IBM's Watson morphs into big business

Mike Rhodin is senior vice president of IBM Watson. DETROIT -- IBM Watson initially won fame as the artificially intelligent computer system that won $1 million for whipping former Jeopardy! Since then, under the leadership of 1984 University of Michigan graduate Mike Rhodin, Watson has morphed into a muscular big business with lots of tentacles and more than 2,000 employees. Earlier this month in Ann Arbor, I interviewed Rhodin, the New York-based senior vice president of IBM Watson who was in town to speak with two groups of University of Michigan business students and budding entrepreneurs. Rhodin smiled when I asked the sci-fi question he hears often: When will machines turn on humans and take over the world?