IBM's Watson made a major debut in 2011 when it beat two of the greatest Jeopardy players in the world at their own game.
Viewers watched Watson answer questions in an emotionless, unapologetic voice, winning $77,147 total. Since then, people have become more exposed to Watson's many capabilities via IBM commercials. Like this one with filmmaker Ridley Scott that ran during the Oscar's, where Watson explained themes it saw in Scott's movies:
Fredrik Tunvall, senior client engagement leader at IBM Watson, said misconceptions about artificial intelligence turning evil and taking over the world is why they show Watson having a conversation in the commercials.
"Those commercials are about challenging misconceptions," he said.
The idea is to show that Watson is capable of collaborating with people and is not meant to steal jobs. "It's about augmenting, not replacing," Tunvall explained.
IBM is right that there have been general concerns about AI turning evil. Stephen Hawking, Bill Gates, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are just a few major tech leaders that have voiced concern about the perils of developing advanced AI systems.
And that concern is something IBM poked fun at in the Scott commercial, where Watson, a form of AI, joked about Scott's "often unflattering" portrayals of AI.
The IBM commercials are meant to show Watson isn't a Terminator-style AI.
"The ads are meant to help the general public understand how Watson works, but that's not Watson," Tunvall said.
That doesn't mean Watson can't talk. We saw Watson speak during Jeopardy in 2011. And when you interact with Pepper the humanoid robot, you are interacting with Watson software.
But for the most part, Watson is a lot different in real life than it is in IBM's commercials. It doesn't always communicate via voice. Some people use Watson by entering information into a program on a tablet or desktop.
For example, a doctor using Watson will upload a patient's electronic medical record. Watson will scan the chart and sort through a data set of 12 million articles from textbooks and medical journals. It will use all of that information to show what diseases the patient could have and which ones it thinks is most likely.
Secondly, there isn't really just one Watson. There are more than 30 Watson APIs, each with different capabilities. For example, there's one that can assist in diganosing diseases and another that can find dinner recipes based on what ingredients you have available.
So remember next time you see Watson carrying on a conversation on TV that it's not as human-like as it seems. And more importantly, remember that Watson is not designed to replce humans. Rather, it's created to be a powerful tool for people to use.
"Humor is a great way to connect with a much broader audience and engage on a personal level to demystify the technology," Ann Rubin, Vice President IBM Content and Global Creative, wrote in an email about the commercials. "The reality is that these technologies are being used in our daily lives to help people."
