FROM INFORMATION REVOLUTION TO ROBOT REVOLUTION

IBM Watson and the exciting possibilities of Artificial Intelligence

”We are currently at the beginning of a revolution. Some call it the robot revolution – following the industrial revolution in the 19th century and the information revolution in the 21st century. Revolutions are typically a sign of big advancements in human history that offer exciting opportunities, but are also typically accompanied by anxiety and skepticism.” – Christoph Auer-Welsbach

Decades ago, we started to research how computers could imitate human thoughts, acts and behavior. Today, we call this technology artificial intelligence and it is a significant part of our everyday life. One of the best known artificial intelligences is Watson, the cognitive technology platform created by IBM. Christoph Auer-Welsbach is an IBM Watson expert and evangelist.

Auer-Welsbach is the leader of Watson Partners Innovations Europe and the initiator of City.AI, a peer network for the people interested and active in A.I. He is also an experienced startup advisor. Auer-Welsbach is especially interested in the artificial intelligence’s impact on economy, society and humanity in general.

Auer-Welsbach has given a lot of speeches on how artificial intelligence can change products and services. A.I. will be a game changer for customer experience: chatbots serve customers ever more individually and A.I. predicts what the customer might want to purchase. For example, the American department store Macy’s has launched a cognitive mobile web tool using IBM Watson. The application helps customers find information about products and services of Macy’s.

Artificial intelligence has been used as a powerful tool for healthcare. One of its finest opportunities is recognizing the early symptoms of cancer. IBM Watson has been used from the London Imperial College crime department to weather forecasts and finding investment strategies. On the other hand, we can find A.I. in our everyday life – Facebook suggests people that we might want to add as friends and Google analyzes user behavior to suggest potentially relevant information. There are multiple opportunities with artificial intelligence that we haven’t even found yet.

We are on the verge of big changes. What kind of changes will they end up to be?

Reserve your seat now here.

Text by Anna Pihlajamäki. Picture by Christoph Auer-Welsbach

Christoph Auer-Welsbach’s website

Christoph Auer-Welsbach — Welcome to the world of AI

IBM Watson

Forbes article about Macy’s AI Shopping assistant

Uusi teknologia about IBM Watson

Computer World UK about IBM Watson