• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living

2

Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs

3

Meet the Zillennials: The luckiest micro-generation in the workforce, born between 1993 and 1998

1

Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living

2

Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs

3

Meet the Zillennials: The luckiest micro-generation in the workforce, born between 1993 and 1998
TechCES

IBM’s Ginni Rometty Finds More Work For Watson at CES

By
Stacey Higginbotham
Stacey Higginbotham
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Stacey Higginbotham
Stacey Higginbotham
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 7, 2016, 8:44 AM ET
Latest Consumer Technology Products On Display At CES 2016
LAS VEGAS, NV - JANUARY 06: IBM Chairman, President and CEO Ginni Rometty arrives at her keynote address at CES 2016 at The Venetian Las Vegas on January 6, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs through January 9 and is expected to feature 3,600 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to more than 150,000 attendees. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)Ethan Miller Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

IBM’s CEO Ginni Rometty is ushering in a new era for Watson at CES, a consumer electronic and technology show, in Las Vegas. Speaking at a keynote on Wednesday night, she announced several new customers were using the artificially intelligence cognitive computing service to manage vast amounts of business data.

Watson now offers coaching through Under Armour’s app for consumers using certain products. Watson can also warn diabetics using certain Medtronic devices if their blood sugar gets too low. Whirlpool is using the cognitive computer to grab data from its connected appliances in hopes of understanding if there are flaws in its manufacturing lines. And finally, Watson is now the brains inside SoftBank’s Pepper robot.

Watson has come a long way from being a Jeopardy-playing artificial intelligent platform. It now offers a wide-ranging number of services that include voice recognition, computer vision, predictive intelligence and more. Moreover, these announcements mark a general trend at this year’s CES of large companies creating partnerships as they struggle to manage the complexities that come with more connectivity.

WATCH: For more on CES see this video.

In the case of Watson, some of these complexities include managing data. Prior to the keynote, I spoke to Brett Dibkey, Whirlpool’s vice president of integrated business, who told me that one of the hopes the appliance company had in working with IBM’s (IBM) Watson was that it would help them look for trends in fault codes for its new line of connected washers, dryers, ovens and fridges might generate.

In the case of Medrontics (MDT) and SoftBank, the challenge was less about handling existing data, than using it to create new opportunities. In an interview before Rometty went onstage, John Kelly, IBM’s Senior Vice President and Director of Research, explained the Watson team had fed the computer over a million and half patient records to help the computer learn how to tell when patients were likely to experience insulin shock.

Based on those learnings, IBM and Medtronic are building a product they can offer to hospitals, large employers or even governments that want to save money on spending associated with diabetes. (Helping reduce or eliminate blood sugar spikes can save millions in direct healthcare costs and also reduce related complications and their costs).

SIGN UP:Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter about the business of technology.

IBM expects the new notification service to be out later this year, although it’s unclear how far IBM and Medtronic can take the service without getting FDA approval. Kelly was optimistic that letting an app notify patients was something that could be done today. However, the end goal might be something far more audacious—such as tying Watson’s capabilities directly into a Medtronic insulin pump, so a patient’s blood sugar could be monitored and maintained without them having to take any action.

A larger question for IBM, even as it gains a lot of attention around these types of announcements, is how they will profit from the business. Big Blue has spent more than a decade building the capabilities found in Watson and working toward offering machine learning as a service. Although, Kelly says IBM will be paid based on the value it provides Medtronic, for example.

That’s been a common refrain over the three years I’ve spent grilling IBMers about how the company plans to monetize the service. Unlike selling a box or a piece of software, or even access to an application programming interface (which is how many services are sold) value is nebulous.

From Wall Street’s perspective it makes anticipating revenue streams difficult. From a business perspective, the legal department must have a field day writing those contracts, especially on deals with one or more partners, and as technology like Watson becomes more commonplace in our lives, the value derived from that type of computing will decrease.

Perhaps the low-hanging fruit will have already been plucked.

Still, IBM’s CES partnerships, and the continued efforts to bring Watson’s capabilities to more companies and more walks of life are worth watching.

About the Author
By Stacey Higginbotham
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

After a nearly 800% explosion, this AI supplier is about to make its U.S. debut and could signal if the market can still boom—or is headed for a bust
AItech stocks
After a nearly 800% explosion, this AI supplier is about to make its U.S. debut and could signal if the market can still boom—or is headed for a bust
By Jason MaJuly 5, 2026
57 minutes ago
Humanoid robot holding soccer ball.
InnovationSports
Meet the soccer-playing humanoid robot that just delivered the game ball at the Brazil v. Norway FIFA World Cup match
By Catherina GioinoJuly 5, 2026
3 hours ago
Alibaba gets reprieve on lobbying ban tied to DoD blacklist
LawChina
Alibaba gets reprieve on lobbying ban tied to DoD blacklist
By Kate O'Keeffe and BloombergJuly 5, 2026
3 hours ago
The stock market is about to suffer a ‘snapback’ and will lose much of this year’s gains as ‘speculation is hitting extreme levels,’ BofA warns
InvestingS&P 500
The stock market is about to suffer a ‘snapback’ and will lose much of this year’s gains as ‘speculation is hitting extreme levels,’ BofA warns
By Jason MaJuly 5, 2026
4 hours ago
Nvidia supplier Hon Hai’s sales beat on continued AI demand
AsiaServers
Nvidia supplier Hon Hai’s sales beat on continued AI demand
By Debby Wu and BloombergJuly 5, 2026
6 hours ago
SK Hynix seeks access to AI investors in $29 billion U.S. listing
InvestingChips
SK Hynix seeks access to AI investors in $29 billion U.S. listing
By Bailey Lipschultz, Jeran Wittenstein, Yiqin Shen and BloombergJuly 5, 2026
6 hours ago

Most Popular

Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living
Success
Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living
By Preston ForeJuly 4, 2026
2 days ago
Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
Law
Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
By Wyatte Grantham-Philips and The Associated PressJuly 2, 2026
3 days ago
Meet the Zillennials: The luckiest micro-generation in the workforce, born between 1993 and 1998
AI
Meet the Zillennials: The luckiest micro-generation in the workforce, born between 1993 and 1998
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 3, 2026
3 days ago
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
AI
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 5, 2026
11 hours ago
The stock market is about to suffer a 'snapback' and will lose much of this year's gains as 'speculation is hitting extreme levels,' BofA warns
Investing
The stock market is about to suffer a 'snapback' and will lose much of this year's gains as 'speculation is hitting extreme levels,' BofA warns
By Jason MaJuly 5, 2026
4 hours ago
$25 billion CEO says one-hour interviews are a waste of time—he puts candidates through six hours of tests and wants them to order wine at lunch
Success
$25 billion CEO says one-hour interviews are a waste of time—he puts candidates through six hours of tests and wants them to order wine at lunch
By Orianna Rosa RoyleJuly 3, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.