IBM today unveiled updates to its Watson platform. The company kicked off its World of Watson conference with some product announcements for the platform that will be further detailed in two weeks at the Watson Developer Conference in San Francisco. The platform was expanded today to include more tools for developers and integrations with other platforms.
The Watson Data Platform with Machine Learning was revealed today. This platform coupled with self-service machine learning tools will allow business users to find data within their organization, train machine learning algorithms on that data, and collaborate with their coworkers on it.
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This is part of a larger move by IBM in the coming weeks to engage developers with the Watson platform for the first time. This extends to training as well, in the form of the new AI Nanodegree, created in collaboration with Udacity. The Nanodegree and training program were created in collaboration with Kivuto Solutions, an education software company.
The Nanodegree is targeted at students currently in college. It can be pursued online by any college student through OnTheHub.
Watson is also expanding its reach into consumer devices. IBM is working on the first iOS application backed by Watson, which will exemplify the way the AI platform will be integrated into mobile devices in the future.
The Watson iOS application, for example, offers users a way to interact with Watson APIs, and to do so through voice commands. These APIs can also be used on the server or desktop side to build out Watson-backed applications.
One of those applications is already used by IBM to understand the videos people watch. The Cloud Video solutions developed with Watson are available as services to perform cognitive tasks, such as understanding what videos are likely to be enjoyed by the viewer based on their past viewing history.
Other companies using Watson in their products include Autodesk, Pearson and Staples. Staples is building Watson into its systems to make it easier for customers to get the products they need. Autodesk has built chatbots on Watson to help with supporting its customers. And Pearson is preparing to bring Watson to students across the country.
