Oceans are vast--and vastly complicated. They're difficult to study, as even the most technologically advanced sensors struggle to analyze such a complex ecosystem. But over the next five years, IBM is working to tap the help of tiny little creatures--plankton--whose changes in behavior can point to hard-to-spot changes in the environment. IBM researchers are building a real-time network of autonomous microscopes that will monitor ocean plankton--the more data they collect, the better they'll be able to predict threats like red tides. And in the future, AI technology can equip these microscopes to report abnormalities in real time.

Presidential advisors want more information on artificial intelligence and cognitive technology. In order to use it to best serve the people, the White House asked what leaders should consider when applying technology like Watson to challenges and opportunities in matters like education, the economy and climate change. In it's public response, IBM wrote back: "We believe that many of the ambiguities and inefficiencies of the critical systems that facilitate life on this planet can be eliminated. And we believe that AI systems are the tools that will help us accomplish these ambitious goals."