Skip to footer

IBM's Watson settles down in New York and learns Spanish

Watson, the super computer famous for being human contestants on 'Jeopardy!,' is settling down in New York. IBM announced a new Watson global headquarters in Silicon Alley, a place they hope can be the hub of innovation for Watson.  

|
Seth Wenig/AP/File
"Jeopardy!" contestant Ken Jennings, who won a record 74 consecutive games, in a practice match against IBM computer called "Watson" in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., on Jan. 13, 2011. IBM is opening its Watson global headquarters in New York where it hopes to transform the computer from game show contestant to personal assistant.

News of Watson has been quiet since it beat its human competitors on "Jeopardy!," but behind the scenes, developers have been working to take the computer from game show contestant to a commercial product. 

On Tuesday, IBM unveiled its latest developments. IBM is opening a Watson world headquarters in New York City. Watson's new digs take up an entire Manhattan block, and with 600 employees and $1 billion in funding from IBM, the New York headquarters will become the center of Watson's development.  

"IBM is opening its doors to area developers and entrepreneurs, hosting industry workshops, seminars and networking opportunities to build enthusiasm and awareness among the New York City start up community," IBM said in a statement. "For entrepreneurs and start ups, the Watson Group's Silicon Alley headquarters will provide technology, tools and talent to create and launch new products and businesses based on Watson's cloud-delivered cognitive intelligence."

Named after IBM's founder Thomas Watson, Watson is IBM's latest big supercomputer project, which processes information through natural-language processing to analyze big data. 

"Watson 'gets smarter' in three ways: by being taught by its users, by learning from prior interactions, and by being presented with new information," IBM said in a statement. 

IBM is hoping to make the Watson system the equivalent of an operating system, but for that to happen, the software needs a platform that provides apps customers can use. IBM opened up a "cloud" to developers on November 2013 so they could develop apps that were integrated in the technology. IBM announced Tuesday that 100 businesses and nonprofits would begin offering apps for the Watson engine. The new apps include healthcare apps, that can help doctors diagnose patients, and shopping apps that help businesses offer products to customers. 

"This marks an important milestone for the Watson Ecosystem as we empower organizations to use next generation technology, using information as the cognitive fuel, to help solve formidable challenges across industries,” Stephen Gold, vice president of the Watson Group, said in a statement. 

Until now, Watson's natural-language processing has been restricted to English, but in new developments, Watson is learning Spanish with the help of the Spain-based CaixaBank. 

Watson's intelligence is already being implemented by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York to help tackle real world healthcare problems. The hospital is planning to bring a long-term deployment of the technology soon, according to The New York Times. 

In March, Watson began using its knowledge to create crazy food combinations. Chefs decide what ingredients they would like to use, and Watson comes up with different recipes. 

“The system analyzed about 35,000 existing recipes and about 1,000 chemical flavor compounds, which allows it to make educated guesses about which ingredient combinations will delight and, just as importantly, surprise,” writes Adrianne Jeffries for The Verge. “From there, it tries to encourage unconventional combinations – like chocolate, coffee, and garlic – in order to produce dishes that have never been made before.”

With its new digs and funding, IBM is hoping Watson's New York education will make it the world's smartest personal assistant and sous chef. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to IBM's Watson settles down in New York and learns Spanish
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Tech/2014/1008/IBM-s-Watson-settles-down-in-New-York-and-learns-Spanish
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe