IBM, Salesforce join AI forces with Watson, Einstein

Under the direction of CEO Marc Benioff, Salesforce's annual Dreamforce conference is increasingly becoming San Francisco's dominant tech industry confab. Customer relationship management company Salesforce announced Monday an artificial intelligence partnership with IBM aimed at boosting the range of predictive analytics it can provide clients. Salesforce Einstein, an AI platform that debuted last year that mines data to help salespeople close leads, will combine with IBM Watson to provide data-based insights for businesses. For example, an insurance company running Salesforce could use real-time weather updates from Watson to warn customers about impending bad weather. Or Watson's retail industry data could combine with Einstein's customer-habit information to create targeted campaigns for shoppers.