IBM Think Ahead: Soon Watson AI Will Be Behind Every Decision

In the next five years, every important decision, whether it's business or personal, will be made with the assistance of IBM Watson. That's the vision of IBM president and CEO Ginni Rometty (pictured), in a keynote speech at IBM's World of Watson conference in late October.

Watson, the company's artificial intelligence-fueled system, is working in fields like health care, finance, entertainment and retail, connecting businesses more easily with their customers, making sense of big data and helping doctors find treatments for cancer patients.

The Watson system is set to transform how businesses function and how people live their lives. "Our goal is augmenting intelligence," Rometty said. "It is man and machine. This is all about extending your expertise. A teacher. A doctor. A lawyer. It doesn't matter what you do. We will extend it."

IBM's October 16th conference, which the company said drew 17,000 attendees, explored how companies, including retailers, educators, human resources departments and financial institutions, among others, can use Watson.

"The challenge IBM has right now is to define the marketplace," said Jeff Kagan, an independent industry analyst, who attended the conference. "Ten years from now, will IBM be the leader? Watson is the leader today but that's easy… If they want to be a leader, they need to create the marketplace and the expectations."

The AI market is young and malleable and Watson is the biggest name, pulling in users like General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline, Staples, Teva Pharmaceuticals, the American Cancer Society and the Cleveland Clinic.

"Every industry starts with a blank slate," he added. "This is the blank slate. IBM is in a position right now to create a base everyone can build on. Some company has to create the base."

Watson technology will touch hundreds of millions of people by the end of this year alone, IBM's CEO said. And in many cases, its user may not know it. Watson may be embedded in Staples' new Easy Button smart device or 1-800-Flowers.com's new digital gift concierge or GM's new OnStar Go service.

Mary Barra, chairman and CEO of General Motors, talked about the company's partnership with IBM to bring a cognitive element to its OnStar mobile platform. OnStar, which has been around for about 20 years, provides in-vehicle communications, security, navigation, remote diagnostics and hands-free calling.

With Watson working behind the scenes on OnStar Go, drivers could get help avoiding traffic when they're low on gas, have a cup of coffee ordered and paid for before they get to their favorite café and get a reminder to get off the highway two exits early to make it easier to stop at the pharmacy after work.

According to Barra, the Watson-based OnStar Go will begin rolling out in cars in early 2017, and by the end of that year "millions of vehicles" will have it.

"We believe in the auto industry, in a period of five years, we'll see more change than in the last 50," Barra said. "We see that as a huge opportunity to transform personal mobility… Think about taking [OnStar] to the next level, with it knowing you and your life and what you want to accomplish, and doing it seamlessly and safely. If we can take that commute time and allow you to be more efficient, it will transform that time."

Rometty also said IBM's moonshot is focused on healthcare, and she brought on stage Satoru Miyano, a professor of the Human Genome Center at the Institute of Medical Science in the University of Tokyo.

Miyano said researchers and doctors are faced with too much data. Last year, he said, more than 200,000 papers were published about cancer alone. Meanwhile, 4 million cancer mutations also were reported.

"Nobody can read it all," Miyano said. "We feel we are a frog in the bottom of the well. Understanding cancer is beyond a human being's ability, but Watson can read, understand and learn. Why not use it?"

Researchers are using Watson to cull through all the data and help clinicians find specific mutations in patients' genomes and offer guidance in treatment.

Miyano gave the example of a 66-year-old woman with leukemia. She was receiving standard therapy but was still getting worse. Doctors didn't understand why she was getting sicker. Using Watson, researchers analyzed all of the data they had on the woman in 10 minutes.

"Watson's results were investigated, targeting specific genes," Miyano said. "The team found she had another type of leukemia [that needed] a different therapy. She got it and she recovered completely."

Rometty said she expects Watson to "change the face of health care" in our lifetime.


Computerworld:           Cognitive Computing is Advancing (£):

« Education Is The Key To Minimise Cyber Risk For Business
Find The Hacker With Action Security Intelligence »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

Clayden Law

Clayden Law

Clayden Law advise global businesses that buy and sell technology products and services. We are experts in information technology, data privacy and cybersecurity law.

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout enables cyber security professionals to reduce cyber risk to their organization with proactive security solutions, providing immediate improvement in security posture and ROI.

BackupVault

BackupVault

BackupVault is a leading provider of automatic cloud backup and critical data protection against ransomware, insider attacks and hackers for businesses and organisations worldwide.

CSI Consulting Services

CSI Consulting Services

Get Advice From The Experts: * Training * Penetration Testing * Data Governance * GDPR Compliance. Connecting you to the best in the business.

XYPRO Technology

XYPRO Technology

XYPRO is the market leader in HPE Non-Stop Security, Risk Management and Compliance.

Infineon Technologies

Infineon Technologies

Infineon is a leader in semiconductor solutions for a huge range of applications including automation, smart systems and security for the Internet of Things.

CERT.GOV.AZ

CERT.GOV.AZ

Azerbaijan Government Computer Incident Response Team

Herjavec Group

Herjavec Group

Herjavec Group's Managed Security Services practice defends your organization from increasingly sophisticated, targeted cybercrime threats.

Gurucul

Gurucul

Gurucul predictive security analytics protects against insider threats, account compromise and data exfiltration on-premises and in the cloud.

Engineering Ingegneria Informatica

Engineering Ingegneria Informatica

Ingegneria Informatica is a leading Italian provider of Information Technology consulting, services and solutions including cyber security.

SafeLogic

SafeLogic

SafeLogic provides strong encryption products for solutions in mobile, server, Cloud, appliance, wearable, and IoT environments that are pursuing compliance to strict regulatory requirements.

Socure

Socure

Socure’s identity verification increases auto approval rates, reduces false positives and captures more fraud. In real time.

SecSign Technologies

SecSign Technologies

SecSign Technologies delivers user authentication, messaging, file sharing, and file storage with next generation security for company networks, websites, platforms, and devices.

Zephyr Project

Zephyr Project

The Zephyr Project strives to deliver the best-in-class RTOS for connected resource-constrained devices, built to be secure and safe.

IoTeX

IoTeX

Building the connected world. IoTeX is a fast, secure, and decentralized platform that connects real world devices/data to the blockchain.

DC Two

DC Two

DC Two are a locally operated and supported Australian data centre, offering a suite of vertically integrated services covering every part of the data centre and cloud technology stack.

Spera Security

Spera Security

Spera helps identity security professionals effectively and confidently measure, prioritize and reduce identity risk to better protect the organization from identity-based attacks.

Protos Labs

Protos Labs

Protos Labs enables insurers & enterprises to make better cyber risk decisions through holistic, real-time risk management tools.

Ever Nimble

Ever Nimble

Ever Nimble are award-winning experts in IT support, cybersecurity, and cloud technology. Our proactive approach will enhance your security and protect you from cyber security threats.

Prompt Security

Prompt Security

Prompt Security provides an LLM agnostic approach to ensure security, data privacy and safety across all aspects of Generative AI.

Coastline Cybersecurity

Coastline Cybersecurity

Coastline Cyber is a cybersecurity consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations strengthen their security posture by reducing risks, mitigating threats, and protecting against attacks.