IBM Research: What is cognitive computing?
Cognitive computing systems learn and interact naturally with people to extend what either man or machine could do on their own. They help human experts make better decisions by penetrating the complexity of Big Data.
Big Data growth is accelerating as more of the world’s activity is expressed digitally, increasing in volume, speed and uncertainty. Most data now comes in unstructured forms such as video, images, symbols and natural language. A new computing model is needed in order to process and make sense of it.
Cognitive computing systems are not based on programs that predetermine every answer or action needed to perform a function or set of tasks; rather, they are trained using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms to sense, predict, infer and, in some ways, think.
Cognitive computing systems get better over time as they build knowledge and learn a domain - its language and terminology, its processes and its preferred methods of interacting. Early cognitive systems are building domain expertise and more human-friendly interaction models in fields such as healthcare, banking, education and retail.