What Exactly is Watson?

Summary: Next time you bring up Artificial Intelligence and your non-data scientist friends all say "Watson" here's some perspective you can offer. Their understanding of AI and Watson is very likely to be inaccurate. Here's what you need to know to set them straight. When conversation with my non-data scientist friends turns to AI it's almost inevitable that at least one will remark on the wonders of Watson. To many of the uninformed, Watson is synonymous with AI and clearly it's already here.