Since its triumph over human “Jeopardy!” champions two years ago, I.B.M.’s Watson has explored a number of frontiers for its artificial-intelligence technology, even inventing new recipes in the kitchen. To date, medicine has been Watson’s most focused foray. Its machine intelligence has read through vast troves of medical texts, research papers and patient records to suggest diagnosis and treatment options at institutions including the Cleveland Clinic, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and for the insurer WellPoint. Yet even its work in health care has had the feel of applied science projects — impressive, but seemingly custom jobs rather than the beginning of a big commercial business. I.B.M. hopes to take a big step toward mass-market commercialization of Watson on Tuesday, announcing that the technology will be applied to customer service, broadly defined.
