IBM's Watson Assistant brings AI to cars, hotels and businesses

IBM has just become the latest tech giant to tackle the voice assistant market. On Tuesday, IBM launched Watson Assistant, an AI service that companies can integrate into a variety of platforms, like cars, hotel rooms and home appliances, among other things. Don't expect IBM to launch its own smart speaker anytime soon, however. IBM's Watson Assistant is a digital assistant that can be molded into a variety of products, like Harman's digital cockpit (pictured), which learns about the driver with each interaction Watson Assistant is designed to be different from Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant or Apple's Siri in that it isn't tethered to a specific device. What's more, IBM describes Watson Assistant as an'enterprise assistant,' meaning that it's aimed at helping companies improve their consumer experience.