Recently we have noticed a significant change in artificial intelligence related technology. From house hold robots to self driven car. Any where you look around you will notice how much of this technology slowly changing our life. At the beginning of the year 2016 some of the most smartest person of our time signed a petition against the unsupervised rise of this technology.
Rise of the Machine is a series of a article that I will be writing, describing how artificial intelligence will affect our life and job sectors. This is the part 1
IBM Watson
IBM Watson
Watson is a supercomputer developed by IBM. It has the ability to process natural language OR NLP and can analyze billions of information with its extremely sophisticated analytical engine. It’s users can interact with verbal communication – just like we human communicate with each other. Watson is named after IBM’s founder, Thomas J. Watson.
Unique Features
Watson has two unique features. These two feathers makes it so special and different then a regular computer –
- Features 1 : Cognitive Computing.
- Features 2 : Natural Language Processing OR NLP.
Features 1 : Cognitive Computing
Traditional computing deals with structured data. Data that is stored in the database and well defined by rules and logic. But this is not the situation any more. Today’s data are known as big data. An example of big data “Most of us have Facebook account, LinkedIn account, Instagram account ,email accounts and other social networking account. All our data are scattered all over the place. We are all interconnected to other people through these accounts made a massive data sphere. If some one try, they can find my information in this data sphere”.
Watson’s can pinpoint and analyze any specific information from this big data easily and faster then any other computer.
Features 2 : Natural Language Processing or NLP
Watson does not match text or synonyms like search engine. instead it read and interpret like a human begin. Watson uses grammar to understand the meaning of the word. So when some one verbally ask a question like this “Is black spots on the skin are symptom of skin cancer ? ”
Watson can interpret and understand this question and can answer back.
How Watson Think
Watson think like a human. It follows the 4 main principle steps that a human takes when it come to make decision –
- Step 1 Observation : Like human Watson observe and collect visual data.
- Step 2 Interpretation : Watson then verify the collected information with information that it collected in past, just like human use their memory.Based on new and existing data, Watson then try to build an hypothesis.
- Step 3 Evaluation : This stage Watson analyze the hypothesis and try to find the best solution.
- Step 4 Decision: Once a concrete hypothesis has been generated, Watson then execute the decision.
Of course all these steps happen extremely fast.
Fields That Watson is Working Now
Because of the Cognitive Computing and Natural Language Processing features Watson has become a good fit for some specific field. Fields where one require advance knowledge and training. Here are some fields that Watson is currently working and eventually will replace human work force in the future.
Healthcare
Watson is helping physicians with diagnoses. Watson helps identify potential symptoms and treatments. Additionally, Watson uses vision recognition to help doctors read scans such as X-rays and MRIs to better narrow the focus on a potential ailment. The medical field is the sector that is likely being impacted most by Watson.
Finance
Client who need financial can ask questions directly to Wason.Watson can not only answering questions, but also analyzing them as well. Watson can help give financial guidance and help manage financial risk. Just like a regular financial advisor.
Legal
Client who need legal help can ask questions to Watson, just like we ask legal question to a lawyer. Watson can analyze and answer with relevant legislation. Due to legal issue, Watson cannot work in court room as a regular lawyer at the moment. But I believe it will happen soon.
Retail
Today’s retail experiences are all about personalization. Companies are using Watons’s NLP abilities to present the most relevant product in the the most relevant time when potential clients are shopping. This help reduce the unproductive click and get the most success.
Watson is slowly taking over jobs sectors that require analytic ability.In near future you may find it difficult to stay employed, if currently you are working in any one of these field mention above.
Writer – Rubayat M.
One Comment