At the Wall Street Journal's WSJDLive 2016 technology conference, IBM CEO Virginia Rometty said the company expects 1 billion people to use IBM Watson artificial intelligence technology by 2018, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Ms. Rometty says that partnerships between IBM and companies from other industries will facilitate Watson's contact with users. IBM recently entered a deal with General Motors, to create OnStar Go, an updated version of General Motors' navigation system OnStar; for example, OnStar Go might track a drivers' gas usage and suggest nearby stations. IBM has also entered an agreement with Slack, a messaging service geared towards coworkers. Slack plans to use the conversation simulator Watson Conversation to improve the company's troubleshooting service Slackbot.
Although IBM's revenue declined at a rate of 0.3 percent in the third quarter, the company's computer services, software and server businesses grew at a rate of 15 percent.