The cognitive era and new IBM operating principles

Now we are witnessing the emergence of a promising new technology, as well as a new era, which gave birth to this technology. It is radically different from the programmable systems presented in the IT sphere earlier, which have become the standard for half a century and even more. We are talking about technology, which is usually called artificial intelligence. AI can be considered a new generation of computing technologies, rather, even a new era, an era.

Cognitive systems that help support the development of this sphere will soon help to drastically improve AI. The fact is that such systems understand all forms of data generated on previously unprecedented scales. The world is changing, and in order to comply with it, to keep up with the times, we need new principles of work, interaction with the world and with each other. This is what we would like to talk about today.

To begin with, remember what the systems mentioned above are able to do.
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Cognitive systems like IBM Watson can be easily managed with any data sets, making assumptions and making certain conclusions. More importantly, such systems are not hard coded. They can interact with the environment, including humans, based on their own “judgments” and conclusions.

Like many other qualitatively new technologies, AI raises many questions to which there is either no answer, or they will be known in the future, after additional research and study of the situation by specialists. We have enough extensive experience to work in this area, and this experience has taught us that in order to create new principles, you need to be practical and wise at the same time.

And we formulated a new goal and principles for the era of artificial intelligence.

The overall goal that IBM is setting when developing artificial intelligence is to complement the capabilities and the human mind. Our technologies, products, services and work principles help to improve and expand the capabilities of a person, his potential. Our position is based not only on principles, but also on science. Cognitive systems are not something that works separately. Rather, these technologies should be built into the processes, systems, products and services necessary for society and business - all of this we, the people, must control ourselves.



In addition, the need and transparency . Let us explain - here it is meant that in order for cognitive systems to fully utilize their potential, it is necessary that people trust their recommendations, judgments and conclusions. Therefore, IBM is trying to clarify in the course of work the following points:

• When and for what purpose is AI used in those cognitive solutions that we develop and implement;
• The main data sources of cognitive systems, as well as the methods used for such systems and solutions;
• Opportunities for clients, their business models and the whole work. We will work with our clients in order to protect their data and know-how, we will also try to convince customers, partners and colleagues to use similar principles of work.

The skills and abilities of people are also an important factor. The economic and social benefits of the new era will not be realized if the human factor, that is, people, is either not taken into account or not supported. But this is a critical moment for cognitive technologies that complement human intelligence and act with it. For this reason, IBM will work to help students, working people, and generally all citizens gain new experience and knowledge that will enable them to effectively interact with cognitive systems, as well as perform new types of work that will arise in cognitive economics.

Our own century-old experience, daily work with clients from almost any spheres and regions of the whole world taught us transparency, the principles of trust, which are important for representatives of business and society. But we also recognize that there is still a lot to learn. In this regard, we would like to hope that our work can be the beginning of a dialogue that will help answer fundamental questions about AI in order to develop the economic and social potential for a cognitive future.

With this article we would like to open a discussion of several important topics regarding cognitive technologies at once, because we have not only been working in this area for several years, but also publish the results of our work at Geektimes. That is why IBM decided to uncover new principles and attitudes regarding cognitive technologies and their development.