Man living with machine: IBM's AI-driven Watson is learning quickly, expanding to new platforms

When many people think about IBM Watson, they remember the computer that won Jeopardy in 2011. It was cool, but of dubious value in the Real World. Watson has gone from a game show novelty to a tool in use in many industries, from medicine to cooking. At last week's World of Watson conference in Las Vegas, over 17,000 attendees learned how far the technology of cognitive computing has come. In fact, IBM's chairman, president, and CEO Ginni Rometty pointed out that the current market for cognitive technologies has grown 16X in the past four years, to US$32 billion, and is expected to hit US$2 trillion by 2025.