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IBM’s efforts are defnitely seeing plenty of gaining acceptance but the benefts are
success as Watson spreads its tendrils out into defnitely worthwhile.
the lives of not just the medical industry, but
also in the business world right down to the Firstly, the problem needs to be one which
consumer level. The capabilities of the service Watson can actually solve – mostly those
are helping businesses from every industry problems that are able to leverage the vast
tackle challenges head on – from fnancial swathes of unstructured information currently
services to retail. making up the Internet. IBM says that most
successes come from businesses who have a
The world is becoming increasingly data product already in the marketplace, or who are
driven, with most of that data being unstructured already working with clients and customers in
and coming from disparate sources. Only 20% order to create a new product.
of today’s data is in a structured form which
can be read by a database, so how does Watson Once your business has been accepted into the
actually learn what it needs to know in order Ecosystem you will have access to resources and
to do what it does so well? Watson analyzes support, dubbed “engagement managers,” who
thousands of pages of literature related to work alongside a business while a prototype
a particular feld. It can’t do everything on is developed. The Watson APIs are RESTful
its known as once it’s collected all of that services (basically a service designed to work
information human experts are then required
best on the web). This means they are very easy
to cull through it and curate the content to
to incorporate into an application to ensure
remove irrelevant data.
rapid product deployment into the marketplace.
Watson is then trained by human experts
The cognitive power of Watson enables
using an approach called machine learning.
IBM’s partners to help consumers make more
Training data is entered into Watson as a
informed purchasing decisions and increase the
series of questions and answers. While Watson
level of customer service businesses can offer
doesn’t receive an answer for every conceivable
their clients. An example of the everyday tasks
question it serves the job of training Watson to
Watson can be put to use at the consumer level
understand the lingo and form its own relevant
can be found in the iOS app “Watson Trend.” This
links. The process is ongoing as experts
handy application helps users fnd suitable gifts
periodically review Watson’s progress and
for friends and family with just a few natural
provide it feedback as a way of increasing its
English phrases. The Watson API powering the
accuracy.
app keeps track of trends in the marketplace,
and provides up to date information and reviews
Watson works with natural language
on current popular products.
constructs which are infuenced not just by
the rules of grammar and context, but are
Another product making great use of Watson
also heavily infuenced by culture. It’s trained
as a service is from the startup known as
to understand natural language and work out
“Cognitoys.” Watson powers this Internet and
the user’s intent. As Watson searches millions
WiFi enabled toy, resembling a friendly cartoon
of documents and fnds thousands of answers
dinosaur, to enable it to answer any question a
each one is scored using an evidence based
algorithm to determine its quality. Over time young child is likely to ask. It also remembers
Watson improves as it gains experience due to personal details such as favorite colors, and is
its interactions with us. Basically, it learns from endowed with a personality that grows over time
its mistakes and its successes just like humans as the child continues to interact with it.
do.
Startup companies in particular have a greater
If you have a problem to solve, or want to incentive to team up with IBM and their Watson
transform your industry then IBM’s Watson Ecosystem as IBM is prepared to invest in
partner program, which they have dubbed the A and B rounds of any idea they think is
the Watson Ecosystem, may be worthy of worthy. Once the product is at a stage ready for
investigation. Of course, IBM have a few promotion funds will be made available to help
requirements you will need to meet before the business create as big a splash as possible.

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