IBM (NYSE:IBM) is a company in transition. On the one hand, there are reorganizations and layoffs as the blue giant is transforming itself into a cloud-services company. On the other hand, there are flagship research projects such as Watson or the Quantum Experience as a foreshadowing of things to come in the next few years. I recently had the opportunity to ask IBM some questions about these projects and other things on my mind. This article contains said questions and IBM's answers.

IBM's (NYSE:IBM) famed Watson artificial intelligence platform will be put to use to help match cancer patients with clinical trials. The Armonk, N.Y.-based technology giant said Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Network will adopt the Watson technology for this purpose in a project set to begin this fall. Froedtert/MCW Cancer Network are among the 1st cancer programs nationally to use the technology, according to IBM. Doctors typically try to match patients to genetically ideal clinical trials that are also the most relevant in the development spectrum. This can be a long process on multiple levels, involving reviews by clinical coordinators who manually sort through patient records and conditions.

Experience and Background: 12 years of overall experience 6 years of experience as solution Architect particularly in automation framework based solutions, Cognitive learning based solutions, Analytics solutions like descriptive, predictive, prescriptive etc. and business intelligence solutions. Experience in data modeling activities Minimum 1 years of experience in Hadoop/Big Data platform Architecture Areas of Expertise: Diverse experience in Architecture, Solution Design & Delivery Data analysis including data integration and transformation for different data formats like structured, semi-structured and unstructured Cognitive or Machine learning based algorithms and implementation Big Data concepts like Hadoop, MapReduce or Spark, NoSQL, In-memory or real time processing etc. Hardware infrastructure knowledge and sizing Well versed in concepts like data mining, text mining, data classification, pattern matching, pattern recognition etc. Advanced analytics comprising of predictive or prescriptive solutions Concepts of solution hosted in cloud infrastructure Strong Domain experience preferably in Banking, Aviation, Healthcare, Telecom (Either one of them will suffice). Tools and Technologies: Hadoop, IBM Watson or Alchemy API based tools, Java APIs, Knowledge about Python or R programing for analytical techniques, Visualization tools knowledge such as Tableau, Qlikview, Cognos, OBI, BO etc., Database knowledge including RDBMS and concepts of NoSQL, Data modeling tools, Natural Language processing Salary: Not Disclosed by Recruiter Industry: IT-Software / Software Services Functional Area: IT Software - DBA, Datawarehousing Role Category: Database Architect/Designer Role: Database Architect/Designer Keyskills: JavaMachine LearningData MiningNatural Language ProcessingSolution DesignNoSQLText MiningPythonPattern RecognitionBusiness Intelligence

Today we're excited to announce that Grain is powered by IBM Watson, unlocking a new way to connect your personal world to the world of investing. Our iOS app, where you can invest alongside friends and family, now runs on one of the most powerful cognitive engines in the world. It's a different kind of tool for a new era of computing, where people and computers work together instead of at ends. It's illumination of an aspect of life that was formerly dark. It's a way for you to take control, to build a portfolio as unique as you are.

IBM-owned The Weather Company is launching Watson Ads, a new ad tech solution that utilises machine learning to give consumers an ability to interact with digital advertising. In what the vendor claims is the first consumer use of its cognitive computing technology for advertising purposes, Watson Ads will allow advertisers to produce display ads that invite consumers to interact through voice and text with a product or service offering. The Weather Company has confirmed three brands - Campbell Soup Company, Unilever and GSK Consumer Healthcare – will be the first to take up the new ad solution when it launches later this year. As an example, the media company said a consumer could ask through natural voice recognition what they should make for dinner that night. Watson will then provide a data-driven response using a combination of machine learning and reasoning ability from datasets ingested by the system.

After robots flood the work market, the only jobs left for real people will be those that require critical thinking and human-level care. Something like a teacher at a college, that could definitely never be outsourced to an machine, right? Ashok Goel, a professor in computing at Georgia Tech, implemented an artificial intelligence teaching assistant in the online Q&A forums for one of his courses last semester. Young academics busting their backs in hopes of one day snagging a TA job will be alarmed to learn that the A.I, named Jill, performed so well that most of the course's students couldn't tell her from the other eight human TAs who were performing the same duties. The A.I.'s full name was Jill Watson, built from the same IBM Watson platform that beat humans in Jeopardy!

You would be amazed about how many requests are made for a banner on a website. All kinds of tracking services are called along with the actual banner content. Now another request will increase load time. The Weather Company, an IBM Business is announcing Watson Ads, an industry-first capability in which consumers will be able to interact with IBM Watson through advertising, by being able to ask questions via voice or text and receive relevant information about the product or offering. Marketers have long sought an advertising solution that can create a one-to-one connection with the consumer, that can be personal, relevant and valuable; and can scale across millions of interactions and touchpoints. Watson Ads will help marketers achieve those goals, and can also help them uncover consumer and product insights faster than ever before, revealing connections previously invisible to human data scientists.

Big Blue is bringing a new kind of big data to digital ads. We've seen Bob Dylan talking to IBM Watson about love and loss in TV spots for months, and Big Blue now wants us to connect with the same kind of artificial intelligence--but not to discuss humanity's deepest issues. No, the idea here is more about the weather and the right kinds of spices to put in our soup. The Armonk, N.Y.-based tech giant today is announcing Watson Ads that will let consumers ask questions by voice or text and receive answers. IBM's relatively new ownership of The Weather Company's digital properties is coming into play in a serious fashion: Watson Ads will first appear on Weather.com, the Weather mobile app and the company's data-driven WeatherFX platform.

David Kenny spoke at The Post's 2016 Transformers live journalism event May 18 in Washington, D.C. Learn more here. "We don't ask the same person to be our oncologist, our radiologist, our accountant, our chef and our dry cleaner. We have different people learn different things and the same is true with AI. "When it makes mistakes, when it's misinterpreted and gives a wrong answer, then you correct it and it learns for the next time. I think what's important is you put safeguards, that there is still an override, that those don't become decisions. In the more critical the mission, the more you need to have checks and balances just as we do on humans, right?

IBM Watson burst onto the scene in 2011 as a Jeopardy-playing computer and quickly became synonymous with artificial intelligence. Since then, AI has become a lot more commonplace thanks to the rise of digital assistants like Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant, but Watson is still chugging away in more ways than you might think, powering everything from cancer treatment software to hotel concierge robots (pictured above). I had a chance to talk to Maya Weinstein, Senior Interaction Design and Creative Director at IBM Watson, about everything from the current crop of AI assistants to how the technology can help save lives. Check out the full interview (with some light edits for clarity) below. Jacob Kleinman: What do you think of the rise of consumer AI products like chatbots or Amazon Echo?