More than a decade ago, IBM's Watson supercomputer was at the forefront of artificial intelligence and cloud computing innovation, but now the company's hold appears to be dimming in industries like healthcare, according to a July 16 New York Times report.
Eight details:
1. IBM has 40,000 Watson customers across 20 industries worldwide, with some of its biggest clients being in health, such as health insurer Anthem, according to the report.
2. The company invested billions in healthcare, spinning out its Watson Health business in 2015. IBM Watson Health has spent more than $4 billion to acquire companies with medical data, billing records and diagnostic images on hundreds of patients.
3. IBM Watson Health, which offers AI tools for hospitals and other healthcare organizations to manage their data, has about $1 billion in annual revenue and isn't profitable, the Wall Street Journal reported in February.
4. IBM's former CEO Ginni Rometty about a decade ago described the company's investments in healthcare as its "moon shot," but the business has encountered challenges.
5. IBM started its healthcare push with cancer innovation and partnered with medical centers for research projects. The company teamed up with Houston-based MD Anderson Cancer Center on a project dubbed Oncology Expert Advisor but abandoned the initiative in 2016.
6. The project aimed to create a bedside diagnostic tool that would read patients' EHRs and cancer-related scientific literature to make treatment recommendations, but the organizations encountered data access problems, and Watson struggled with deciphering physicians' notes and patient histories, according to the report.
7. MD Anderson ended up shutting down the project after four years and spending $62 million because of physicians' frustrations with the technology, the publication reported.
8. IBM now is considering scaling back its Watson Health business, with future options even including selling off the healthcare unit, according to the WSJ.