IBM Watson Health
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Biography
IBM Watson Health was IBM's flagship healthcare AI division, promising to use Watson's cognitive-computing technology to help doctors diagnose and treat cancer — once one of the most hyped applications of AI in medicine.
Cause of Death
After years of reports that Watson's cancer-treatment recommendations underperformed its marketing claims — including unsafe recommendations flagged internally at some partner hospitals — IBM announced on January 21, 2022 that it was selling Watson Health's data and analytics assets (Health Insights, MarketScan, Clinical Development, Social Program Management, Micromedex and imaging software) to private equity firm Francisco Partners, which relaunched the business as Merative. IBM never disclosed the sale price, widely reported as far below the roughly $4 billion IBM had invested in the unit through acquisitions since 2015. (Sources: IBM Newsroom, Wall Street Journal, STAT News.)
Sources: newsroom.ibm.com, nytimes.com
Life Statistics
"Every digital product carries the dreams of its creators. Though they may vanish, the meaning of their existence will never be forgotten."