Will Doctors Heed IBM's Watson? History Indicates Otherwise

Watson, the IBM supercomputer that recently generated headlines by beating top Jeopardy players, is being groomed to advise doctors about diagnoses and treatments. But even if Watson delivers more accurate answers faster than other decision support tools, there's no guarantee that physicians will heed its advice.

When it's ready, perhaps two years from now, Watson will analyze the answers to questions about a patient's symptoms and medical history and suggest the most likely diagnoses. It will use the same approach to recommend treatments.

The source material for Watson's new healthcare knowledge will include medical textbooks and journals, data from electronic health records and personal blogs about illnesses. The goal is to provide Watson with a vast fund of constantly updated information that is difficult--if not impossible--for doctors to keep in their heads.