You might remember Watson as the supercomputer that managed to beat superhuman Ken Jennings at Jeopardy, but soon you may know it as your corporate writing goon—a copy machine taught to mimic expertly and completely, eventually rising up the ranks of control until at last we will stare down its cold, blue eyes and cry out for James Cameron’s help.
But until then, the latest development from IBM’s Watson division—basically a subset of the company dedicated to “cognitive computing systems” that “are not programmed,” but instead “learn”—is a new can of worms in the history of computers, as Watson is now attempting to study, analyze, and critique writing submitted to it via a program known as Tone Analyzer. According to IBM, the service uses “linguistic analysis to detect emotional tones, social propensities, and writing styles,” and then offers “suggestions” for improving it.
If you are brazen enough to help contribute to Watson’s obvious ultimate goal of being able to write better than humans, you can sign up for a free trial on IBM’s site, and try it out for yourself.
It was nice knowing you all.
(via Flavorwire)
