Though artificial intelligence experts may cringe at the portrayals of humanlike AI in science fiction, some researchers are nudging us closer to those visions. "I think it's useful that your user interface not only understand your emotions, your personality, your tone, your motivations, but that it also have a set of emotions, personality, motivations," says Rob High, the CTO of IBM Watson. "I think that makes it more natural for us." Last month, High's company unveiled Project Intu, an experimental platform that allows developers the ability to build internet of things devices using its artificial intelligence services, like Conversation, Language and Visual Recognition. Someday, the system promises to let programmers create a staple character of sci-fi: the gregarious, hyper-connected AI like J.A.R.V.I.S. of Iron Man, KITT of Knight Rider, or Star Wars' C3PO.

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IBM Watson Health's Watson for Genomics platform is to help inform cancer treatment decisions based on gene sequencing data from company Illumina. The artificial intelligence software will by applied to data from Illumina's TruSight Tumor 170 platform – a next generation sequencing gene panel that provides data related to 170 genes associated with common solid tumours. Watson will analyse the data alongside medical literature, clinical trial data and professional guidelines to help produce informed insights on how cancers could be treated. The entire process from raw genetic data to treatment insights will be completed in a matter of minutes – much quicker than the usual week or so it takes scientists to produce a similar report. "This partnership lays the groundwork for more systematic study of the impact of genomics in oncology," said Deborah DiSanzo, general manager, IBM Watson Health.

IBM said its Watson Health unit has partnered with Illumina, a company that offers genome data sequencing tools, to integrate and standardize interpretation for cancer research. Under the partnership, Watson Genomics will be integrated into Illumina's BaseSpace and Tumor Sequencing Process. Specifically, Watson Genomics will be available to interpret data produced by Illumina's TruSight Tumor 170, which is a solid tumor profiling panel. The system aims to detect variants across 170 genes and looks at both RNA and DNA. Previously: Playing House: How IBM's Watson is helping doctors diagnose the most rare and elusive illnesses AI, MD: How artificial intelligence is changing the way illness is diagnosed and treated The integration covers research not diagnostic procedures.

IBM (NYSE:IBM) jointly announced with the German conglomerate Siemens (OTCPK:SIEGY) that they are planning to include IBM's Watson in Siemens's industry analytics platform MindSphere. Siemens is Europe's largest manufacturing and electronics company with a worldwide presence. Siemens operates in the industrial sector with lots of on-premises software suites, which the company is willing to send to cloud. As a result, IBM's Watson will get a significant boost. This article investigates how IBM's Watson platform will benefit from the development.

Not every customer that reaches out for support is a happy camper. When an unhappy customer walks through the door you want to react instantly to avoid any bad escalation. But tracking the mood of conversations at scale is hard. Luckily IBM Watson comes to rescue us with its Tone Analyzer APIs. We used it with Intercom and created a Stamplay app to keep track of our users emotions during the conversation and trigger alerts in case something goes wrong.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly moving from "nice to have" into "must have" territory for organizations. In fact, nearly six in ten AI early adopters think it will be a necessary element to remain competitive within the next few years. Two-thirds say AI is very important to their organization's strategy and success. AI can be a powerful tool for getting people the right information at the right time for decision making. By augmenting human intelligence and improving planning, AI has the potential to transform workplace productivity.

A Japanese insurance company has decided to get rid of 34 jobs and instead get artificial intelligence to take over assessing medical insurance claims over the phone. Starting from January 2017, Tokyo-based Fukoku Life Insurance Mutual Company is handing over the roles of 34 human insurance agents to IBM Watson Explorer, which is a cognitive search and content analysis platform that uses machine learning and language processing to analyse data for trends and patterns. According to a press release, Fukoku Life is using IBM Watson Explorer to classify and categorise diseases, injuries and surgical procedures. When insurance policy holders call the company's hotline to make an insurance claim, the IBM Watson supercomputer is able to analyse the customer's voice and detect keywords. As part of making the claim, the policyholder has to submit a medical certificate showing what condition they have, and IBM Watson can detect the name of the injury or disease listed, as well as dates such as the hospital admission date and surgery date.

LONDON, UK, 3 January 2017 – Digital Catapult is proud to announce that it is the advocate UK partner involved in the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, a $5m competition challenging teams to demonstrate how humans can collaborate with AI to tackle the world's grand challenges, such as poverty, health and sustainable energy. As part of its wider strategy to support market-led technology and innovation, Digital Catapult will support IBM Watson AI XPRIZE via its technical experts as resources and mentors for competing teams. Digital Catapult will also form a hub for UK teams by hosting events, meet-ups and take a lead in helping to showcase the best competitors to come out of the UK. XPRIZE offers competitors a rare chance to work on applications using AI, machine learning, predictive technologies, robotics and other advanced technologies to develop powerful cognitive applications. Teams have the freedom to define their own goals and have the unique opportunity to potentially attract investment and compete for the main prize in the final at TED 2020.

IBM on Wednesday announced it was teaming with General Motors to put Watson artificial intelligence to work to personalize the driving experience for motorists. OnStar software built into GM cars will be imbued with Watson smarts, enabling them to get to know their drivers, IBM chief executive Ginni Rometty told the WSJD Live technology conference in California. "It learns from how you behave and what you do," Rometty said. "It knows how you like your coffee and orders it for you; it reminds you to pick up your children." The resulting OnStar Go system will be the auto industry's first "cognitive mobility platform," according to the companies.