A recent Wall Street Journal analysis suggested IBM’s rumored shopping around of Watson Health emblemizes healthcare’s struggles to meaningfully incorporate AI. But does Big Blue’s toe in the water say more about IBM in particular than it says about healthcare AI in general?
Some close observers among vendors and consultancies think so.
Healthcare organizations whose own bottom line depends on doctors treating patients might be a better fit for an outfit like Watson Health, Adam Saltman, MD, PhD, chief medical officer of the cardiovascular supplier Eko, tells reporter Veronica Combs of Tech Republic.
“If you ask a doctor what they really need to make their practice better, an expert librarian system would not be the first thing they want,” says Saltman, adding that IBM’s aim seemed to be building a knowledge-management platform.
Meanwhile Gartner VP Jeff Cribbs suggests the “familiar story of the hype cycle” is becoming part of IBM Watson’s own story.
“There were genuine AI innovation triggers at Watson Health—in natural language processing and generation, knowledge extraction and management, and similarity analytics,” Cribbs tells Combs. “The hype got ahead of the engineering, as the hype cycle says it almost always will, and some of those struggles became apparent.”
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.