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How IBM’s Watson went from the future of health care to sold off for parts.

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Most likely, you’re familiar with Watson from the IBM computer system’s appearance on Jeopardy! in 2011, when it beat former champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rudder. Watson’s time on Jeopardy! was fun viewing, but it was also a very savvy public debut of a product that IBM wanted to sell: Watson Health. Watson Health was supposed to change health care in a lot of important ways, by providing insight to oncologists about care for cancer patients, delivering insight to pharmaceutical companies about drug development, helping to match patients with clinical trials, and more. It sounded revolutionary, but it never really worked. Recently, Watson Health was, essentially, sold for parts: Francisco Partners, a private equity firm, bought some of Watson’s data and analytics products for what Bloomberg News said was more than $1 billion. On Friday’s episode of What Next: TBD, I spoke with Casey Ross, technology correspondent for Stat News, who has been covering Watson Health for years, about how

Back in 2011, IBM thought Watson was its future. Sean Gallup/Getty Images Copy Link Share Share Comment Gift Story Only Slate Plus members can gift Slate stories. Become a member to share 10 free articles a month. Copy Link Share Share Comment Gift Story Only Slate Plus members can gift Slate stories. Become a member to share 10 free articles a month. Most likely, you’re familiar with Watson from the IBM computer system’s appearance on Jeopardy! in 2011, when it beat former champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rudder. Watson’s time on Jeopardy! was fun viewing, but it was also a very savvy public d

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