Hannover, Germany, - 25 Apr 2017: ABB and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a strategic collaboration that brings together ABB's industry leading digital offering, ABB Ability TM, with IBM Watson Internet of Things cognitive capabilities to unlock new value for customers in utilities, industry, transport and infrastructure. At Hannover Messe, IBM and ABB announced a new partnership in industrial artificial intelligence that will combine the power of IBM Watson with ABB Ability, the comprehensive digital offering of ABB, to unlock new value for clients in utilities, industry, transport and infrastructure. Pictured, Harriet Green, General Manager Watson IoT, Customer Engagement and Education, IBM; and Guido Jouret, Chief Digital Officer, ABB, discuss the future of cognitive and industrial machines. "This powerful combination marks truly the next level of industrial technology, moving beyond current connected systems that simply gather data, to industrial operations and machines that use data to sense, analyze, optimize and take actions that drive greater uptime, speed and yield for industrial customers," said ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. "With an installed base of 70 million connected devices, 70,000 digital control systems and 6,000 enterprise software solutions, ABB is a trusted leader in the industrial space, and has a four decade long history of creating digital solutions for customers. IBM is a leader in artificial intelligence and cognitive computing. Together, IBM and ABB will create powerful solutions for customers to benefit from the Fourth Industrial Revolution."

Since its introduction to the world in 2009, IBM's Watson supercomputer has been crushing humans in Jeopardy, helping chefs make food with unconventional recipes and even offering tech support. But what happens when the artificial intelligence machine puts its own spin on a photo booth? To find out, I checked out IBM's "Art with Watson: Hidden Portraits," an exhibit that's being displayed in New York City until May 7th. The gallery features portraits of historic personalities like Marie Curie and Nikola Tesla, which Watson helped artists create by feeding them data collected using its natural language and personality insights APIs. As part of this project, IBM is also showing off the Watson cognitive photo booth.

Automation is everywhere these days enabling users to accomplish a wide range of tasks – from ordering pizza, checking luggage at the airport, booking a hotel room, right through to booking a doctor's appointment. And the customer service industry is no exception. Advancements in technology continue to transform customer service interactions. By 2020, a Gartner study projects more than 85% of all customer interactions will be handled without the need for a human agent. From improvements in loyalty and brand reputation to new revenue streams, the pathway to real-time self-service in customer service brings huge opportunities to forward-thinking businesses.

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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If you pick up your iPhone and ask Apple's personal assistant software the age of Mets third baseman David Wright, you get a direct answer: Wright, born in 1982, is 34 years old. You also get some ancillary information: A photo, his height, a nickname that no one uses. Ask Google's artificially intelligent question-answering system, same deal. But until Monday evening if you were to ask the same question of Alexa, the Amazon system that powers the company's Echo devices, you got a much different response. David Wright, according to Alexa/Echo, is 234 years old -- by far the oldest person on the Mets roster or in professional baseball or in the recorded history of the human race. Wright may be injured a lot, but that's only because he's older than the Constitution of the United States.

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.