IBM's "Watson" Now Talks in Japanese

I'm Nathan Shiga and I have thought Japan is cutting edge in robotics and never thought IBM was that close behind us. This is all about their Q-A Computer Watson now said to answer queries in natural Japanese. Here is an IBM computer with enough Japanese to handle Q As applicable in answering services.

In a press conference in Tokyo February 18, a live demonstration of Watson introduced various channels of its application via smartphones and PC. Asked which suits to choose from, Watson suggested a few options and further narrowed down the customer's pick in response to his preferences. Japan IBM will mobilized all data in Japanese thus far lying idle into Watson to advance into the development of new medicine, financial sectors and retailing business.

Watson, named after IBM's first CEO Thomas J. Watson, was developed specifically to answer questions on the quiz show "Jeopardy!. In 2011, it won $1 million by outwittinging former winners Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings.

A few episodes ago, I covered an AI soon challenging a Go master and mentioned IBM's DeepBlue which had beaten Garry Kasparov in chess in 1997. Watson convinces me IBM is dead serious in the AI sector and that its landing in could be some stimulant to its counterparts in Japan.

An extra reading reveals IBM has launched a $100 million venture fund to spur application development for "cognitive" applications. Watson has seen its speed increase 24 times over, a 2,300 percent improvement in performance and its physical size shrank by 90%.

According to IBM, Watson is already adopted or in the process of application in 400 corporates in 29 industries in 36 countries around the world in such areas as insurance, finance, medicine, media, manufacturing, sales support etc. Watson is employed in cancer treatment solution in Thailand and in taxation in Singapore.