IBM's retreat from health business spotlights AI challenges in healthcare: 4 things to know

With IBM's recent exploration to sell off its health business unit IBM Watson Health, The Wall Street Journal highlighted several issues with AI in healthcare that can hinder tech companies' innovation efforts. Despite spending several billion dollars on acquisitions to scale Watson Health, IBM's health business currently isn't profitable and is looking to sell, according to the Journal. IBM declined to comment on the sale, but offered the following statement to the publication about its successes over the past decade. "This work began nearly 10 years ago, at the beginning of the AI revolution, and we explored groundbreaking space in helping physicians advance healthcare through AI," the company said. "IBM is continuing to evolve the Watson Health business, based on our decade of experience, to meet the needs of patients and physicians."