While Google and Facebook are taking the headlines with their advancements in Artificial Intelligence, another company is making some big strides behind the scenes. The ever resilient IBM has come up with an interesting strategy to garner attention for it’s cognitive computing technology “Watson“.
IBM HOLDS $5 MILLION CONTEST FOR AI
At a TED conference this past week, IBM has announced a $5 million contest for developers that can come up with some creative uses for their artificial intelligence. The details of the contest have not been released, but IBM has made it clear their cognitive computing technology should be far more revolutionary than that of Google or Facebook. What is known about the format of this competition is that developers will be given a lot of freedom towards their idea. The purpose isn’t necessarily to overcome a series of challenges and follow guidelines, but to produce an idea that will bring Watson to the forefront of AI.
GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK TOY AROUND WITH AI
Advancements in Google and Facebook AI has seemingly garnered the most media attention. For Google, their most recognizable accomplishments in AI lie in their self-driving car. The high rate of success it has had in such a short amount of time has brought A.I to the world. In what was once science fiction, is now becoming a reality. Even Facebook is getting in on the hype. They have big plans for their AI that can read books, teach, play games and actively learn. While these concepts are surely nothing to scoff at, IBM has a different approach.
WHY WATSON MAY BE BETTER THAN OTHER AI
While Google and Facebook tinker around with their robot toys, IBM hopes that Watson will be of some serious use to the world. Instead of driving cars or voice recognition, Watson has been busy acting as a data crunching service the past couple of years. This service can process health care records and draw large amounts of data from a variety of online appliances. This, in turn, means that Watson can take in all the data and effectively learn from it. Using this compiled information, Watson will be able to respond to questions. At the moment, Watson is being targeted towards different industries like agriculture and meteorology.
