How will IBM leverage "cognitive computing" with IBM Watson?

I had the opportunity to attend the IBM “Watson in the Age of Discovery” event last week at the Museum of Art & Design in NYC.  IBM rolled out the red carpet for their top brass, including IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and IBM Watson head Michael Rhodin  to help tout their new cognitive computing platform IBM Watson.

Watson: Not your Father's IBM.

The promotionial video they’ve produced for IBM Watson was slick and well-edited. Even more compelling, however, were the stories behind the event's theme: Discovering by Design: How cognitive systems are accelerating discovery, innovation and insight. 

In plain English cognitive computing makes computers a “learning partner” in discovery. It is unlike a simple web search that yields results based on some mystical Google algorithm that focuses on simple popularity and relevance.

Rather, IBM Watson can be fed a nearly infinite amount of data and it can be “taught” to seek out distant connections between data points. It can read and understand natural language, meaning it can process unstructured data. Watson's mass data assessment process and analytic bandwidth goes well beyond the ability of even the most caffeine-driven researcher or dedicated professional.

The cases shown at the event ranged from clinical outcomes for pharmaceutical trials with French Pharmaceutical giant Sanofi to engineering challenges outlined by David Goldstein Lead Director from The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers. IBM Watson partnerships featured went on to help researchers discover disease-fighting proteins at Baylor University to concocting new food recipes with "Chef Watson." IBM Watson answers questions based on the data it is fed, with statistical confidence in its stated results.

When IBM Watson Head / SVP Mike Rhodin promised “a new era of computing that will change the relationship between computers and people” I was frankly very skeptical. 

A tech-driven sea-change is at hand.

But the “use-cases” shown were compelling to say the least. Thomas Malone from the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence characterized cognitive computing as a “new age of discovery” with the potential to impact history akin to the advent of long-range sailing ships starting back in the 1400s. This time the frontiers are in the form of big data - and how to be use it to empower better decisions and improve the quality of life. Who am I to argue with a MIT faculty member?

The most compelling presentation came from 
Roberto Villansenor – who is the Tucson, AZ Chief of Police. It also frankly presented IBM with its biggest potential challenge in terms of a “use case” for its IBM cognitive computing platform.

Chief Villasenor cited the need for police departments to assimilate disparate databases to help solve crimes. He shared the thousands of pages of data that related to a case concerning the disappearance of a young girl last year in Tucson.

The most compelling use case.

He said police work is not like the crime shows on TV, as it can months of grinding work sifting through mounds of information for police to “connect the dots” and find relevant clues / evidence that helps solve crimes.

Most property related crimes go unsolved due simply to the lack of resources to process the available information. Police departments are focused on more life-threatening crimes / criminals. Imagine the IBM Watson Cognitive computing system being able to sift through all that data at lighting speed to get the police pointed in the right direction.

But here is the challenge for IBM: As a for-profit Fortune 100 corporation, do they need to mainly pay attention to large enterprise-level applications for IBM Watson with big price tags hanging off them? Will IBM Watson be “the next big thing” that will help them compete more effectively against H-P? Will Watson be used to tout their brilliant business acumen to equity analysts in 2015 - as a long-term growth driving initiative?

Or can IBM afford to “give it away” to some extent to resource constrained municipal agencies like the Tucson Police Department or to underfunded medical research hospitals. Will IBM use Watson to help improve the safety and quality of life of millions of people? Will they be willing and able to answer the higher social-welfare calling?

The obvious balance is somewhere in between. I hope that Ms. Rometty gives Mr. Rhodin some leeway during the 2015 IBM Watson business plan reviews, and that IBM will leverage the true power of IBM Watson cognitive computing to do more than drive bottom-line results for the company. 


That decision would truly usher in a new era of computing.