Cognitive Computing: More Human Than Artificial Intelligence

Mistaking cognitive computing for just another AI misses the important contributions this computing platform offers. In 2011, two episodes of Jeopardy stunned the world when the best Jeopardy players in the history squared off against IBM's Watson Cognitive Computing System and were soundly beaten. For many, this was the moment when artificial intelligence probably became a very real thing in their minds; one contestant even scrawled "I, for one, welcome our future computer overlords" on his answer in his final losing round. He likely spoke for many in the audience. Watson dominated a game where nuanced wordplay was intrinsic to the challenge of the contest, where contestants needed to provide the question that fit an answer shrouded in double meaning.