Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. IBM's Watson project has always been about putting the power of data science into the hands of the masses. Today, IBM is announcing another step towards that vision with the launch of the Watson Data Platform.

Almost three-quarters (72 percent) of Brazilians have never been inside a museum, according to a 2010 study from the Brazilian Institute of Economic Research. There are probably many reasons for this, but among them is the feeling that art can seem inaccessible unless you've studied it. So, how do you get art to speak to you specifically? By getting it to speak, period. For the launch of IBM Watson in Brazil, Ogilvy Brazil created an interactive guide that lets people have conversations with work housed at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo Museum.

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Anne Le Grand, general manager of Watson Health Imaging, will explore the potential of cognitive imaging to aid radiologists in delivering high-quality, patient-centered care as this year's Radiology Leadership Institute (RLI) Summit keynote speaker. Besides cognitive imaging -- using computers to develop clinical insights from medical images -- Le Grand will also address using augmented intelligence -- as opposed to artificial intelligence -- as IBM trains Watson to "see" medical images. Her address, "Watson Health: Empowering Heroes, Transforming Health," will be presented Sept. 7. Registration is open for the annual meeting, which will be held Sept. 7–10 at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. "Radiology and radiologists lead in the development and implementation of both imaging and minimally invasive procedures, driven not only by technology but also by societal needs," said Alexander M. Norbash, MD, FACR, the RLI Summit program chair. "RLI Summit attendees will be able to hear how cognitive imaging and augmented intelligence may make radiologists' work even more effective, efficient and well-informed when looking at enormous amounts of information pertinent to patients," he noted.

IBM is integrating its Watson machine learning software into its enterprise helpdesk software in order to help organisations automate at least part of their employee query and tech support functions. Watson, which is being put to use in a whole range of different scenarios, including creating highlight reels at the Masters golf tournament, can learn over time, IBM claims, basing its knowledge on its historic interactions with staff. "Today, governments and enterprises need to provide an effective set of capabilities to their workforce, so that their employees can deliver a superior interaction and experience for their citizens and consumers," said Richard Esposito, general manager, GTS Mobility Services at IBM. "We need a system that can understand and communicate in a natural language conversation, one that solves problems and continues to learn while engaging with employees. Our Workplace Support Services with Watson delivers this value," Esposito added. The end result of this is a 24/7 support desk for workforces where the answers to common questions are continually refined, with Watson making suggestions for better resolutions of specific issues as it gathers more data.

IBM has been the digital overseer for the Master's golf tournament for more than two decades. In recent years, the technology contributions have evolved from website basics to apps and other digital experiences, and now Watson is being added into the mix. For the first time at a sporting event, IBM is harnessing Watson's ability to see, hear and learn to identify great shots at the Masters, based on crowd noise, player gestures, and other indicators, to aid in the creation of highlight reels. "This year, they really wanted to take the Masters' digital projects to a new level, so we began thinking about how we can have an immersive video experience and what would make that space even more impressive," said John Kent, program manager for IBM's worldwide sports and entertainment partnership group. "That's how Watson became involved." The technology behind the latest functionality is IBM's new Cognitive Highlights application, which uses Watson to automatically sort through live video streams to pinpoint moments worthy of a replay.

If your company uses IBM's helpdesk services, don't be surprised if you find yourself talking to Watson next time you contact the IT department. IBM has added a Watson-powered concierge-like service to its helpdesk, and it can quickly solve your IT issues around the clock, wherever you are in the world and whatever device you're using. Unlike automated bots, you can talk to Watson about your issues like you're talking to another person. It can then customize its responses -- for instance, it can use layman's terms if you're not that tech-savvy or use jargons if you are. It'll solve your problem on the spot if it's something simple like adding storage to an email account, resetting a password or ordering a new company phone or computer. If it's not trained to handle your problem, it'll hand you over to a human IT personnel.

It isn't easy to capture the best shots in a golf tournament that is being televised. And that's why IBM is applying the artificial intelligence of its Watson platform to the task of identifying the best shots at The Masters golf tournament. For the first time at a sporting event, IBM is harnessing Watson's ability to see, hear, and learn to identify great shots based on crowd noise, player gestures, and other indicators. IBM Watson will create its own highlight reels. With 90 golfers playing multiple rounds over four days, video from every tee, every hole, and multiple camera angles can quickly add up to thousands of hours of footage.

As an H&R Block tax pro and Enrolled Agent, I've seen just about everything that you can see in the tax world. From someone who tried to claim a cruise as a tax deduction and someone else who wanted to deduct their expenses from playing in a Fantasy Football League. Tax preparation sometimes gets a bad rap. People never seem to think of it as the most exciting career, as a job where you can be creative and use new technology to upend old ways of doing things. But that has never been my experience, and it will definitely not be my experience next week, when I get to see another first in the tax world: For the first time, I'll be working with a cognitive system to help customers "get their taxes won."

IBM Watson is a platform that represents a new era of computing based on its ability to interact in natural language, process vast amounts of disparate forms of big data and learn from each interaction. It is able to sift through and understand massive amounts of big data at unprecedented speeds to assist professionals in understanding data quickly and easily, while increasing knowledge and gaining value over time. IBM Watson is not only solution in this space, Digital Reasoning and several other players also have compelling offerings. IBM Watson just happens to have the most name recognition. Watson is a cognitive system that sifts through massive libraries of data to discover insights that can help its users answer simple to the most complex of questions.