IBM Watson

{{short description|Artificial intelligence computer system made by IBM}} {{About|IBM's QA machine revealed in 2011|the generative AI tool released in 2023|IBM Watsonx|IBM's research center in New York|Thomas J. Watson Research Center}} {{Infobox custom computer | Image=IBM Watson.PNG | Storage= | Website={{URL|https://www.ibm.com/watson|IBM Watson}} | Emulators= | Legacy= | Purpose= | ChartDate= | ChartPosition= | ChartName= | Cost= | Speed=80 teraFLOPS | Memory=16 terabytes of RAM | Image_Size= | Space= | OS= | Power= | Architecture= 2,880 POWER7 processor threads | Location=Thomas J. Watson Research Center, New York, USA | Operators=IBM | Sponsors= | Dates= | Caption= | Alt= | Sources=}}

'''IBM Watson''' is a computer system capable of answering questions posed in natural language.<ref name="ibm">{{cite web |url=http://www.research.ibm.com/deepqa/faq.shtml |title=DeepQA Project: FAQ |work=IBM |date=22 April 2009 |access-date=February 11, 2011 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629122514/http://www.research.ibm.com/deepqa/faq.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> It was developed as a part of IBM's DeepQA project by a research team, led by principal investigator David Ferrucci.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Ferrucci|first1=David|last2=Levas|first2=Anthony|last3=Bagchi|first3=Sugato|last4=Gondek|first4=David|last5=Mueller|first5=Erik T.|date=2013-06-01|title=Watson: Beyond Jeopardy!|journal=Artificial Intelligence|volume=199|pages=93–105|doi=10.1016/j.artint.2012.06.009|doi-access=free}}</ref> Watson was named after IBM's founder and first CEO, industrialist Thomas J. Watson.<ref name="NYT_20110208">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/09/arts/television/09nova.html |title=Actors and Their Roles for $300, HAL? HAL! |first=Mike |last=Hale |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 8, 2011 |access-date=February 11, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.research.ibm.com/deepqa/deepqa.shtml |title=The DeepQA Project |work=IBM Research |date=22 April 2009 |access-date=February 18, 2011 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629122438/http://www.research.ibm.com/deepqa/deepqa.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

The computer system was initially developed to answer questions on the popular quiz show ''Jeopardy!''<ref>{{cite web |title=Dave Ferrucci at Computer History Museum – How It All Began and What's Next |url=https://ibmresearchnews.blogspot.com/2011/12/dave-ferrucci-at-computer-history.html |work=IBM Research |date=December 1, 2011 |access-date=February 11, 2012 |archive-date=March 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313005431/http://ibmresearchnews.blogspot.com/2011/12/dave-ferrucci-at-computer-history.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and in 2011, the Watson computer system competed on ''Jeopardy!'' against champions Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings,<ref name="NYT_20110208" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://gizmodo.com/5228887/ibm-prepping-watson-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy |title=IBM Prepping 'Watson' Computer to Compete on Jeopardy! |last=Loftus |first=Jack |work=Gizmodo |date=April 26, 2009 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=July 31, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731231411/http://gizmodo.com/5228887/ibm-prepping-watson-computer-to-compete-on-jeopardy |url-status=live }}</ref> winning the first-place prize of US$1 million.<ref>{{cite web |title=IBM's "Watson" Computing System to Challenge All Time Henry Lambert Jeopardy! Champions |url=http://www.jeopardy.com/news/watson1x7ap4.php |date=December 14, 2010 |work=Sony Pictures Television |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616092431/http://www.jeopardy.com/news/watson1x7ap4.php |archive-date=June 16, 2013 }}</ref>

In February 2013, IBM announced that Watson's first commercial application would be for utilization management decisions in lung cancer treatment, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, in conjunction with WellPoint (now Elevance Health).<ref name=wellpoint/>

In 2022, IBM divested and spun-off their Watson Health division into Merative, which was sold to Francisco Partners, an American private equity firm. The division cost $4 billion to develop but was sold for $1 billion.<ref name=":0" /> By 2023, Watson resulted in IBM losing 10% of its stock value, costing four times more than what it brought to the company and resulting in mass layoffs.<ref name=":2" />

== Description ==

thumb|The high-level architecture of IBM's DeepQA used in Watson<ref name="AIMagazine"/>|class=skin-invert-image Watson was created as a question answering (QA) computing system that IBM built to apply advanced natural language processing, information retrieval, knowledge representation, automated reasoning, and machine learning technologies to the field of open domain question answering. The system is named DeepQA (though it did not involve the use of deep neural networks).<ref name=ibm/>

IBM stated that Watson uses "more than 100 different techniques to analyze natural language, identify sources, find and generate hypotheses, find and score evidence, and merge and rank hypotheses."<ref>{{cite web |title=Watson, A System Designed for Answers: The Future of Workload Optimized Systems Design |url=http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=SA&subtype=WH&htmlfid=POW03061USEN |work=IBM Systems and Technology |date=February 2011 |page=3 |access-date=September 9, 2015 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055519/http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=SA&subtype=WH&htmlfid=POW03061USEN |url-status=live }}</ref>

In recent years,{{When|date=May 2025}} Watson's capabilities have been extended and the way in which Watson works has been changed to take advantage of new deployment models (Watson on IBM Cloud), evolved machine learning capabilities, and optimized hardware available to developers and researchers. {{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

=== Software ===

Watson uses IBM's DeepQA software and the Apache UIMA (Unstructured Information Management Architecture) framework implementation. The system was written in various languages, including Java, C++, and Prolog, and runs on the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 operating system using the Apache Hadoop framework to provide distributed computing.<ref name="contentpages">{{cite web|url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/219893/ibm_watson_vanquishes_human_jeopardy_foes.html|title=IBM Watson Vanquishes Human Jeopardy Foes|last=Jackson|first=Joab|date=February 17, 2011|work=PC World|access-date=February 17, 2011|agency=IDG News|archive-date=February 20, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220020908/http://www.pcworld.com/article/219893/ibm_watson_vanquishes_human_jeopardy_foes.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Takahashi |first=Dean |url=https://venturebeat.com/2011/02/17/ibm-researcher-explains-what-watson-gets-right-and-wrong/ |title=IBM researcher explains what Watson gets right and wrong |work=VentureBeat |date=February 17, 2011 |access-date=February 18, 2011 |archive-date=February 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218132333/http://venturebeat.com/2011/02/17/ibm-researcher-explains-what-watson-gets-right-and-wrong/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Novell |author-link=Novell |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110421061200/http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20110202-906855.html |url=https://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20110202-906855.html |archive-date=April 21, 2011 |title=Watson Supercomputer to Compete on 'Jeopardy!' – Powered by SUSE Linux Enterprise Server on IBM POWER7 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=February 2, 2011 |access-date=February 21, 2011}}</ref>

Other than the DeepQA system, Watson contained several strategy modules. For example, one module calculated the amount to bet for ''Final Jeopardy'', according to the confidence score on getting the answer right, and the current scores of all contestants. One module used the Bayes rule to calculate the probability that each unrevealed question might be the ''Daily Double'', using historical data from the J! Archive as the prior. If a Daily Double is found, the amount to wager is computed by a 2-layered neural network of the same kind as those used by TD-Gammon, a neural network that played backgammon, developed by Gerald Tesauro in the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web |last=Tesauro |first=Gerry |author-link=Gerald Tesauro |date=2015-10-09 |title=How Watson Learns Superhuman Jeopardy! Strategies |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9q4fR9t7jA |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=YouTube |publisher=IBM Research}}</ref> The parameters in the strategy modules were tuned by benchmarking against a statistical model of human contestants fitted on data from the J! Archive, and selecting the best one.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tesauro |first1=G. |author-link1=Gerald Tesauro |last2=Gondek |first2=D. C. |last3=Lenchner |first3=J. |last4=Fan |first4=J. |last5=Prager |first5=J. M. |date=May 2012 |title=Simulation, learning, and optimization techniques in Watson's game strategies |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6177733 |journal=IBM Journal of Research and Development |volume=56 |issue=3.4 |pages=16:1–16:11 |doi=10.1147/JRD.2012.2188931 |issn=0018-8646|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tesauro |first1=G. |author-link1=Gerald Tesauro |last2=Gondek |first2=D. C. |last3=Lenchner |first3=J. |last4=Fan |first4=J. |last5=Prager |first5=J. M. |date=2013-05-31 |title=Analysis of Watson's Strategies for Playing Jeopardy! |url=https://www.jair.org/index.php/jair/article/view/10818 |journal=Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research |language=en |volume=47 |pages=205–251 |doi=10.1613/jair.3834 |doi-access=free|issn=1076-9757|arxiv=1402.0571 }}</ref><ref name=":6" />

=== Hardware ===

The system is workload-optimized, integrating massively parallel POWER7 processors and built on IBM's ''DeepQA'' technology,<ref name="Smartest Machine on Earth">{{cite web |date=February 10, 2011 |title=Is Watson the smartest machine on earth? |url=http://www.cs.umbc.edu/2011/02/is-watson-the-smartest-machine-on-earth/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927014129/http://www.cs.umbc.edu/2011/02/is-watson-the-smartest-machine-on-earth/ |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |access-date=February 11, 2011 |work=Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Department |publisher=University of Maryland, Baltimore County}}</ref> which it uses to generate hypotheses, gather massive evidence, and analyze data.<ref name=ibm/> Watson employs a cluster of ninety IBM Power 750 servers, each of which uses a 3.5 GHz POWER7 eight-core processor, with four threads per core. In total, the system uses 2,880 POWER7 processor threads and 16 terabytes of RAM.<ref name="Smartest Machine on Earth"/>

According to John Rennie, Watson can process 500 gigabytes (the equivalent of a million books) per second.<ref name=rennie>{{cite web |last=Rennie |first=John |url=http://blogs.plos.org/retort/2011/02/14/how-ibm%E2%80%99s-watson-computer-will-excel-at-jeopardy/ |title=How IBM's Watson Computer Excels at Jeopardy! |work=PLoS blogs |date=February 14, 2011 |access-date=February 19, 2011 |archive-date=February 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222031017/http://blogs.plos.org/retort/2011/02/14/how-ibm%E2%80%99s-watson-computer-will-excel-at-jeopardy/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> IBM master inventor and senior consultant Tony Pearson estimated Watson's hardware cost at about three million dollars.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lucas |first=Mearian |url=http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9210381/Can_anyone_afford_an_IBM_Watson_supercomputer_Yes_?taxonomyId=67&pageNumber=2 |title=Can anyone afford an IBM Watson supercomputer? (Yes) |work=Computerworld |date=February 21, 2011 |access-date=February 21, 2011 |archive-date=December 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212014259/http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9210381/Can_anyone_afford_an_IBM_Watson_supercomputer_Yes_?taxonomyId=67&pageNumber=2 |url-status=live }}</ref> Its Linpack performance stands at 80 TeraFLOPs, which is about half as fast as the cut-off line for the Top 500 Supercomputers list.<ref>{{cite web |title=Top500 List – November 2013 |work=Top500.org |url=http://www.top500.org/list/2013/11/ |access-date=2014-01-04 |archive-date=2013-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231183454/http://www.top500.org/list/2013/11/ |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Rennie, all content was stored in Watson's RAM for the Jeopardy game because data stored on hard drives would be too slow to compete with human Jeopardy champions.<ref name=rennie/>

=== Data ===

The sources of information for Watson include encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, newswire articles and literary works. Watson also used databases, taxonomies and ontologies including DBpedia, WordNet and YAGO.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The AI Behind Watson – The Technical Article |first=David |last=Ferrucci |display-authors=etal |url=http://www.aaai.org/Magazine/Watson/watson.php |journal=AI Magazine |issue=Fall 2010 |access-date=November 11, 2013 |archive-date=November 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106232453/https://www.aaai.org/Magazine/Watson/watson.php |url-status=live }}</ref> The IBM team provided Watson with millions of documents, including dictionaries, encyclopedias and other reference material, that it could use to build its knowledge.<ref name="nytmag">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/magazine/20Computer-t.html|title=Smarter Than You Think: What Is I.B.M.'s Watson?|last=Thompson|first=Clive|date=June 16, 2010|newspaper=The New York Times Magazine|access-date=February 18, 2011|author-link=Clive Thompson (journalist)|archive-date=June 5, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605195202/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/magazine/20Computer-t.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Operation ==

Watson parses questions into different keywords and sentence fragments in order to find statistically related phrases.<ref name=nytmag/> Watson's main innovation was not in the creation of a new algorithm for this operation, but rather its ability to quickly execute hundreds of proven language analysis algorithms simultaneously.<ref name=nytmag/><ref>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110414214425/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/will-watson-win-jeopardy.html |archive-date=April 14, 2011 |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/will-watson-win-jeopardy.html |work=Nova ScienceNOW |title=Will Watson Win On Jeopardy!? |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |date=January 20, 2011 |access-date=January 27, 2011}}</ref> The more algorithms that find the same answer independently, the more likely Watson is to be correct. Once Watson has a small number of potential solutions, it is able to check against its database to ascertain whether the solution makes sense or not.<ref name=nytmag/>

=== Comparison with human players ===

[[File:Watson Jeopardy.jpg|thumb|Ken Jennings, Watson, and Brad Rutter in their ''Jeopardy!'' exhibition match]]

Watson's basic working principle is to parse keywords in a clue while searching for related terms as responses. This gives Watson some advantages and disadvantages compared with human ''Jeopardy!'' players.<ref name=cnet /> Watson has deficiencies in understanding the context of the clues. Watson can read, analyze, and learn from natural language, which gives it the ability to make human-like decisions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Russo-Spena |first1=Tiziana |last2=Mele |first2=Cristina |last3=Marzullo |first3=Marialuisa |date=2018 |title=Practising Value Innovation through Artificial Intelligence: The IBM Watson Case |journal=Journal of Creating Value |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=11–24 |doi=10.1177/2394964318805839 |s2cid=56759835 |issn=2394-9643|doi-access=free }}</ref> As a result, human players usually generate responses faster than Watson, especially to short clues.<ref name=nytmag /> Watson's programming prevents it from using the popular tactic of buzzing before it is sure of its response.<ref name=nytmag /> However, Watson has consistently better reaction time on the buzzer once it has generated a response, and is immune to human players' psychological tactics, such as jumping between categories on every clue.<ref name=nytmag /><ref name=jenning />

In a sequence of 20 mock games of ''Jeopardy!'', human participants were able to use the six to seven seconds that Watson needed to hear the clue and decide whether to signal for responding.<ref name=nytmag/> During that time, Watson also has to evaluate the response and determine whether it is sufficiently confident in the result to signal.<ref name=nytmag/> Part of the system used to win the ''Jeopardy!'' contest was the electronic circuitry that receives the "ready" signal and then examines whether Watson's confidence level was great enough to activate the buzzer. Given the speed of this circuitry compared to the speed of human reaction times, Watson's reaction time was faster than the human contestants except when the human anticipated (instead of reacted to) the ready signal.<ref name=david>{{cite web |url=https://www.ibm.com/blogs/research/2011/01/how-watson-sees-hears-and-speaks-to-play-jeopardy/ |title=How Watson "sees," "hears," and "speaks" to play Jeopardy! |last=Gondek |first=David |date=January 10, 2011 |work=IBM Research News |access-date=February 21, 2011}}</ref> After signaling, Watson speaks with an electronic voice and gives the responses in ''Jeopardy!''{{'s}} question format.<ref name=nytmag/> Watson's voice was synthesized from recordings that actor Jeff Woodman made for an IBM text-to-speech program in 2004.<ref>{{cite web |last=Avery |first=Lise |date=February 14, 2011 |title=Interview with Actor Jeff Woodman, Voice of IBM's Watson Computer |url=http://www.anythinggoesradio.com/Interviews/JeffWoodman_02_14_11.MP3 |work=Anything Goes!! |format=MP3 |access-date=February 15, 2011 |archive-date=September 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921013845/http://www.anythinggoesradio.com/Interviews/JeffWoodman_02_14_11.MP3 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The ''Jeopardy!'' staff used different means to notify Watson and the human players when to buzz,<ref name=david /> which was critical in many rounds.<ref name=jenning /> The humans were notified by a light, which took them tenths of a second to perceive.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/rob/Courses/InformationInSpeech/CDROM/Literature/LOTwinterschool2006/biae.clemson.edu/bpc/bp/Lab/110/reaction.htm |title=A Literature Review on Reaction Time |first=Robert J. |last=Kosinski |work=Clemson University |year=2008 |access-date=January 10, 2016 |archive-date=March 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160317055637/http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/rob/Courses/InformationInSpeech/CDROM/Literature/LOTwinterschool2006/biae.clemson.edu/bpc/bp/Lab/110/reaction.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfnp|Baker|2011|p=174}} Watson was notified by an electronic signal and could activate the buzzer within about eight milliseconds.{{sfnp|Baker|2011|p=178}} The humans tried to compensate for the perception delay by anticipating the light,<ref name=strachan /> but the variation in the anticipation time was generally too great to fall within Watson's response time.<ref name=jenning /> Watson did not attempt to anticipate the notification signal.{{sfnp|Baker|2011|p=174}}<ref name=strachan />

== History ==

=== Development ===

Since Deep Blue's victory over Garry Kasparov in chess in 1997, IBM had been on the hunt for a new challenge. In 2004, IBM Research manager Charles Lickel, over dinner with coworkers, noticed that the restaurant they were in had fallen silent. He soon discovered the cause of this evening's hiatus: Ken Jennings, who was then in the middle of his successful 74-game run on ''Jeopardy!''. Nearly the entire restaurant had piled toward the televisions, mid-meal, to watch ''Jeopardy!''. Intrigued by the quiz show as a possible challenge for IBM, Lickel passed the idea on, and in 2005, IBM Research executive Paul Horn supported Lickel, pushing for someone in his department to take up the challenge of playing ''Jeopardy!'' with an IBM system. Though he initially had trouble finding any research staff willing to take on what looked to be a much more complex challenge than the wordless game of chess, eventually David Ferrucci took him up on the offer.{{sfnp|Baker|2011|pp=6–8}} In competitions managed by the United States government, Watson's predecessor, a system named Piquant, was usually able to respond correctly to only about 35% of clues and often required several minutes to respond.{{sfnp|Baker|2011|p=30}}<ref>{{Cite conference |last1=Radev |first1=Dragomir R. |last2=Prager |first2=John |last3=Samn |first3=Valerie |title=Ranking potential answers to natural language questions |book-title=Proceedings of the 6th Conference on Applied Natural Language Processing |year=2000 |url=http://clair.si.umich.edu/~radev/papers/anlp00.pdf |conference= |access-date=2011-02-23 |archive-date=2011-08-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110826180039/http://clair.si.umich.edu/~radev/papers/anlp00.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite conference |last1=Prager |first1=John |last2=Brown |first2=Eric |last3=Coden |first3=Annie |last4=Radev |first4=Dragomir R. |title=Question-answering by predictive annotation |book-title=Proceedings, 23rd Annual International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval |date=July 2000 |url=http://clair.si.umich.edu/~radev/papers/sigir00.pdf |conference= |access-date=2011-02-23 |archive-date=2011-08-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110823221004/http://clair.si.umich.edu/~radev/papers/sigir00.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> To compete successfully on ''Jeopardy!'', Watson would need to respond in no more than a few seconds, and at that time, the problems posed by the game show were deemed to be impossible to solve.<ref name=nytmag/>

In initial tests run during 2006 by David Ferrucci, the senior manager of IBM's Semantic Analysis and Integration department, Watson was given 500 clues from past ''Jeopardy!'' programs. While the best real-life competitors buzzed in half the time and responded correctly to as many as 95% of clues, Watson's first pass could get only about 15% correct. During 2007, the IBM team was given three to five years and a staff of 15 people to solve the problems.<ref name=nytmag/> John E. Kelly III succeeded Paul Horn as head of IBM Research in 2007.<ref name="Leopold2007">{{cite news |title=IBM's Paul Horn retires, Kelly named research chief |last1=Leopold |first1=George |url=https://www.eetimes.com/ibms-paul-horn-retires-kelly-named-research-chief/ |work=EE Times |date=July 18, 2007 |access-date=May 27, 2020 |archive-date=June 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603054131/https://www.eetimes.com/ibms-paul-horn-retires-kelly-named-research-chief/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''InformationWeek'' described Kelly as "the father of Watson" and credited him for encouraging the system to compete against humans on ''Jeopardy!''.<ref name="Babcock">{{cite news |title=IBM Cognitive Colloquium Spotlights Uncovering Dark Data |last1=Babcock |first1=Charles |url=https://www.informationweek.com/cloud/software-as-a-service/ibm-cognitive-colloquium-spotlights-uncovering-dark-data/d/d-id/1322647 |work=InformationWeek |date=October 14, 2015 |access-date=May 27, 2020 |archive-date=June 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603054133/https://www.informationweek.com/cloud/software-as-a-service/ibm-cognitive-colloquium-spotlights-uncovering-dark-data/d/d-id/1322647 |url-status=live }}</ref> By 2008, the developers had advanced Watson such that it could compete with ''Jeopardy!'' champions.<ref name=nytmag/> By February 2010, Watson could beat human ''Jeopardy!'' contestants on a regular basis.<ref name=networld>{{cite web |last=Brodkin |first=Jon |url=http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/021010-ibm-jeopardy-game.html?hpg1=bn |title=IBM's Jeopardy-playing machine can now beat human contestants |work=Network World |date=February 10, 2010 |access-date=February 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603034018/http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/021010-ibm-jeopardy-game.html?hpg1=bn |archive-date=June 3, 2013 }}</ref>

During the game, Watson had access to 200 million pages of structured and unstructured content consuming four terabytes of disk storage<ref name="contentpages" /> including the full text of the 2011 edition of Wikipedia,<ref name="atlantic20110217">{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/02/is-it-time-to-welcome-our-new-computer-overlords/71388/|title=Is It Time to Welcome Our New Computer Overlords?|last=Zimmer|first=Ben|author-link=Ben Zimmer|date=February 17, 2011|work=The Atlantic|access-date=February 17, 2011|archive-date=August 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829072116/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/02/is-it-time-to-welcome-our-new-computer-overlords/71388/|url-status=live}}</ref> but was not connected to the Internet.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/01/08/132769575/Can-A-Computer-Become-A-Jeopardy-Champ|title=Can a Computer Become a Jeopardy! Champ?|last=Raz|first=Guy|date=January 28, 2011|work=National Public Radio|access-date=February 18, 2011|archive-date=February 28, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110228020641/http://www.npr.org/2011/01/08/132769575/Can-A-Computer-Become-A-Jeopardy-Champ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="nytmag" /> For each clue, Watson's three most probable responses were displayed on the television screen. Watson consistently outperformed its human opponents on the game's signaling device, but had trouble in a few categories, notably those having short clues containing only a few words.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Although the system is primarily an IBM effort, Watson's development involved faculty and graduate students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute, the University of Texas at Austin, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Trento,<ref name="AIMagazine">{{cite journal |last=Ferrucci |first=D. |url=http://www.aaai.org/ojs/index.php/aimagazine/article/view/2303/2165 |title=Building Watson: An Overview of the DeepQA Project |journal=AI Magazine |volume=31 |pages=59–79 |number=3 |year=2010 |access-date=February 19, 2011 |display-authors=etal |doi=10.1609/aimag.v31i3.2303 |archive-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228231436/https://www.aaai.org/ojs/index.php/aimagazine/article/view/2303/2165 |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}</ref> as well as students from New York Medical College.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Medical Students Offer Expertise to IBM's ''Jeopardy!''-Winning Computer Watson as It Pursues a New Career in Medicine |url=http://www.nymc.edu/OfficesAndServices/PublicRelations/Assets/June2012_InTouch.pdf |journal=InTouch |volume=18 |publisher=New York Medical College |date=June 2012 |page=4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121123173835/http://www.nymc.edu/OfficesAndServices/PublicRelations/Assets/June2012_InTouch.pdf |archive-date=2012-11-23 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Among the team of IBM programmers who worked on Watson was 2001 ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' top prize winner Ed Toutant, who himself had appeared on ''Jeopardy!'' in 1989 (winning one game).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.statesman.com/news/20181116/millionaire-quiz-whiz-toutant-had-passion-for-trivia-austins-arts-scene|title='Millionaire' quiz whiz Toutant had passion for trivia, Austin's arts scene|work=Austin American-Statesman |access-date=2021-09-23|archive-date=2021-09-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923220949/https://www.statesman.com/news/20181116/millionaire-quiz-whiz-toutant-had-passion-for-trivia-austins-arts-scene|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Jeopardy! ===

==== Preparation ====

thumb|Watson demo at an IBM booth at a trade show In 2008, IBM representatives communicated with ''Jeopardy!'' executive producer Harry Friedman about the possibility of having Watson compete against Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, two of the most successful contestants on the show, and the program's producers agreed.<ref name=nytmag/><ref>{{cite news |first=Brian |last=Stelter |author-link=Brian Stelter |title=I.B.M. Supercomputer 'Watson' to Challenge 'Jeopardy' Stars |url=http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/i-b-m-supercomputer-watson-to-challenge-jeopardy-stars/ |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 14, 2010 |access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref> Watson's differences with human players had generated conflicts between IBM and ''Jeopardy!'' staff during the planning of the competition.<ref name=cnet>{{cite web |last=Needleman |first=Rafe |url=http://chkpt.zdnet.com/chkpt/1pcast.roundtable/http://podcast-files.cnet.com/podcast/cnet_roundtable_021811.mp3 |title=Reporters' Roundtable: Debating the robobrains |work=CNET |date=February 18, 2011 |access-date=February 18, 2011 }}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> IBM repeatedly expressed concerns that the show's writers would exploit Watson's cognitive deficiencies when writing the clues, thereby turning the game into a Turing test. To alleviate that claim, a third party randomly picked the clues from previously written shows that were never broadcast.<ref name=cnet/> ''Jeopardy!'' staff also showed concerns over Watson's reaction time on the buzzer. Originally Watson signaled electronically, but show staff requested that it press a button physically, as the human contestants would.{{sfnp|Baker|2011|p=171}} Even with a robotic "finger" pressing the buzzer, Watson remained faster than its human competitors. Ken Jennings noted, "If you're trying to win on the show, the buzzer is all", and that Watson "can knock out a microsecond-precise buzz every single time with little or no variation. Human reflexes can't compete with computer circuits in this regard."<ref name=jenning>{{cite news |title=Jeopardy! Champ Ken Jennings |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 15, 2011 |url=https://live.washingtonpost.com/jeopardy-ken-jennings.html |access-date=February 15, 2011 |archive-date=February 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110214030622/http://live.washingtonpost.com/jeopardy-ken-jennings.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=strachan>{{cite news|first=Alex |last=Strachan |title=For Jennings, it's a man vs. man competition |newspaper=The Vancouver Sun |date=February 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221235755/http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Jennings%2Bcompetition/4270840/story.html |archive-date=February 21, 2011 |url=https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/Jennings+competition/4270840/story.html |access-date=February 15, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=flatow>{{cite web |last=Flatow |first=Ira |title=IBM Computer Faces Off Against 'Jeopardy' Champs |work=Talk of the Nation |publisher=National Public Radio |date=February 11, 2011 |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/02/11/133686004/IBM-Computer-Faces-Off-Against-Jeopardy-Champs |access-date=February 15, 2011 |archive-date=February 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217061619/http://www.npr.org/2011/02/11/133686004/IBM-Computer-Faces-Off-Against-Jeopardy-Champs |url-status=live }}</ref> Stephen Baker, a journalist who recorded Watson's development in his book ''Final Jeopardy'', reported that the conflict between IBM and ''Jeopardy!'' became so serious in May 2010 that the competition was almost cancelled.<ref name=cnet/> As part of the preparation, IBM constructed a mock set in a conference room at one of its technology sites to model the one used on ''Jeopardy!''. Human players, including former ''Jeopardy!'' contestants, also participated in mock games against Watson with Todd Alan Crain of ''The Onion'' playing host.<ref name=nytmag/> About 100 test matches were conducted with Watson winning 65% of the games.<ref>{{cite news |last=Sostek |first=Anya |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11044/1125163-96.stm |title=Human champs of 'Jeopardy!' vs. Watson the IBM computer: a close match |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post Gazette |date=February 13, 2011 |access-date=February 19, 2011 |archive-date=February 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217141158/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11044/1125163-96.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

To provide a physical presence in the televised games, Watson was represented by an "avatar" of a globe, inspired by the IBM "smarter planet" symbol. Jennings described the computer's avatar as a "glowing blue ball crisscrossed by 'threads' of thought—42 threads, to be precise",<ref name="threads">{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2284721/ |title=My Puny Human Brain |last=Jennings |first=Ken |author-link=Ken Jennings |work=Slate |publisher=Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC |date=February 16, 2011 |access-date=February 17, 2011 |archive-date=February 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218104345/http://www.slate.com/id/2284721/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and stated that the number of thought threads in the avatar was an in-joke referencing the significance of the number 42 in Douglas Adams' ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''.<ref name="threads"/> Joshua Davis, the artist who designed the avatar for the project, explained to Stephen Baker that there are 36 triggerable states that Watson was able to use throughout the game to show its confidence in responding to a clue correctly; he had hoped to be able to find forty-two, to add another level to the ''Hitchhiker's Guide'' reference, but he was unable to pinpoint enough game states.{{sfnp|Baker|2011|p=117}}

A practice match was recorded on January 13, 2011, and the official matches were recorded on January 14, 2011. All participants maintained secrecy about the outcome until the match was broadcast in February.{{sfnp|Baker|2011|pp=232–258}}

==== Practice match ====

In a practice match before the press on January 13, 2011, Watson won a 15-question round against Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter with a score of $4,400 to Jennings' $3,400 and Rutter's $1,200, though Jennings and Watson were tied before the final $1,000 question. None of the three players responded incorrectly to a clue.<ref name="PracticeMatch">{{cite web |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/ibms-watson-wins-jeopardy-practice-round-can-humans-hang/ |title=IBM's Watson wins Jeopardy practice round: Can humans hang? |access-date=January 13, 2011 |last=Dignan |first=Larry |date=January 13, 2011 |work=ZDnet |archive-date=January 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110113191635/http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/ibms-watson-wins-jeopardy-practice-round-can-humans-hang/43601 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== First match ====

The first round was broadcast February 14, 2011, and the second round, on February 15, 2011. The right to choose the first category had been determined by a draw won by Rutter.<ref name="1920sJeopardy Challenge">{{Cite episode |title=The IBM Challenge Day 1 |series=Jeopardy |series-link=Jeopardy! |airdate=February 14, 2011 |season=27 |number=23}}</ref> Watson, represented by a computer monitor display and artificial voice, responded correctly to the second clue and then selected the fourth clue of the first category, a deliberate strategy to find the Daily Double as quickly as possible.<ref name="Strategy">{{cite web |url=https://ibmresearchnews.blogspot.com/2011/02/knowing-what-it-knows-selected-nuances.html |title=Knowing what it knows: selected nuances of Watson's strategy |last=Lenchner |first=Jon |publisher=IBM |work=IBM Research News |date=February 3, 2011 |access-date=February 16, 2011 |archive-date=February 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110216211148/http://ibmresearchnews.blogspot.com/2011/02/knowing-what-it-knows-selected-nuances.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Watson's guess at the Daily Double location was correct. At the end of the first round, Watson was tied with Rutter at $5,000; Jennings had $2,000.<ref name="1920sJeopardy Challenge" />

Watson's performance was characterized by some quirks. In one instance, Watson repeated a reworded version of an incorrect response offered by Jennings. (Jennings said "What are the '20s?" in reference to the 1920s. Then Watson said "What is 1920s?") Because Watson could not recognize other contestants' responses, it did not know that Jennings had already given the same response. In another instance, Watson was initially given credit for a response of "What is a leg?" after Jennings incorrectly responded "What is: he only had one hand?" to a clue about George Eyser (the correct response was, "What is: he's missing a leg?"). Because Watson, unlike a human, could not have been responding to Jennings' mistake, it was decided that this response was incorrect. The broadcast version of the episode was edited to omit Trebek's original acceptance of Watson's response.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/media/news/2011/02/ibms-watson-tied-for-1st-in-jeopardy-almost-sneaks-wrong-answer-by-trebek.ars |title=Jeopardy: IBM's Watson almost sneaks wrong answer by Trebek |last=Johnston |first=Casey |work=Ars Technica |date=February 15, 2011 |access-date=February 15, 2011 |archive-date=February 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218025702/http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2011/02/ibms-watson-tied-for-1st-in-jeopardy-almost-sneaks-wrong-answer-by-trebek.ars |url-status=live }}</ref> Watson also demonstrated complex wagering strategies on the Daily Doubles, with one bet at $6,435 and another at $1,246.<ref name="Computer crushes the competition on 'Jeopardy!'"/> Gerald Tesauro, one of the IBM researchers who worked on Watson, explained that Watson's wagers were based on its confidence level for the category and a complex regression model called the Game State Evaluator.<ref name=":6">{{cite web |last=Tesauro |first=Gerald |author-link=Gerald Tesauro |date=February 13, 2011 |title=Watson's wagering strategies |url=https://ibmresearchnews.blogspot.com/2011/02/watsons-wagering-strategies.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218174326/http://ibmresearchnews.blogspot.com/2011/02/watsons-wagering-strategies.html |archive-date=February 18, 2011 |access-date=February 18, 2011 |work=IBM Research News |publisher=IBM}}</ref>

Watson took a commanding lead in Double Jeopardy!, correctly responding to both Daily Doubles. Watson responded to the second Daily Double correctly with a 32% confidence score.<ref name="Computer crushes the competition on 'Jeopardy!'">{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219023019/https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jwVBxDQvVKEwk_czuv8Q4jxdU1Sg?docId=2e3e918f552b4599b013b4cc473d96af |archive-date=February 19, 2011 |url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jwVBxDQvVKEwk_czuv8Q4jxdU1Sg?docId=2e3e918f552b4599b013b4cc473d96af |title=Computer crushes the competition on 'Jeopardy!' |agency=Associated Press |date=February 15, 2011 |access-date=February 19, 2011}}</ref>

However, during the Final Jeopardy! round, Watson was the only contestant to miss the clue in the category U.S. Cities ("Its largest airport was named for a World War II hero; its second largest, for a World War II battle"). Rutter and Jennings gave the correct response of Chicago, but Watson's response was "What is Toronto?????" with five question marks indicating a lack of confidence.<ref name="Computer crushes the competition on 'Jeopardy!'"/><ref name="TO">{{cite web |author=Staff |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/ibm-s-computer-wins-jeopardy-but-toronto-1.608022 |title=IBM's computer wins 'Jeopardy!' but... Toronto? |work=CTV News |date=February 15, 2011 |access-date=February 15, 2011 |archive-date=November 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127193239/http://www.ctvnews.ca/ibm-s-computer-wins-jeopardy-but-toronto-1.608022 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="TOinUS">{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220044730/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/for-watson-jeopardy-victory-was-elementary/article1910735/ |archive-date=February 20, 2011 |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/for-watson-jeopardy-victory-was-elementary/article1910735/ |title=For Watson, Jeopardy! victory was elementary |last1=Robertson |first1=Jordan |last2=Borenstein |first2=Seth |agency=The Associated Press |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |date=February 16, 2011 |access-date=February 17, 2011 }}</ref> Ferrucci offered reasons why Watson would appear to have guessed a Canadian city: categories only weakly suggest the type of response desired, the phrase "U.S. city" did not appear in the question, there are cities named Toronto in the U.S., and Toronto in Ontario has an American League baseball team.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hamm |first=Steve |url=http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2011/02/watson-on-jeopardy-day-two-the-confusion-over-an-airport-clue.html |title=Watson on Jeopardy! Day Two: The Confusion over and Airport Clue |work=A Smart Planet Blog |date=February 15, 2011 |access-date=February 21, 2011 |archive-date=October 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111024233808/http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2011/02/watson-on-jeopardy-day-two-the-confusion-over-an-airport-clue.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Chris Welty, who also worked on Watson, suggested that it may not have been able to correctly parse the second part of the clue, "its second largest, for a World War II battle" (which was not a standalone clause despite it following a semicolon, and required context to understand that it was referring to a second-largest ''airport'').<ref name="ArsTechnica2">{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/media/news/2011/02/creators-watson-has-no-speed-advantage-as-it-crushes-humans-in-jeopardy.ars |title=Creators: Watson has no speed advantage as it crushes humans in ''Jeopardy'' |first=Casey |last=Johnston |work=Ars Technica |date=February 15, 2011 |access-date=February 21, 2011 |archive-date=February 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218231452/http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2011/02/creators-watson-has-no-speed-advantage-as-it-crushes-humans-in-jeopardy.ars |url-status=live }}</ref> Eric Nyberg, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and a member of the development team, stated that the error occurred because Watson does not possess the comparative knowledge to discard that potential response as not viable.<ref name="TOinUS" /> Although not displayed to the audience as with non-Final Jeopardy! questions, Watson's second choice was Chicago. Both Toronto and Chicago were well below Watson's confidence threshold, at 14% and 11% respectively. Watson wagered only $947 on the question.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI-M7O_bRNg | title=IBM Watson: Final Jeopardy! And the Future of Watson | website=YouTube | date=16 February 2011 }}</ref>

The game ended with Jennings with $4,800, Rutter with $10,400, and Watson with $35,734.<ref name="Computer crushes the competition on 'Jeopardy!'"/>

==== Second match ====

During the introduction, Trebek (a Canadian native) joked that he had learned Toronto was a U.S. city, and Watson's error in the first match prompted an IBM engineer to wear a Toronto Blue Jays jacket to the recording of the second match.<ref name="Trebekintro">{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220044949/http://www.vancouversun.com/business/technology/Computer%2Bcreams%2Bhuman%2BJeopardy%2Bchampions/4300293/story.html |archive-date=February 20, 2011 |url=https://vancouversun.com/business/technology/Computer+creams+human+Jeopardy+champions/4300293/story.html |title=Computer creams human Jeopardy! champions |last=Oberman |first=Mira |agency=Agence France-Presse |work=Vancouver Sun |date=February 17, 2011 |access-date=February 17, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the first round, Jennings was finally able to choose a Daily Double clue,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/media/news/2011/02/bug-lets-humans-grab-daily-double-as-watson-triumphs-on-jeopardy.ars |title=Bug lets humans grab Daily Double as Watson triumphs on Jeopardy |last=Johnston |first=Casey |work=Ars Technica |date=February 17, 2011 |access-date=February 21, 2011 |archive-date=February 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221032847/http://arstechnica.com//media//news//2011//02//bug-lets-humans-grab-daily-double-as-watson-triumphs-on-jeopardy.ars |url-status=live }}</ref> while Watson responded to one Daily Double clue incorrectly for the first time in the Double Jeopardy! Round.<ref name=forbes>{{cite web |url=https://blogs.forbes.com/bruceupbin/2011/02/16/watson-wins-it-all-with-367-bet/ |title=IBM's Supercomputer Watson Wins It All With $367 Bet |last=Upbin |first=Bruce |work=Forbes |date=February 17, 2011 |access-date=February 21, 2011 |archive-date=February 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110221100903/http://blogs.forbes.com/bruceupbin/2011/02/16/watson-wins-it-all-with-367-bet/ |url-status=live }}</ref> After the first round, Watson placed second for the first time in the competition after Rutter and Jennings were briefly successful in increasing their dollar values before Watson could respond.<ref name=forbes/><ref>{{cite web |last=Oldenburg |first=Ann |title=Ken Jennings: 'My puny brain' did just fine on 'Jeopardy!' |url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2011/02/ken-jennings-my-puny-brain-did-just-fine-on-jeopardy-/1 |work=USA Today |date=February 17, 2011 |access-date=February 21, 2011 |archive-date=February 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220043823/http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2011/02/ken-jennings-my-puny-brain-did-just-fine-on-jeopardy-/1 |url-status=live }}</ref> Nonetheless, the final result ended with a victory for Watson with a score of $77,147, besting Jennings who scored $24,000 and Rutter who scored $21,600.<ref>{{cite episode |title=Show 6088 – The IBM Challenge, Day 2 |series=Jeopardy! |date=February 16, 2011 |network=Syndicated}}</ref>

==== Final outcome ====

The prizes for the competition were $1 million for first place (Watson), $300,000 for second place (Jennings), and $200,000 for third place (Rutter). As promised, IBM donated 100% of Watson's winnings to charity, with 50% of those winnings going to World Vision and 50% going to World Community Grid.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/about_us/viewNewsArticle.do?articleId=148 |title=World Community Grid to benefit from Jeopardy! competition |work=World Community Grid |date=February 4, 2011 |access-date=February 19, 2011 |archive-date=January 14, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114010952/http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/about_us/viewNewsArticle.do?articleId=148 |url-status=live }}</ref> Similarly, Jennings and Rutter donated 50% of their winnings to their respective charities.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/33373.wss |title=Jeopardy! And IBM Announce Charities To Benefit From Watson Competition |work=IBM Corporation |date=January 13, 2011 |access-date=February 19, 2011 |archive-date=November 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110221256/https://newsroom.ibm.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In acknowledgement of IBM and Watson's achievements, Jennings made an additional remark in his Final Jeopardy! response: "I for one welcome our new computer overlords", paraphrasing a joke from ''The Simpsons''.<ref name="overlord">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12491688 |title=IBM's Watson supercomputer crowned Jeopardy king |work=BBC News |date=February 17, 2011 |access-date=February 17, 2011 |archive-date=February 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218052011/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12491688 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="overlord2">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/science/17jeopardy-watson.html |title=Computer Wins on 'Jeopardy!': Trivial, It's Not |last=Markoff |first=John |newspaper=The New York Times |location=Yorktown Heights, New York |date=February 16, 2011 |access-date=February 17, 2011 |archive-date=October 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022023202/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/science/17jeopardy-watson.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Jennings later wrote an article for ''Slate'', in which he stated: <blockquote>IBM has bragged to the media that Watson's question-answering skills are good for more than annoying Alex Trebek. The company sees a future in which fields like medical diagnosis, business analytics, and tech support are automated by question-answering software like Watson. Just as factory jobs were eliminated in the 20th century by new assembly-line robots, Brad and I were the first knowledge-industry workers put out of work by the new generation of 'thinking' machines. 'Quiz show contestant' may be the first job made redundant by Watson, but I'm sure it won't be the last.<ref name="threads" /></blockquote>

==== Philosophy ====

Philosopher John Searle argues that Watson—despite impressive capabilities—cannot actually think.<ref name=SearleWSJ>{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703407304576154313126987674 |first=John |last=Searle |title=Watson Doesn't Know It Won on 'Jeopardy!' |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=February 23, 2011 |access-date=July 26, 2011 |archive-date=November 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110221317/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703407304576154313126987674 |url-status=live }}</ref> Drawing on his Chinese room thought experiment, Searle claims that Watson, like other computational machines, is capable only of manipulating symbols, but has no ability to understand the meaning of those symbols; however, Searle's experiment has its detractors.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lohr |first=Steve |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/science/creating-artificial-intelligence-based-on-the-real-thing.html |title=Creating AI based on the real thing |date=December 5, 2011 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=February 26, 2017 |archive-date=November 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110221227/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/06/science/creating-artificial-intelligence-based-on-the-real-thing.html |url-status=live }}.</ref>

==== Match against members of the United States Congress ====

On February 28, 2011, Watson played an untelevised exhibition match of ''Jeopardy!'' against members of the United States House of Representatives. In the first round, Rush D. Holt, Jr. (D-NJ, a former ''Jeopardy!'' contestant), who was challenging the computer with Bill Cassidy (R-LA, later Senator from Louisiana), led with Watson in second place. However, combining the scores between all matches, the final score was $40,300 for Watson and $30,000 for the congressional players combined.<ref name="House Match">{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307032033/https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jQVgg2q1jaW9UdEZn-5s-D2x-sEw?docId=b8984784c9d4454db01523b8d99b6d8e |archive-date=March 7, 2011 |url=https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jQVgg2q1jaW9UdEZn-5s-D2x-sEw?docId=b8984784c9d4454db01523b8d99b6d8e |title=NJ congressman tops 'Jeopardy' computer Watson |agency=Associated Press |date=March 2, 2011 |access-date=March 2, 2011}}</ref>

IBM's Christopher Padilla said of the match, "The technology behind Watson represents a major advancement in computing. In the data-intensive environment of government, this type of technology can help organizations make better decisions and improve how government helps its citizens."<ref name="House Match"/>

== Applications ==

After the national press attention gained by the 2011 ''Jeopardy!'' appearance, IBM sought out partnerships from education to weather and cancer to retail chatbots in order convince business about Watson's alleged capabilities. This ultimately led to the failure of Watson to find a profit-making product for the company.<ref name=":2">{{cite news |last1=Schwerin |first1=Mac |date=May 5, 2023 |title=America Forgot About IBM Watson. Is ChatGPT Next? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/ibm-watson-irrelevance-chatgpt-generative-ai-race/673965/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505195217/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/ibm-watson-irrelevance-chatgpt-generative-ai-race/673965/ |archive-date=May 5, 2023 |work=The Atlantic}}</ref>

In 2011, the IBM general counsel wrote in ''The National Law Review'' arguing that the law profession will become more efficient and better with Watson.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Weber |first=Robert C. |date=February 14, 2011 |title=Why 'Watson' matters to lawyers |url=https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/almID/1202481662966/ |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190908094708/https://www.law.com/nationallawjournal/almID/1202481662966/ |archive-date=September 8, 2019 |work=The National Law Review}}</ref> After the national attention ''Jeopardy!'' afforded them, began an ultimately unsuccessful and expensive project that began when the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center tried to use Watson to help doctors diagnose and treat cancer patients. Ultimately, the division cost $4 billion to develop but was sold for a quarter of that—$1 billion, in 2022.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Lohr |first=Steve |date=2022-01-21 |title=IBM is selling off Watson Health to a private equity firm. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/business/ibm-watson-health.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121164006/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/business/ibm-watson-health.html |archive-date=2022-01-21 |access-date=2025-03-20 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> By 2023, Watson resulted in IBM losing 10% of its stock value, costing four times more than what it brought to the company and resulting in mass layoffs.<ref name=":2" />

From 2012 through the late 2010s, Watson's technology was used to create applications—mostly discontinued<ref name=":3" /> to help people make decisions in a variety of areas, among them:

* diagnosing cancer and treatment plans,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lohr |first=Steve |date=2016-10-17 |title=IBM Is Counting on Its Bet on Watson, and Paying Big Money for It |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/17/technology/ibm-is-counting-on-its-bet-on-watson-and-paying-big-money-for-it.html |access-date=2025-03-20 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> * retail shopping,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ungerleider |first=Neal |date=April 23, 2014 |title=The North Face Testing Watson-Powered Virtual Personal Shoppers |url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3029593/the-north-face-testing-watson-powered-virtual-personal-shoppers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117125008/https://www.fastcompany.com/3029593/the-north-face-testing-watson-powered-virtual-personal-shoppers |archive-date=January 17, 2019 |work=Fast Company}}</ref> * medical equipment purchasing,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hesseldahl |first=Arik |date=February 12, 2014 |title=First Investment by IBM's Watson Fund Is for Welltok |url=https://www.vox.com/2014/2/12/11623386/first-investment-by-ibms-watson-fund-is-for-welltok |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928081450/https://www.vox.com/2014/2/12/11623386/first-investment-by-ibms-watson-fund-is-for-welltok |archive-date=September 28, 2021 |work=Vox}}</ref> * cooking and recipes,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yang |first=Ina |date=July 13, 2015 |title=Caviar + Mango: Chef Watson Wants You to Cook Outside the Comfort Zone |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/07/13/422620163/caviar-mango-chef-watson-wants-you-to-cook-outside-the-comfort-zone |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714231448/http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/07/13/422620163/caviar-mango-chef-watson-wants-you-to-cook-outside-the-comfort-zone |archive-date=July 14, 2015 |work=NPR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Brien |first=Terrence |date=2015-06-20 |title=Watson's South American spin on a Canadian classic |url=https://www.engadget.com/2015-06-20-cooking-with-watson-peruvian-potato-poutine.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511193509/https://www.engadget.com/2015-06-20-cooking-with-watson-peruvian-potato-poutine.html |archive-date=2020-05-11 |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=Engadget |language=en-US}}</ref> * water conservation,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Scott K. |date=July 6, 2016 |title=IBM's Watson Fed Images to Estimate Water Use Efficiency in California |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/07/asking-an-eye-in-the-sky-how-much-water-your-yard-requires/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706202435/http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/07/asking-an-eye-in-the-sky-how-much-water-your-yard-requires/ |archive-date=July 6, 2016 |access-date= |work=Ars Technica}}</ref> * hospitality management,<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Hardawar |first=Devindra |date=May 5, 2015 |title=IBM's big bet on Watson is paying off with more apps and DNA analysis |url=https://www.engadget.com/2015-05-05-ibm-watson-apps-dna.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929053343/https://www.engadget.com/2015-05-05-ibm-watson-apps-dna.html |archive-date=September 29, 2020 |work=Engadget}}</ref> * human genetic sequencing,<ref name=":1" /> * music development and identification,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Bin |last2=Liao |first2=Yuanyuan |date=2025-01-31 |title=Integrating IBM Watson BEAT generative AI software into flute music learning: the impact of advanced AI tools on students' learning strategies |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10639-025-13394-y |journal=Education and Information Technologies |volume=30 |issue=10 |pages=14577–14596 |language=en |doi=10.1007/s10639-025-13394-y |issn=1573-7608|url-access=subscription }}</ref> * weather forecasting<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jancer |first1=Matt |date=26 August 2016 |title=IBM's Watson Takes On Yet Another Job, as a Weather Forecaster |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/ibms-watson-takes-yet-another-job-weather-forecaster-180960264/?no-ist |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160901123244/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/ibms-watson-takes-yet-another-job-weather-forecaster-180960264/?no-ist |archive-date=1 September 2016 |access-date=29 August 2016 |publisher=Smithsonian}}</ref> * to sell ads with weather forecasts,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Booton |first1=Jennifer |date=15 June 2016 |title=IBM finally reveals why it bought The Weather Company |url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ibm-finally-reveals-why-it-bought-the-weather-company-2016-06-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822152925/http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ibm-finally-reveals-why-it-bought-the-weather-company-2016-06-15 |archive-date=22 August 2016 |access-date=29 August 2016 |publisher=Market Watch}}</ref> * to tutor students,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Plenty |first1=Rebecca |date=October 25, 2016 |title=Pearson Taps IBM's Watson as a Virtual Tutor for College Students |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-25/e-learning-enters-bot-era-as-pearson-taps-ibm-s-watson-as-tutor |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170927000417/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-25/e-learning-enters-bot-era-as-pearson-taps-ibm-s-watson-as-tutor |archive-date=September 27, 2017 |access-date=26 September 2017 |publisher=Bloomberg |issue=October 25, 2016 |agency=Bloomberg}}</ref> * and tax preparations,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Moscaritolo |first1=Angela |date=2 February 2017 |title=H&R Block Enlists IBM Watson to Find Tax Deductions |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/351508/h-r-block-enlists-ibm-watson-to-find-tax-deductions |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215022935/http://www.pcmag.com/news/351508/h-r-block-enlists-ibm-watson-to-find-tax-deductions |archive-date=15 February 2017 |access-date=14 February 2017 |publisher=PC Magazine}}</ref>

In 2021, technology reporter at ''The New York Times'' for Steve Rohr, explained:

{{Blockquote|text=The company's missteps with Watson began with its early emphasis on big and difficult initiatives intended to generate both acclaim and sizable revenue for the company, according to many of the more than a dozen current and former IBM managers and scientists interviewed for this article. Several of those people asked not to be named because they had not been authorized to speak or still had business ties to IBM.|author=Steve Rohr|title="What Ever Happened to IBM's Watson?"|source=''The New York Times''<ref name=":3" />}}

Writing in ''The Atlantic'' in 2023, Mac Schwerin argued that IBM's leadership fundamentally did not understand the technology, leading to the hardship and strain caused by the project, saying:

{{Blockquote|text=But the suits in charge went after the bigger and more technically challenging game of feeding the machine entirely different types of material. They viewed Watson as a generational meal ticket.|author=Mac Schwerin|title="America Forgot About IBM Watson. Is ChatGPT Next?"|source=''The Atlantic''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Schwerin |first1=Mac |title=America Forgot About IBM Watson. Is ChatGPT Next? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/ibm-watson-irrelevance-chatgpt-generative-ai-race/673965/ |work=The Atlantic |date=May 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505195217/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/05/ibm-watson-irrelevance-chatgpt-generative-ai-race/673965/ |archive-date=May 5, 2023}}</ref>}}

In the end, IBM's initial vision for Watson as a transformative technology capable of revolutionizing industries did not materialize as anticipated.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |last=Strickland |first=Eliza |date=April 2, 2019 |title=How IBM Watson Overpromised and Underdelivered on AI Health Care |url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/how-ibm-watson-overpromised-and-underdelivered-on-ai-health-care |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210730152517/https://spectrum.ieee.org/how-ibm-watson-overpromised-and-underdelivered-on-ai-health-care |archive-date=July 30, 2021 |work=IEEE Spectrum}}</ref> Watson's capabilities were primarily suited to specific tasks, like natural language processing for trivia games, rather than generalized commercial problem-solving.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yu |first=Jea |date=April 10, 2023 |title=Back from the Dead, IBM's Watson AI is Alive and Re-Emerging |url=https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/back-from-the-dead-ibms-watson-ai-is-alive-and-re-emerging |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426135127/https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/back-from-the-dead-ibms-watson-ai-is-alive-and-re-emerging |archive-date=April 26, 2023 |work=MarketBeat / Nasdaq}}</ref> Watson's mismatch between capabilities and IBM's marketing contributed significantly to Watson's commercial struggles and eventual decline. The overstated claims about Watson's abilities also caused public sentiment to turn against the idea of Watson and artificial intelligence.<ref name=":3" />

Between 2019 and 2023, IBM shifted focus to a separate initiative WatsonX, distinctly different from Watson, aiming for narrower, industry-targeted technology within IBM's cloud computing and platform-based strategies IBM Watsonx.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Lohr |first=Steve |date=2021-07-16 |title=What Ever Happened to IBM's Watson? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/16/technology/what-happened-ibm-watson.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210716130025/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/16/technology/what-happened-ibm-watson.html |archive-date=2021-07-16 |access-date=2025-03-20 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

=== Healthcare === {{See also|IBM Watson Health}} IBM's Watson was used to analyze medical datasets to provide physicians with guidance on diagnoses and cancer treatment decisions.<ref>{{cite web |date=9 July 2024 |title=IBM Watson is AI for Business |url=https://www.ibm.com/watson/about/ |website=IBM}}</ref><ref name="Watson in healthcare">{{cite web |title=Putting Watson to Work: Watson in Healthcare |url=http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/watson_in_healthcare.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111173831/http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/watson_in_healthcare.shtml |archive-date=November 11, 2013 |access-date=November 11, 2013 |work=IBM}}</ref> When a physician submitted a query to Watson, the system started a multi-step process by parsing the input to identify key information, examining patient data to uncover relevant medical and hereditary history, and finally compare various data sources to form and test hypotheses.<ref>{{cite web |title=IBM Watson Helps Fight Cancer with Evidence-Based Diagnosis and Treatment Suggestions |url=http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/pdf/MSK_Case_Study_IMC14794.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130426233811/http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/pdf/MSK_Case_Study_IMC14794.pdf |archive-date=April 26, 2013 |access-date=November 12, 2013 |work=IBM}}</ref><ref name="Watson in healthcare" />

IBM claimed that Watson's could draw from a wide range of sources, including treatment guidelines, electronic medical records, and research materials.<ref name="Watson in healthcare" /> Although, company executives would later blame the lack of data on the projects ultimate failure.<ref name=":0" />

Notably, Watson has not been involved in the actual diagnosis process, but rather assists doctors in identifying suitable treatment options for patients who have already been diagnosed.<ref>{{cite web |last=Saxena |first=Manoj |date=February 13, 2013 |title=IBM Watson Progress and 2013 Roadmap (Slide 7) |url=http://www.slideshare.net/manojsaxena2/ibm-watson-progress-and-roadmap-saxena |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113064213/http://www.slideshare.net/manojsaxena2/ibm-watson-progress-and-roadmap-saxena |archive-date=November 13, 2013 |access-date=November 12, 2013 |work=IBM}}</ref> In fact, a study of 1,000 challenging patient cases found that Watson's recommendations matched those of human doctors in an impressive 99% of cases.<ref>{{Cite press release |url=https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/42214.wss |publisher=IBM |title=MD Anderson Taps IBM Watson to Power "Moon Shots" Mission Aimed at Ending Cancer, Starting with Leukemia |access-date=2017-02-20 |archive-date=2017-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221011016/https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/42214.wss |url-status=dead}}</ref>

IBM established partnerships with the Cleveland Clinic,<ref name=":5" /> the MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center to further its mission in healthcare. In 2011, IBM entered into a research partnership with Nuance Communications and physicians at the University of Maryland and Harvard to develop a commercial product using Watson's clinical decision support capabilities. IBM partnered with WellPoint (now Anthem) in 2011 to utilize Watson in suggesting treatment options to physicians,<ref>{{cite news |last=Mathews |first=Anna Wilde |title=Wellpoint's New Hire: What is Watson? |date=September 12, 2011 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111903532804576564600781798420 |url-access=subscription |access-date=March 12, 2017 |archive-date=February 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222054109/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424053111903532804576564600781798420 |url-status=live }}</ref> and in 2013, Watson was deployed in its first commercial application for utilization management decisions in lung cancer treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.<ref name="wellpoint">{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2013/02/08/ibms-watson-gets-its-first-piece-of-business-in-healthcare/ |title=IBM's Watson Gets Its First Piece Of Business In Healthcare |first=Bruce |last=Upbin |work=Forbes |date=February 8, 2013 |access-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-date=September 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170918023108/https://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2013/02/08/ibms-watson-gets-its-first-piece-of-business-in-healthcare/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Cleveland Clinic collaboration aimed to enhance Watson's health expertise and support medical professionals in treating patients more effectively. However, the MD Anderson Cancer Center pilot program, initiated in 2013, ultimately failed to meet its goals and was discontinued after $65 million in investment.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 23, 2016 |title=IBM's Jeopardy! Stunt Computer Is Curing Cancer Now |url=https://nymag.com/vindicated/2016/11/ibms-jeopardy-stunt-computer-is-curing-cancer-now.html |work=New York Magazine}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2017/02/19/md-anderson-benches-ibm-watson-in-setback-for-artificial-intelligence-in-medicine/#3c636c173776 | title = MD Anderson Benches IBM Watson In Setback For Artificial Intelligence In Medicine | work = Forbes | access-date = 2017-09-18 | archive-date = 2017-10-02 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171002233328/https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2017/02/19/md-anderson-benches-ibm-watson-in-setback-for-artificial-intelligence-in-medicine/#3c636c173776 | url-status = live }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{cite news |last=Miliard |first=Mike |title=Watson Heads to Medical School: Cleveland Clinic, IBM Send Supercomputer to College |url=http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cleveland-clinic-ibm-send-watson-medical-school |work=Healthcare IT News |date=October 30, 2012 |access-date=November 11, 2013 |archive-date=November 11, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111184700/http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/cleveland-clinic-ibm-send-watson-medical-school |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 2016, IBM launched "IBM Watson for Oncology", a product designed to provide personalized, evidence-based cancer care options to physicians and patients.<ref name=":4" /> This initiative marked a significant milestone in the adoption of Watson's technology in the healthcare industry. Additionally, IBM partnered with Manipal Hospitals in India to offer Watson's expertise to patients online.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/manipal-hospitals-to-adopt-ibm-s-watson-for-oncology-supercomputer-for-cancer-treatment-116102800414_1.html|title=Manipal Hospitals to adopt IBM's 'Watson for Oncology' supercomputer for cancer treatment|last=ANI|date=2016-10-28|newspaper=Business Standard India|access-date=2017-01-17|archive-date=2017-01-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118052458/http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/manipal-hospitals-to-adopt-ibm-s-watson-for-oncology-supercomputer-for-cancer-treatment-116102800414_1.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Goel |first=Vindu |date=2017-09-28 |title=IBM Now Has More Employees in India Than in the U.S. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/technology/ibm-india.html |access-date=2025-03-20 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The company ultimately faced challenges in the healthcare market, with no profit and increased competition.<ref name=":4" /> In 2022, IBM announced the sell-off of its Watson Health unit to Francisco Partners, marking a significant shift in the company's approach to the healthcare industry.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":0" />

=== IBM Watson Group ===

On January 9, 2014, IBM announced it was creating a business unit around Watson.<ref name="IBMNews">{{cite press release |url=https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/42869.wss |title=IBM Watson Group Unveils Cloud-Delivered Watson Services to Transform Industrial R&D, Visualize Big Data Insights and Fuel Analytics Exploration |publisher=IBM |date=January 9, 2014 |access-date=February 14, 2020 |archive-date=October 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201012035357/https://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/42869.wss |url-status=dead }}</ref> IBM Watson Group will have headquarters in New York City's Silicon Alley and will employ 2,000 people. IBM has invested $1 billion to get the division going. Watson Group will develop three new cloud-delivered services: Watson Discovery Advisor, Watson Engagement Advisor, and Watson Explorer. Watson Discovery Advisor will focus on research and development projects in pharmaceutical industry, publishing, and biotechnology, Watson Engagement Advisor will focus on self-service applications using insights on the basis of natural language questions posed by business users, and Watson Explorer will focus on helping enterprise users uncover and share data-driven insights based on federated search more easily.<ref name="IBMNews"/> The company is also launching a $100 million venture fund to spur application development for "cognitive" applications. According to IBM, the cloud-delivered enterprise-ready Watson has seen its speed increase 24 times over—a 2,300 percent improvement in performance and its physical size shrank by 90 percent—from the size of a master bedroom to three stacked pizza boxes.<ref name="IBMNews"/> IBM CEO Virginia Rometty said she wants Watson to generate $10 billion in annual revenue within ten years.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303754404579308981809586194 |title=IBM Set to Expand Watson's Reach |first=Spencer E. |last=Ante |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=January 9, 2014 |access-date=January 9, 2014 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=May 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509032103/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303754404579308981809586194 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2017, IBM and MIT established a new joint research venture in artificial intelligence. IBM invested $240 million to create the MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab in partnership with MIT, which brings together researchers in academia and industry to advance AI research, with projects ranging from computer vision and NLP to devising new ways to ensure that AI systems are fair, reliable and secure.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mitibmwatsonailab.mit.edu/about/ |title=Inside the Lab |date=September 2017 |access-date=October 6, 2020 |archive-date=October 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023031838/https://mitibmwatsonailab.mit.edu/about/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In March 2018, IBM's CEO Ginni Rometty proposed "Watson's Law", the "use of and application of business, smart cities, consumer applications and life in general."<ref name="FORBESlaw">[https://www.forbes.com/sites/adrianbridgwater/2018/03/20/ibm-ceo-rometty-proposes-watsons-law-ai-in-everything/#cc466754d087 "IBM CEO Rometty Proposes 'Watson's Law': AI In Everything"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416034849/https://www.forbes.com/sites/adrianbridgwater/2018/03/20/ibm-ceo-rometty-proposes-watsons-law-ai-in-everything/#cc466754d087 |date=2021-04-16 }}, Adrian Bridgewater, ''Forbes'', March 20, 2018</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==

* {{cite book |title=Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything |last=Baker |first=Stephen |year=2011 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |location=Boston, New York |isbn=978-0-547-48316-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/finaljeopardyman0000bake }}

== Further reading ==

* Baker, Stephen (2012) ''Final Jeopardy: The Story of Watson, the Computer That Will Transform Our World'', Mariner Books. * Jackson, Joab (2014). ''[http://www.pcworld.com/article/2086520/ibm-bets-big-on-watsonbranded-cognitive-computing.html IBM bets big on Watson-branded cognitive computing]'' PCWorld: Jan 9, 2014 2:30 PM * Greenemeier, Larry. (2013). Will IBM's Watson Usher in a New Era of Cognitive Computing? Scientific American. Nov 13, 2013 |* Lazarus, R. S. (1982). * Kelly, J.E. and Hamm, S. ( 2013). Smart Machines: IBM's Watson and the Era of Cognitive Computing. Columbia Business School Publishing

== External links == {{external links|date=May 2022}} {{Commons category|IBM Watson}}

* [https://www.ibm.com/watson Watson homepage] * [http://www.research.ibm.com/deepqa/deepqa.shtml DeepQA homepage] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20091010111119/http://www.jeopardy.com/news/ibm.php About Watson on Jeopardy.com] * [https://www.pbs.org/video/nova-smartest-machine-on-earth/ Smartest Machine on Earth (PBS ''NOVA'' documentary about the making of Watson)] * [http://www.ibm.com/systems/power Power Systems] * [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/16/magazine/watson-trivia-game.html The Watson Trivia Challenge]. ''The New York Times''. June 16, 2010. * [https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/tocresult.jsp?reload=true&isnumber=6177717 This is Watson] – IBM Journal of Research and Development (published by the IEEE)

=== J! Archive ===

* [http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=3575 ''Jeopardy!'' Show #6086 – Game 1, Part 1] * [http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=3576 ''Jeopardy!'' Show #6087 – Game 1, Part 2] * [http://www.j-archive.com/showgame.php?game_id=3577 ''Jeopardy!'' Show #6088 – Game 2]

=== Videos ===

* [https://www.pbs.org/video/nova-smartest-machine-on-earth/ PBS NOVA documentary on the making of Watson] * {{YouTube|id=3G2H3DZ8rNc |title=Building Watson – A Brief Overview of the DeepQA Project}} (21:42), IBMLabs * {{YouTube|id=DywO4zksfXw |title=How Watson Answers a Question}} * {{YouTube|id=oFMeBId7vIM |title=David Ferrucci, Dan Cerutti and Ken Jennings on IBM's Watson at Singularity Summit 2011}} * {{YouTube|id=ZvbWyREkMkw |title=A Computer Called Watson}} – November 15, 2011, David Ferrucci at Computer History Museum, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e8G-jJa0KI alternate] * {{YouTube|id=U_KhvJyjZ6c |title=IBM Watson and the Future of Healthcare}} – 2012 * {{YouTube|id=I-gZkqCXOgs |title=IBM Watson-Introduction and Future Applications}} – IBM at EDGE 2012 * {{YouTube|id=UFF9bI6e29U |title=IBM Watson for Healthcare}} – Martin Kohn, 2013 * [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4F1C783776E708A8 IBM Watson playlist], [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3A7FC0CD1F1BB3D1 IBMLabs Watson playlist]

Category:Computer-related introductions in 2006 Watson Watson Category:Jeopardy! contestants Category:Natural language processing software Category:One-of-a-kind computers Category:Virtual assistants Category:Jeopardy!