July 11, 2011 11:13 am EDT

Calling for tech support? IBM's Watson might be on the other end

Watson may have Jeopardy! and the medical realm under lock, but retail / service industries? Not yet, but soon. Very soon. According to a new piece in Hemispheres Magazine, IBM's now looking to shop the supercomputer's world-class vocal recognition technologies to outfits in retail and customer service, with those enterprises in particular drooling at the thought of having a sophisticated machine recognizing human speech. In theory, at least, basic questions could potentially be answered entirely by Watson, but that's honestly not a future we're too fond of. There's also the possibility of using analytical data that Watson collects in order to better position deals, service and other tech support centers based on what kinds of requests come in the most. So, eager to speak with a kindhearted, potentially confused robot? Or will that flustered, potentially sympathetic Earthling still suffice?

Calling for tech support? IBM's Watson might be on the other end originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 07:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original Link: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/11/calling-for-tech-support-ibms-watson-might-be-on-the-other-end/

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