The field of artificial intelligence (AI) experienced tremendous scientific advances in the last few years, from vast improvements in processing power and computational efficiency to new insights into object identification, language, and deep learning. IBM -- a leader in AI research since its inception in the 1950s -- helped inform many of these advances. And 2019 in particular was a watershed moment for IBM Research AI. Over the course of the year, IBM researchers hit a new record of 175 regular accepted papers at eight of the top AI conferences, hosted the second annual AI Research Week in September, and launched the AI Hardware Center to further exploration of next-generation AI hardware. The MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, now in its second year, flourished -- welcoming Boston Scientific, Nexplore, Refinitiv and Samsung as inaugural members of its new Membership Program.