes on the fly from ingredients consumers already have on hand. IBM has opened the technology up to developers, allowing them to build their own Watson-powered solutions.
Another great example of this is Israeli digital health startup HelpAround, who are building Watson APIs into the company’s diabetes support community to optimize their ability to analyze patients’ questions and requests in real-time. The HelpAround mobile platform provides quality-of-life support to people living with diabetes by matching them with a resource that could help. Watson will enable HelpAround to analyze every help request in real-time, assess its sentiment and tone, and identify frustrations, dissatisfaction and expressions of urgency.
For the first in our AI in Business Festival, we spoke to Ted Talks speaker Jerome Pesenti, Vice President of Watson Core Technology at IBM, to find out what the future holds for AI in a business setting. Developers who are interested in getting started with Watson can find more information here.
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