IBM CEO explains why company offloaded Watson Health

IBM chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna says it offloaded Watson Health this year because it doesn't have the requisite vertical expertise in the healthcare sector. Talking at stock market analyst Bernstein's 38th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, the big boss was asked to outline the context for selling the healthcare data and analytics assets of the business to private equity provider Francisco Partners for $1 billion in January. "Watson Health's divestment has got nothing to do with our commitment to AI and tor the Watson Brand," he told the audience. The "Watson brand will be our carrier for AI." Two examples of tech still nested under the brand include Watson Order, which is being rolled out at a number of drive-thrus at fast food chain McDonald's to automate order taking; and Watson AI Ops, which is designed to make IT operations more efficient. "So then why divest Watson Health?" asked Krishna.