IBM responds to recent Watson media coverage

Back in 2011, IBM's new Watson technology was the focus of a lot of excited expectation about what its artificial intelligence platform – having famously bested human opponents on Jeopardy! Seven years later, some media reports are wondering whether Watson's potential was over-promised. Recent stories, in Stat News, the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere have taken aim at the AI technology's diagnostic track record, drawn attention to potential patient safety risks, and questioned whether the billions of dollars Big Blue has spent building and training the platform have worth it. The Stat News story reported on internal IBM documents that showed "multiple examples of unsafe and incorrect treatment recommendations" from the Watson for Oncology system. The Wall Street Journal pointed out that "more than a dozen IBM partners and clients have halted or shrunk Watson's oncology-related projects."