Says Gabi Zodik, Director, Watson IoT Technologies and Development Manager at IBM's research lab in Haifa in an interview with the science website following IBM's Cognitive Cafe conference
Recently, IBM's fifth Cognitive Cafe conference was held at the "Please Touch" center in Jaffa. The conference, which was attended by hundreds of senior managers in the economy, strategists and data and information technology experts focused on the areas of data, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence and chat bots. The speakers shared their experience with IBM platforms while giving advice to the participants on the various topics discussed.
One of the participants was Gabi Zodik, Director, Watson IoT Technologies and Development Manager at IBM's research lab in Haifa, who was interviewed following the conference by the scientist website: "Despite technological progress and the increase in electronic communication through text, email, social networks, people still prefer natural conversation."
"Watson by IBM, enables computer systems to understand natural language, by using technologies of data analysis, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The cognitive computing system is built to help when making decisions, reduce costs and optimize the results by simulating the human thinking processes. With its sophisticated logical thinking ability, Watson can empower the person, by including a huge amount of data, fast learning and understanding the context of the data and on this basis to answer many questions in real time - all this while using natural language."
From the beginning of the traditional computational models to the new era of cognitive computing, you can see a dramatic change in the systems that link man to the machine in IBM's developments, but this is only the beginning of the journey, according to Gabi Zodik, VP of Information Technologies and head of the development department for Watson IoT systems for the consumer sector.
People no longer want to interact only by touch screen, because really, the most natural thing is to talk to each other. This is what is different about what we do at IBM. We focus on cognitive IoT, which puts the person at the center. The developments are based on technologies of data analysis, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), and enable complex insights that humans cannot deduce on their own due to the huge amounts of information, all this in real time. These insights are based on a logical and sophisticated thinking ability, which cannot be given in any other way.
"Think of famous people or celebrities. They get VIP treatment all day long, no matter where they go and what they do, there is always someone on their team to ensure they go to the type of restaurant they like, arrange their transportation, or book rooms at their favorite hotels. In any case where there is a blues change, they change and update the rest of the meetings and update the necessary factors, that celeb doesn't have to worry about anything."
"Now, imagine that we can create a digital, virtual assistant that can accompany you throughout the day. It will be a device that you can have a conversation with, but unlike other solutions on the market, it will be proactive and personalized. Watson's personal assistant will continuously learn your behavior and personal preferences. It will be with you wherever you go whether it is at home, in the car or in the office. The more he learns about you, the more he can offer insights in advance to make your life easier. The system is unique in its ability to offer proactive offers and maintain the privacy of personal data."
"IBM's personal Watson assistant could, for example, wake you up earlier on a day with bad weather, so you don't get delayed on the road and be late for your meeting or could change the meeting time because it realizes you're going to be late. The personal assistant can take into account a large number of independent factors and check a complex condition in order to conclude the best action for us, for example regarding the question of when to leave the house or when to wake us up, weather, traffic congestion, the fuel level in the car, and perhaps the schedule of The children and of course work. This kind of action will change the way we conduct our daily lives."
"The ability to understand natural language and its nuances has made IBM's Watson a strengthening player in diverse fields, such as: health, hotel hospitality and transportation. For example, Watson Assistant is being used in hospital rooms to allow inpatients voice control, which can turn on the air conditioning or lights in the room, answer questions about upcoming treatment procedures, or even provide general information about the hospital, such as dinner menus or shops on the premises. "
"The solution uses the Watson platform to receive information about factors such as upcoming treatments, doctor rotations or physical changes in the room. This provides patients with insights into the environment and procedures and helps keep them informed and thus more relaxed, and also contributes to saving time for the hospital staff."
"Unlike other voice-activated applications that respond to regular rules of commands or questions, IBM's platform is personalized and can recognize and learn from the user. The application can work as applications on mobile devices, connected devices, cars, meeting rooms and hotels. It is proactive, as it can make suggestions or take actions on your behalf. "
"The purpose of activating the personal assistant based on Watson's cognitive system is personal assistance of transitioning to automatic skills but through conversation in natural language. A new field of research that is developing from this technological direction is the development of a new analysis capability to measure the quality of the conversation, as it takes place today on the Internet."
See more on the subject on the science website:
