The American market is thriving with the competition among companies in the fields of data analytics and artificial intelligence. Taking a step forward in this direction IBM (IBM) is going to buy Alchemy API Inc. to give boost to its Watson technology.

Brain of its own

The software of Alchemy API is extensively used by 40,000 developers for analyzing and classifying text and images. The more the technology works, the smarter it gets. The point of using this technology is that it helps in analyzing information and provides important details about the users. Watson would perform in a similar manner. This technology is basically very helpful in identifying the types and habits of the target audience, thus benefiting the advertising companies.

IBM declared that, It is adding services to Watson at a time when it relies on new offerings like data analytics and cloud computing for growth, (source: Bloomberg). While on the other hand competitors like Google Inc.(GOOG) are also concentrating hard on artificial intelligence technology.

Stephen Gold, vice president of IBM Watson group, told Bloomberg that This extends the portfolio of Watsons services. Denver-based Alchemy has a tremendous following. The 40,000+ network of developers that have built on top of the platform that will really help accelerate our own ecosystem.

Three consecutive years of downward sloping revenue trend has led IBM to rely on newer fields to explore and invest. As speculated by the chief executive officer of IBM, Ginni Rometty, new projects would pull off soaring revenue of $40 billion in 2018. In spite of declaring such an ambitious figure, Rometty declined to declare how much of it is expected to be earned from Watson. Although Rometty seems to be quite sure about this technology and flaunted the abilities of Watson- to analyze complex information and answer in an easy-to-understand language. The company has invested more than 1 billion dollar on establishing a separate unit that would strictly be focusing on the technology.

Alchemy the amplifier

Alchemy API was founded in 2005 and is a Denver based company. It has a workforce of 18 full-time employees. Its main clients are image agency Shutterstockand publishing company Hearst Corp. The price paid by IBM to seal the deal has not been disclosed yet.

Why is this technology in demand, when the end result could also be obtained through conventional methods? Well, here lies the answer: Alchemy API basically collects information from various sources like Twitter (TWTR) posts, messages, blogs and online images. The information so collected is then sorted and differentiated. After its done drawing out a pattern, it forms intelligent connections among that pattern. This would take a lot of time, if done manually, plus the results might not be very effective.

Conclusion

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