IBM to open Watson "experience centres" in London & Dublin
Cloud-based AI opens for business in London, Dublin and New York
IBM's Watson group has set up shop in New York and five other cities around the world as part of its mission to bring the cloud-based artificial intelligence system to over 25 countries.
As well as New York, the Watson group will set up "Watson Client Experience Centres" in Dublin, London, Melbourne, Sao Paulo and Singapore.
The New York-based branch office will be home to more than 600 IBM Watson employees. The office will provide developers and entrepreneurs in the area with access to Watson.
The firm said it had signed up customers in six continents across 25 countries including the UK, South Africa, Australia and Thailand.
Students at New York University and City University of New York will also be able to access the centre with students working to develop new applications based on Watson technology.
"Watson is bringing forward a new era of computing, enabling organisations around the globe to launch new businesses, redefine markets and transform industries," said Mike Rhodin, senior vice president of the IBM Watson Group.
"Watson is fuelling a new market and ecosystem of clients, partners, developers, venture capitalists, universities and students. The next great innovations will come from people who are able to make connections that others don't see and Watson is making possible."
IBM said Watson is now engaged in learning Spanish through a new partnership with Spain's CaixaBank. Other new clients using Watson include ANZ Global Wealth in Australia, Bumrungrad International Hospital in Thailand, Deakin University in Australia and South Africa's Metropolitan Health.
In the UK, Watson is being used by Red Ant to offer a retail sales trainer mobile app that lets store employees identify individual customers' buying preferences by analysing demographics, purchase history and wish lists, as well as product information, local pricing, customer reviews and tech specs.
It uses voice or text input to enable a natural question-and-answer interaction against the wealth of information available within a retail business, including product information, copybooks, manuals and customer reviews.
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