Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Watson Etc.

In the constant news coverage of “tech giants” I always hear “Amazon, Facebook, Google” and, occasionally, “Microsoft”.

Hearing that I always wonder why the grandfather of “tech giants” isn’t mentioned.

But after some thought: “Ok” I say.  “That must be because to a great extent “tech giant” means something different that it did 30 years ago”.

“So what?”, I say to myself, “is it that IBM is doing – or thinks that it is doing. If it is not a tech giant anymore, what is it?”

“Watson” I say to the empty air. “IBM seems to have bet the farm on artificial intelligence; and that is good: IBM has been working on that forever; so they must be really good at it.”

The other day I heard that NPR was going to have a special feature on the state of AI and who the major players are.

I was somewhat unhinged when I heard who the major players are.

“Amazon, Facebook, Google” and, “Microsoft” is what I heard.

But I guess I don’t need to worry: IBM’s revenue growth has been negative for multiple quarters; they must be just getting ready for the big transition?

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