IBM Research was working on building a question answering computing system for the past 4 years. This system is named Watson. This week, Watson competed on the television program Jeopardy!, which airs across most of North America, defeating the show’s two all-time champions.
Congratulations to everyone in the IBM technical community for this extraordinary achievement. You can read more about it on w3.
As exciting as Watson’s victory is, we didn’t invest four years and millions of dollars simply to win a television game. We did so because this remarkable system represents the new frontier of information science.
First, and most visibly, that frontier involves a new way for computers and humans to interact – specifically, the ability of a computer to understand natural language. This holds enormous potential for making the world’s systems smarter, as we apply powerful analytics to vast quantities of data and real-world human behavior in medicine, government, commerce, finance and beyond. The technology underlying Watson can bring rapid answers to vital questions affecting people’s lives. We have already begun working on applications in healthcare, banking and more.
Second, Watson also represents a new paradigm in IT – a coming generation of systems that are designed for specific workloads and that can actually learn from their own experience – their mistakes and successes, as well as those of others. This is part of the reason eight major universities are already partnering with us to explore and develop Watson’s technological capabilities.
Finally, what does this milestone mean for all of us as IBMers, as we begin our Centennial year? I believe it is more than an occasion for justified pride and celebration. Watson opens the door to a new kind of conversation with all the constituencies we care about. It’s a compelling reminder of the potential of information science to make our world work better, and of IBM’s unique capabilities to make that potential real.
This week, at more than 200 events, IBMers shared the experience of the Watson match with thousands of clients, students, members of the community and colleagues. I encourage you to follow their example, drawing on the excitement around Watson to showcase IBM’s uniqueness as an enterprise: our commitment to thinking for the long term and to investment in breakthrough R&D.
This year is not most importantly about our past, but about how IBM is shaping and leading the future. Watson is a powerful emblem of that. It shows, once again, what can come from a group of forward-thinking women and men who aim for – and achieve – historic progress. This is what IBMers have been doing for 100 years. This is who we are.
Sam Palmisano
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Congratulations to everyone in the IBM technical community for this extraordinary achievement. You can read more about it on w3.
As exciting as Watson’s victory is, we didn’t invest four years and millions of dollars simply to win a television game. We did so because this remarkable system represents the new frontier of information science.
First, and most visibly, that frontier involves a new way for computers and humans to interact – specifically, the ability of a computer to understand natural language. This holds enormous potential for making the world’s systems smarter, as we apply powerful analytics to vast quantities of data and real-world human behavior in medicine, government, commerce, finance and beyond. The technology underlying Watson can bring rapid answers to vital questions affecting people’s lives. We have already begun working on applications in healthcare, banking and more.
Second, Watson also represents a new paradigm in IT – a coming generation of systems that are designed for specific workloads and that can actually learn from their own experience – their mistakes and successes, as well as those of others. This is part of the reason eight major universities are already partnering with us to explore and develop Watson’s technological capabilities.
Finally, what does this milestone mean for all of us as IBMers, as we begin our Centennial year? I believe it is more than an occasion for justified pride and celebration. Watson opens the door to a new kind of conversation with all the constituencies we care about. It’s a compelling reminder of the potential of information science to make our world work better, and of IBM’s unique capabilities to make that potential real.
This week, at more than 200 events, IBMers shared the experience of the Watson match with thousands of clients, students, members of the community and colleagues. I encourage you to follow their example, drawing on the excitement around Watson to showcase IBM’s uniqueness as an enterprise: our commitment to thinking for the long term and to investment in breakthrough R&D.
This year is not most importantly about our past, but about how IBM is shaping and leading the future. Watson is a powerful emblem of that. It shows, once again, what can come from a group of forward-thinking women and men who aim for – and achieve – historic progress. This is what IBMers have been doing for 100 years. This is who we are.
Sam Palmisano
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
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