Artificial Intelligence
| IBM has announced IBM Watson Discovery Advisor, an integrated package of artificial intelligence technologies that will be delivered as a cloud service. Discovery Advisor is a unique Watson product aimed at accelerating the discovery process, helping people become better experts. |
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In the fight against cancer, IBM's Watson helped identify new target proteins in a matter of weeks, not years, to accelerate the discovery of new treatments. In other industries as well—finance, retail, government, manufacturing, energy, education—Watson is forging new partnerships between humans and computers to enhance, scale and accelerate human expertise. For years, cognitive computing represented the potential for surprising new discoveries.
Big Blue has combined concepts and technologies from a variety of research projects to create IBM Watson Discovery Advisor, an integrated package of technologies that’s delivered as a cloud service. The technology essentially makes a map of information by reasoning over patterns it “sees” in available data. It fills in the blanks on the data map.
At the same time, Watson Discovery Advisor will incorporate Watson question-answering capabilities, optimized for discovery. After people create new insights, they can engage in dialogues with the system to clarify their thinking and test propositions. The idea is that humans will collaborate with machines in new ways that deliver better results than people or computers could produce on their own.
"Start making your next breakthrough. Discovery Advisor accelerates your research and unlocks patterns across all types of data so your organization can discover with precision," claims the Watson Discovery Advisor website.
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Scott Spangler, Principal Data Scientist, IBM Watson Innovations, demonstrates how IBM Watson cognitive technology can now visually display connections in scientific literature and drug information. In this image, Watson displays protein pathways that can help researchers accelerate scientific breakthroughs by spotting linkages that were previously undetected. Image Source -Jon Simon/Feature Photo Service for IBM |
"We already have a number of clients testing the technology. One of them is using a Watson system that contains 40 million documents, ingests an average of 27,000 new documents per day, and provides insights for thousands of users." |
This isn’t pie-in-the-sky-thinking according to IBM. "We already have a number of clients testing the technology. One of them is using a Watson system that contains 40 million documents, ingests an average of 27,000 new documents per day, and provides insights for thousands of users," writes Michael Rhodin, Senior Vice President, IBM Watson Group.
Here are some scenarios for how discovery technologies can help change the game in industries and professions:
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Pharmaceuticals
Drug development researchers can use the technologies to understand more deeply the biology of diseases. For example, Johnson & Johnson is teaching the computer to read and understand scientific papers that detail clinical trial outcomes—using that new knowledge to evaluate and develop medications. Down the line, this will help doctors match a drug with a patient, maximizing effectiveness and minimizing negative side effects.While these initiatives are just beginning, Baylor College of Medicine, working with IBM Research scientists, has demonstrated that Watson can dramatically cut down on the time it takes to identify new drug candidates. In a matter of weeks, they spotted six proteins with the potential for modifying p53, a protein often associated with cancer. In contrast, using traditional methods, scientists have averaged only one such discovery per year.
Chemistry
Companies making chemicals or materials can use discovery technologies to understand the interactions of chemical compounds at the molecular level. That will help them to more quickly identify combinations of molecules that will produce the qualities they’re looking for, such as durability and flexibility.Law
Law firms can use cognitive systems to ingest vast storehouses of statutes, journal articles and court rulings, allowing lawyers to search for useful precedents, information about judges, and novel strategies. Associates can use the systems as tutors to hone their skills in a particular legal domain.Several of these industries and professions follow the apprenticeship model for developing talent. In addition to helping highly-skilled professionals discover new knowledge and invent new things, discovery technologies can help teach less experienced people—guiding them to best practices, answering their questions, and helping them develop the patterns and disciplines of thought that will be essential to success in their careers.
These new discovery technologies have the potential of doing nothing less than free people’s minds. In our everyday lives, we’re bound by prejudices, habits of thought and the limits of our experience and knowledge. But what if we have a tool, an advisor, a mentor, that can help us break through those barriers and see the world and its possibilities in new ways? Cognitive computing can do that for us. In that way, it’s almost magical.
IBM employee Patrick Wagstrom, commenting on the YouTube post of the video above said:
I get contacted by more than a dozen recruiters a week. They often lead with questions like "Why are you still at IBM? Isn't IBM dying? Why aren't you someplace more exciting like Google, Facebook, or a startup?". Why? Why? We are, quite literally, changing to way that science is done. The work that New York Genome Center has done with Watson Discovery Advisor and DNA treatment for glioblastoma will save hundreds of lives. Sanofi used Watson to find alternative uses for hundreds of pharmaceuticals. Johnson & Johnson used Watson to build a better clinical trial. And, of course, I got to eat some tasty food. And hey, this is just the launch video - you ain't seen nothin' yet.
SOURCE A Smarter Planet Blog
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