Forget Jeopardy: 5 Abilities That Make IBM's Watson Amazing

Would you like an Austrian chocolate burrito? Chef Watson has the recipe, which pairs cinnamon, apricots, vanilla and cheese, that the brainy system created based on its training with the Institute of Culinary Education.
IBM's Watson has come a long way since its 2011 victory on the game show "Jeopardy!" Lately, instead of answering trivia in the form of a question, Watson has ventured into the culinary realm, not to mention the medical and veterinary fields. Researchers have also taught Watson how to determine people's personalities on Twitter. Other researchers are using the system to help museums give individualized tours to guests.
To put this cloud-based system's achievements in perspective, computers historically have churned through complex problems by approaching them in a stepwise fashion, following rigid rules and systems that instruct them how to achieve the optimal solution. Watson has heralded in a new era called "cognitive computing," said Steve Abrams, the director of Watson Life. Cognitive computing helps systems sift through big data and learn the best way to approach challenges, from generating a new fish-and-chips recipe to uncovering human proteins important in the formation of certain cancers.


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