IBM Begins to Test New AI Software That Mimics the Human Brain

IBM already has Watson, the virtual assistant that famously crushed his opponents on Jeopardy back in 2011 and has since moved on to helping businesses with analytics and performance. Now, it’s expanding its artificial intelligence division by investing in Numenta, a machine intelligence company founded by ex-Palm executive Jeff Hawkins that is said to be developing a software that is as close to biological reality than any other machine learning program. While the specifics are obviously being kept under wraps, Numenta is said to be working toward near-replication of the human brain, and will be focusing heavily on enterprise applications for the software. Its focus on enterprise has allowed Numenta to fly under the radar over the past few years even as interest in consumer-facing virtual assistants like Siri and Cortana has reached a fever pitch. So while you can’t expect Numenta on your smartphone anytime soon, or any Her-like scenarios to ensue, it will certainly be interesting to see where IBM takes this in the next couple of years.