<h2>Rembrandt Rip-Off</h2>
A couple from Massachusetts has trained a neural network to spot the difference between real oil paintings by 17th century Dutch painter Rembrandt and clever imitations.
As <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/software/the-rembrandt-school-of-ai-an-algorithm-that-detects-art-forgery">IEEE Spectrum reports</a>, many of the 611 paintings attributed to Rembrandt are thought to be <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/experts-puzzle-over-which-paintings-are-real-rembrandts/">imitations, copies and forgeries</a>. The idea is that this new AI could potentially help separate the authentic ones from the fakes.
<h2>Neural Artwork</h2>
The couple trained a &#8220;convolutional neural network,&#8221; which is an AI commonly used in image recognition algorithms, by showing it hundreds of works by Rembrandt and known fakes. Rather than feeding it complete scans of entire paintings — massive files in the gigabyte range that could take forever to process — they split them into much smaller tiles, 13,000 of them in total.
And the results of an initial test are promising: the neural network differentiated fake from real paintings with a 90.4 percent success rate.
But it still takes a zoomed-out view for the AI to do an effective job.
&#8220;If you really want to see what differentiates Rembrandt, you have to look at a bigger piece of the canvas and at a larger compositional level,&#8221; Steven Frank, who built the AI with his wife Andrea Frank, told IEEE Spectrum.
READ MORE: <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/software/the-rembrandt-school-of-ai-an-algorithm-that-detects-art-forgery">Amateurs’ Al Tells Real Rembrandts From Fakes</a> [IEEE Spectrum] 

More on AI and art: <a href="https://futurism.com/algorithm-3d-animations-still-image">This Algorithm Can Create 3D Animations From A Single Still Image</a>

The results of an initial test are promising: the neural network spotted fake from real at a 90.4 percent success rate.

This AI can tell apart real and fake paintings

AI Snitch

A couple from Massachusetts found a way to train a neural network to tell apart real oil paintings from Dutch painter Rembrandt from imitations. 

A New AI Can Spot Art Forgeries

The neural network has one simple trick to identify an imitation from the real thing.

<h2>Major Threat</h2>
China plans to ban deepfakes — a move that shows at least one world power is taking the threat of AI-manipulated video very seriously.
On Saturday, China&#8217;s top legislative body proposed making it illegal to &#8220;distort another person&#8217;s picture or mimic voices using technology,&#8221; according to a <a href="http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201904/22/WS5cbd15c4a3104842260b76c8.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">story</a> by the state-run newspaper China Daily.
The paper quoted senior legislator Shen Chunyao as saying that the &#8220;improper use of AI technology not only damages people&#8217;s portrait rights, but also harms national security and the public interest.&#8221;
<h2>Thanks, Obama</h2>
Deepfakes are getting increasingly sophisticated — instead of just replacing a person&#8217;s face, coders can now replace their <a href="https://futurism.com/full-body-deepfakes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">entire body</a>, meaning with enough tech know-how, a person can essentially transform anyone into a digital puppet.
If you need convincing of why this is dangerous, take a look at the 2018 public service announcement below in which former U.S. President Barack Obama warned that &#8220;we&#8217;re entering an era in which our enemies can make it look like anyone is saying anything at any point in time.&#8221;
Spoiler alert: the video itself is a deepfake — but clearly China is aware that the warning it contains is very real.
<iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cQ54GDm1eL0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
READ MORE: <a href="http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201904/22/WS5cbd15c4a3104842260b76c8.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Altering faces via AI deepfake may be outlawed</a> [China Daily]
More on deepfakes: <a href="https://futurism.com/full-body-deepfakes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">These Full-Body Deepfakes are Like Nothing We’ve Ever Seen</a>

The nation plans to crack down on the manipulated clips.

China wants to make deepfakes Illegal

Deepfake News

China is considering a law that would make deepfakes illegal, a move that shows the world power is taking the threat the videos pose very seriously.

China Wants to Make Deepfakes Illegal

It's concerned the videos could threaten national security.

<h2>Banned Aid</h2>
Some people who can&#8217;t control their gambling ask their favorite casinos to ban them, so that they can&#8217;t return to the venues in a moment of weakness.
In many locations, casinos are legally obligated to enforce these bans, and recently, some have <a href="https://www.praguepost.com/blog/facial-recognition-to-bar-problem-gamblers-from-casinos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">turned to facial recognition systems</a> to help them meet this obligation — a rare example of the technology&#8217;s use that isn&#8217;t mired in controversy.
<h2>Bet on AI</h2>
When a person self-identifies as a problem gambler, they typically fill out a form and submit to having their photo taken by the casino. The casino then instructs its staff and security team to be on the lookout for that person, and if caught in the casino, the problem gambler could be escorted out or even arrested for trespassing.
Now, casinos all across the globe — from <a href="https://futurefive.co.nz/story/facial-recognition-helps-problem-pokies-players-say-no" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Zealand</a> to <a href="https://www.biometricupdate.com/201903/japan-looking-at-facial-recognition-to-restrict-gambling-addicts-from-casinos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Japan</a> — are starting to use facial recognition systems to improve their ability to keep self-identified problem gamblers away. One system in place in an <a href="https://www.cio.com.au/article/659035/casino-facial-recognition-tech-foils-problem-gambler-disguise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Australian casino</a> even caught a problem gambler trying to enter the building wearing a disguise not once, but twice.
While any use of facial recognition is sure to raise issues about privacy, it&#8217;s encouraging to see a global use for the tech that isn&#8217;t <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/facial-recognition-red-flags-police-lied" target="_blank" rel="noopener">downright dystopian</a>.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.praguepost.com/blog/facial-recognition-to-bar-problem-gamblers-from-casinos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facial Recognition to Bar Problem Gamblers from Casinos</a> [Prague Post]
More on facial recognition: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/facial-recognition-red-flags-police-lied" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Police Said You Could Skip Public Facial Recognition. They Lied.</a>

Finally, a use for facial recognition that isn't downright dystopian.

Casinos are using facial recognition to keep banned gamblers away

Unwanted Guests

Casinos all across the globe are starting to use facial recognition systems to improve their ability to keep self-identified problem gamblers away.

Casinos Are Using Facial Recognition to Keep Banned Gamblers Away

One system even caught a man wearing a disguise not once, but twice.

<h2>Listen Closely</h2>
For years, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been one of the most challenging disorders to diagnose. Traditional methods, like one-on-one clinical interviews, can be inaccurate due to the clinician&#8217;s subjectivity, or if the patient is holding back their symptoms.
Now, researchers at New York University say they&#8217;ve taken the guesswork out of diagnosing PTSD in veterans by using artificial intelligence to objectively detect PTSD by listening to the sound of someone&#8217;s voice. Their research, conducted alongside SRI International — the research institute responsible for bringing Siri to iPhones— was <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/da.22890">published</a> Monday in the journal Depression and Anxiety. 
According to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/magazine/veterans-ptsd-speech-analysis.html">The New York Times,</a> SRI and NYU spent five years developing a voice analysis program that understands human speech, but also can detect PTSD signifiers and emotions. As theNYT reports, this is the same process that teaches automated customer service programs how to deal with angry callers: By listening for minor variables and auditory markers that would be imperceptible to the human ear, the researchers say the algorithm can diagnose PTSD with 89% accuracy.
<h2>Objective Diagnosis</h2>
Researchers interviewed and recorded 129 war-zone exposed veterans and gathered 40,000 speech samples to study. Then they used the audio to teach the AI which vocal changes correlated with diagnoses of PTSD — a slower, more monotonous cadence was an indicator of PTSD, as well as a shorter tonal range with less enunciation.
The AI, they say, can detect minute changes in the voice, like the tension of throat muscles and whether the tongue touches the lips — all potential indicators of a PTSD diagnosis.
&#8220;They were not the speech features we thought,&#8221; Charles Marmar, a psychiatry professor at NYU and one of the authors of the paper, told the NYT. &#8220;We thought the telling features would reflect agitated speech. In point of fact, when we saw the data, the features are flatter, more atonal speech. We were capturing the numbness that is so typical of PTSD patients.&#8221;
Although the AI is a breakthrough for VA clinicians, there are blindspots. By only inputting data from male combat veterans, the scope of the program&#8217;s potential is limited to men in the military — though it could be a proof of concept toward a more universal technology. As it&#8217;s refined, speech analysis could become an effective biomarker for objectively identifying the disorder, allowing clinicians to accurately diagnose veterans and give them the mental health support they need.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/magazine/veterans-ptsd-speech-analysis.html">The Military Wants Better Tests for PTSD. Speech Analysis Could Be the Answer.</a> [The New York Times]
More on PTSD: <a href="https://futurism.com/mdma-therapy-help-treat-ptsd">MDMA Therapy Eliminated PTSD Symptoms In 76 Percent of Patients</a>

This could help clinicians give veterans with PTSD the mental health support they need.

Artificial intelligence can detect PTSD in your voice

Great Listener

Researchers have developed a voice analysis program that uses artificial intelligence to accurately and objectively diagnose PTSD.

Artificial Intelligence Can Detect PTSD in Your Voice

Speech analysis software could revolutionize how we diagnose mental disorders.

<h2>Sounds About Right</h2>
A New York teen suing Apple for $1 billion claims its facial-recognition system falsely linked him to a series of thefts and caused him to be arrested for a crime he didn&#8217;t commit.
The twist: an Apple spokesperson <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/23/apple-facial-recognition-false-arrest-lawsuit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Gizmodo</a> that such a facial recognition system doesn&#8217;t even exist. If Apple is telling the truth, it&#8217;s possible the <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/407291893/Bah-v-Apple-Inc-19-cv-03539-U-S-District-Court-Southern-District-of-New-York?campaign=SkimbitLtd&amp;ad_group=33330X911642X5cf36eed68183943925f52322944856d&amp;keyword=660149026&amp;source=hp_affiliate&amp;medium=affiliate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> filed on Monday is based on mere speculation.
But even if that is the case, the suit still serves as evidence that American citizens find it easy to believe that one of the world&#8217;s biggest tech companies uses <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/new-york-facial-recognition-failure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">facial recognition</a> to keep tabs on them.
<h2>Wrong Guy</h2>
According to the lawsuit, New York police officers arrested teenager Ousmane Bah at his home in New York at 4am on Nov. 29 following allegations he had stolen merchandise from a Manhattan Apple store. The suit alleges that the police did this despite Bah looking nothing like the man in the photo on the arrest warrant.
The lawsuit claims a person identified only as &#8220;NYPD Detective Reinhold&#8221; realized Bah wasn&#8217;t the thief after viewing surveillance footage of the crimes. At that point, Reinhold shared his theory with Bah on why the teen was being charged with them.
The real thief likely found an interim driver&#8217;s permit Bah had previously lost and presented it to Apple employees during one of the thefts, Reinhold told Bah. Because Apple&#8217;s &#8220;security technology identifies suspects of theft using facial recognition technology,&#8221; according to Reinhold, from that point forward, Apple associated the thief&#8217;s face with Bah&#8217;s identity.
<h2>Honest Mistake?</h2>
The lawsuit doesn&#8217;t say where Reinhold got his information on Apple&#8217;s use of facial recognition tech, so it&#8217;s possible he was just speculating to save face — after all, NYPD officers had a photo of the suspect and access to the security footage, yet still dragged Bah to jail at 4am.
Or perhaps Reinhold did sincerely — and mistakenly — think Apple used the tech. According to <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/leticiamiranda/retail-companies-are-testing-out-facial-recognition-at" target="_blank" rel="noopener">various reports</a>, hundreds if not thousands of retailers use facial recognition systems to track shoplifters, so maybe he&#8217;d heard about that and just got his facts about the specific company mixed up.
It&#8217;s a little harder to believe that Apple would lie about not using the tech in its stores — after all, those stores employ <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/29/angela-ahrendts-heres-how-apple-store-staff-start-every-single-day.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">70,000 people</a>, and it seems likely that at least a few would be privy to the system and willing to call the company out.
READ MORE: <a href="https://gizmodo.com/teen-sues-apple-for-1-billion-claiming-facial-recogni-1834239825" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Teen Sues Apple for $1 Billion, Claiming Facial Recognition Led to False Arrest</a> [Gizmodo]
More on facial recognition: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/new-york-facial-recognition-failure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York’s Facial Recognition Trial Was a Complete Failure</a>

Teen says Apple's facial recognition got him wrongfully arrested

$1B Mistake

A New York teen is suing Apple for $1 billion, claiming its facial recognition system led to his false arrest — but Apple denies the system exists.

Teen Says Apple’s Facial Recognition Got Him Wrongfully Arrested

He’s now suing the company for $1 billion.

<h2>Invisibility Cloak</h2>
The technology behind sophisticated mass surveillance systems have made enormous strides in recent years. You <a href="https://futurism.com/facial-recognition-china-social-credit">can&#8217;t even jaywalk</a> in some parts of the world without an AI-powered camera snitching on you.
New research, though, could throw AI-powered surveillance cameras for a loop. A group of engineers from the university of KU Leuven in Belgium invented a colorful patch you can print out yourself and hang around your neck that renders you invisible to automatic surveillance cameras that use AI-based object recognition software.
<iframe width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MIbFvK2S9g8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
A <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1904.08653.pdf">preprint of the research</a> was published last week in arXiv.
The so-called &#8220;adversarial patch&#8221; was able to hide test subjects from automated surveillance cameras and security systems because of the way the image itself &#8220;effectively lowers the accuracy of person detection&#8221; — in other words, you become part of the scene and not overwhelmingly one thing, like a &#8220;person&#8221; or &#8220;chair&#8221; by introducing a bunch of noise through the patch.
<h2>Ugly T-Shirt</h2>
It&#8217;s not the only adversarial patch of its kind. Dutch artist and designer Simone C. Niquille created a <a href="https://www.wired.com/2013/10/thwart-facebooks-creepy-auto-tagging-with-these-bizarre-t-shirts/#slideid-253281">series of t-shirts</a> that are covered in a bunch of bizarre faces that are able to confuse Facebook&#8217;s automatic face recognition software.
The Dutch researchers are also hoping their patch could be turned into a t-shirt, making wearers &#8220;virtually invisible for automatic surveillance cameras&#8221; — at least until the security system&#8217;s manufacturers issue software updates.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/23/18512472/fool-ai-surveillance-adversarial-example-yolov2-person-detection">This colorful printed patch makes you pretty much invisible to AI</a> [The Verge] 

More on AI surveillance: <a href="https://futurism.com/simulation-mass-surveillance-save-humanity">Professor: Total Surveillance Is the Only Way to Save Humanity</a>

The Dutch researchers are also hoping their patch could be turned into a t-shirt.

This colorful picture is like an invisibility cloak for AI

Adversarial Patch

A group of engineers figured out a way to fool AI surveillance systems with the help of a little colorful patch you can hang around your neck.

This Colorful Picture is Like an Invisibility Cloak for AI

You can print one out for yourself.

<h2>Airport Screening</h2>
If you board a flight out of the United States four years from now, chances are the government is going to scan your face — an ambitious timeline that has privacy experts reeling.
That&#8217;s according to a recent Department of Homeland Security <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/19_0417_fy18-entry-and-exit-overstay-report.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a>, which says that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) plans to dramatically <a href="https://qz.com/1598148/us-wants-to-use-facial-recognition-on-air-travelers-leaving-the-country/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">expand its Biometric Exit program</a> to cover 97 percent of outbound air passengers within four years.
Through this program, which was already in place in <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/18/18484581/us-airport-facial-recognition-departing-flights-biometric-exit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">15 U.S. airports</a> at the end of 2018, passengers have their faces scanned by cameras before boarding flights out of the nation. If the AI-powered system determines that the photo doesn&#8217;t match one on file, CBP officials can look into it.
<h2>Slippery Slope</h2>
The goal of these airport face scans is purportedly to catch people who have overstayed their visas, but civil liberties expert Edward Hasbrouck sees them as potentially giving the government increased control over American citizens.
&#8220;This is opening the door to an extraordinarily more intrusive and granular level of government control, starting with where we can go and our ability to move freely about the country,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/daveyalba/these-documents-reveal-the-governments-detailed-plan-for" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Buzzfeed News</a>. &#8220;And then potentially, once the system is proved out in that way, it can literally extend to a vast number of controls in other parts of our lives.&#8221;
READ MORE: <a href="https://qz.com/1598148/us-wants-to-use-facial-recognition-on-air-travelers-leaving-the-country/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The US wants to scan the faces of all air passengers leaving the country</a> [Quartz]
More on Biometric Exit: <a href="https://futurism.com/facial-recognition-us-borders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Facial Recognition Tech at U.S. Borders Will Scan Your Face, Whether You Like It or Not</a>

The Biometric Exit program is ready to roll out nationwide.

US airports will scan 97% of outbound flyers’ faces within 4 years

On Camera

Within four years, 97% of passengers leaving the U.S. will be subjected to airport face scans, according to a new Homeland Security report.

US Airports Will Scan 97% of Outbound Flyers’ Faces Within 4 Years

Is this really about catching people in the U.S. illegally? Or controlling American citizens?

<h2>Service With a Smile</h2>
Amazon&#8217;s delivery drivers now have to prove they aren&#8217;t package thieves by stopping to take a selfie every now and then.
The idea is to verify deliveries with Amazon&#8217;s facial recognition, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-demands-selfies-from-delivery-drivers-2019-4">according to Business Insider</a>. It also means that the contractors who deliver Amazon boxes are now forced to pose for a camera to periodically &#8220;confirm their identity&#8221; if they want to get paid — a troubling portent of the future of gig labor.
<h2>Rise and Grind</h2>
The program is similar to Uber&#8217;s requirement that drivers submit selfies to verify their identities, instituted after news broke that several hadn&#8217;t <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/uber-lyft-reportedly-skimp-on-background-checks/">had background checks</a>.
Amazon&#8217;s facial recognition system is expected prevent would-be package thieves from signing up on Flex — the company&#8217;s delivery contract service — to steal boxes off of people&#8217;s front steps, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/19/18507789/amazon-delivery-drivers-selfies-facial-recognition-fraud-protection-flex-app">according to The Verge</a>.
In theory, the new requirements could prevent people from piggybacking onto an existing Flex account, or it could hold people accountable so that the company knows who delivered a package that went missing. Or it could result in clever thieves taking pictures of printed-out pictures of other people before they steal a package anyway.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/19/18507789/amazon-delivery-drivers-selfies-facial-recognition-fraud-protection-flex-app">Amazon is now making its delivery drivers take selfies</a> [The Verge]
More on Amazon&#8217;s facial recognition: <a href="https://futurism.com/amazons-face-rekognition-race-gender">Amazon’s Facial Recognition Struggles With Darker Skin</a>

The jury's out on whether they can use AR filters.

Amazon is forcing its delivery drivers to take selfies

Get This Bread

Amazon recently unveiled a new requirement for contractors who deliver its packages: taking selfies now and then to verify their identity.

Amazon Is Forcing Its Delivery Drivers to Take Selfies

The idea is to use facial recognition to prevent fraud.

<h2>First Impressions</h2>
If you took a cab in Japan this year, you may have come face-to-face with a tablet that scanned your face in order to learn your gender, age, and other characteristics — and used that data to target you with relevant advertisements.
The facial recognition system made the rounds on Twitter on Saturday after Google privacy engineer Rosa Golijan <a href="https://twitter.com/rosa/status/1119736583521853441">posted a photo</a> of the tablet explaining that it was used in Japanese taxis to &#8220;estimate gender in order to deliver the most optimized content&#8221; — an intriguing preview of how pushy, personalized advertisements could one day roll out elsewhere in the world.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🤨 <a href="https://t.co/uXWOUXz25S">pic.twitter.com/uXWOUXz25S</a>
&mdash; Rosa Golijan (@rosa) <a href="https://twitter.com/rosa/status/1119736583521853441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<h2>Individual Attention</h2>
Another tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/BenParker140/status/1120326113241325569">posted in response</a> to Golijan shows more details, including how the data is collected and how it&#8217;s used. A QR code in that image links to the website of Japanese e-commerce platform developer DeNA Co Ltd — specifically linking to the <a href="https://dena-taxiad.jp/trust_and_safety/en/?from=tablet">&#8220;Trust &amp; Safety&#8221; page</a> for the company&#8217;s &#8220;Premium Taxi Vision&#8221; service.
Premium Taxi Vision, first deployed in January, is meant to make &#8220;riding a taxi more comfortable and convenient,&#8221; according to a <a href="https://dena-taxiad.jp/news/20190125_tipup_with_kyodo_d_and_rescuenow/">DeNA webpage</a> that we translated using Google. Presumably, that comfort and convenience means saving customers from the sheer embarrassment of watching an advertisement meant for a different gender or age group.
<h2>Opt Out</h2>
DeNA&#8217;s website explains that video of passengers is used to generate a passenger profile — age, presented gender, number of passengers — that gets sent to the advertising agency Geniee, Inc, which then sends a relevant advertisement.
That means Geniee doesn&#8217;t see the footage. In Golijan&#8217;s case, it would have merely known that an adult woman was riding in the cab.
The actual footage, which DeNA claims is immediately deleted, and facial recognition software never leave the tablet.
More on ubiquitous advertisements: <a href="https://futurism.com/pepsi-orbital-billboard-night-sky">Pepsi Plans to Project a Giant Ad in the Night Sky Using Cubesats</a>

The opt-out button is hidden, but footage never leaves the car.

Japanese taxis are using facial recognition to target ads to riders

Now Loading: Girl Ad

Japanese ecommerce firm DeNA has equipped taxis with a facial recognition system that selects ads based on passenger gender and age.

Japanese Taxis Are Using Facial Recognition to Target Ads to Riders

Cameras in the back seat guess your age and gender — and then use them to serve you with advertisements.

<h2>Bye, Watson</h2>
On Thursday, STAT published <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2019/04/18/ibm-halting-sales-of-watson-for-drug-discovery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a story</a> claiming that IBM is halting sales of Watson for Drug Discovery — a service that uses the company&#8217;s Watson AI to analyze connections between genes, drugs, and diseases on the hunt for useful new medications — citing as its source a person familiar with IBM&#8217;s internal decision-making.
&#8220;We are focusing our resources within Watson Health to double down on the adjacent field of clinical development where we see an even greater market need for our data and AI capabilities,&#8221; an IBM spokesperson told STAT — a sign that eight years after launching Watson Health, IBM still isn&#8217;t quite sure how AI should factor into the future of healthcare.
<h2>Overpromised, Underdelivered</h2>
The STAT source cited a &#8220;lackluster financial performance&#8221; as IBM&#8217;s reason for no longer developing and selling Watson for Drug Discovery. That mirrors the &#8220;<a href="https://www.statnews.com/2018/06/15/ibm-watson-health-scale-back-hospital-business/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lack of demand</a>&#8221; reasoning IBM gave for scaling back the part of Watson Health dedicated to helping hospitals manage certain contracts in June 2018.
It&#8217;s hard to imagine why the systems would be in high demand, though — several healthcare experts <a href="https://futurism.com/doctors-ibm-watson-ai" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told IEEE Spectrum</a> earlier in April that IBM had &#8220;overpromised and underdelivered&#8221; with Watson Health.
&#8220;Merely proving that you have powerful technology is not sufficient,&#8221; healthcare data strategist Martin Kohn <a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/diagnostics/how-ibm-watson-overpromised-and-underdelivered-on-ai-health-care?fbclid=IwAR3jPskgx-CApl6KmVV12tV8EIKuP_jjkWUgHD7XerFgz9gVKNDXMLk5bSU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told the publication</a>. &#8220;Prove to me that it will actually do something useful — that it will make my life better, and my patients’ lives better.&#8221;
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2019/04/18/ibm-halting-sales-of-watson-for-drug-discovery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IBM halting sales of Watson AI tool for drug discovery amid sluggish growth</a> [STAT]
More on Watson Health: <a href="https://futurism.com/doctors-ibm-watson-ai" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Doctors Are Losing Faith in IBM Watson’s AI Doctor</a>

The program is reportedly ending due to "lackluster financial performance."

IBM pulls the plug on drug-discovering Watson AI

Doctor Dud

IBM is halting development and sales of its Watson AI designed to find promising new medications, according to a new STAT story.

/Artificial Intelligence