IBM’s Watson artificial intelligence to get new homes with rivals

IBM has opened up its Watson artificial intelligence technology for use by other software developers, potentially paving the way for a new generation of online services capable of responding to their users in smarter and more natural ways. Watson was built as a showcase for IBM breakthroughs in technologies such as those enabling computers to better understand human interaction. In a move that could bring the hardcore computing science to mass consumer markets, IBM said that other developers would be able to “plug into” Watson, drawing on its analytical power to inject an extra level of intelligence into their own applications.