IBM's Watson returns as artificial intelligence development studio

A few years before people were impressed by the human-like text output of ChatGPT and other generative AI systems, IBM's Watson blew us away on Jeopardy. IBM's cognitive computing projects are known for beating human opponents, but the company has bigger long-term goals, such as using Watson to simulate human thought processes to help doctors diagnose patients and recommend treatments. But it didn't work. Now IBM is turning its supercomputer platform to Watsonx, an artificial intelligence development studio that contains foundation and open-source models that companies can use to train their own artificial intelligence platforms.

If this sounds familiar, it may be because Nvidia recently announced a similar service related to its AI Foundation project. Both platforms are designed to provide a way for companies to build, train, scale and deploy AI platforms. IBM says Watsonx will provide AI builders with a range of powerful training models with an auditable spectrum of data - from those focused on automatically generating code for developers or working with industry-specific databases to climate datasets designed to help organizations plan for natural disasters.

IBM has built an example of how the platform can work with NASA to convert satellite imagery into maps that track natural disasters and climate change using geospatially based models.

Reimagining Watson as an artificial intelligence development studio may not be as compelling as a supercomputer that could beat humans on a TV quiz show, but Watson's original vision was out of reach for the average person. Depending on how the company uses IBM's new artificial intelligence training program, you may find yourself interacting with a part of Watson in the near future.

Watsonx is expected to be rolled out in phases, starting with Watsonx. Later this year, ai Studio will introduce new features.