Introduction to IBM Watson

If what you've read so far piques your interest, then welcome aboard! For, in this book, you won't be learning the actual, raw algorithms that go behind the tech. Rather, you'll be getting a much simpler introduction to the world of AI—through IBM Watson.

Watson, in this context, is a set of REST APIs that are available in the IBM Cloud that enables you to create cognitive applications, without the complex, expensive, and long process of developing cognitive from scratch. But there's more!

Let's begin!

Hardware and software requirements

Now, let's talk about how you can set up your environment to work with ML technology.

One of the key aspects to using a cloud-based service, such as Watson, is that you don't need to own any of the intense hardware that usually goes behind deep learning, or machine learning, systems. Everything's done in the cloud for you, and it is billed based on how much of, or how long, you use the services and machines for.

Therefore, there are no strict hardware requirements.

This book will deal mainly with Python 3.7.2, so it's preferable to have a POSIX-compliant (Unix-like) OS, but Windows will also work, preferably Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

Signing up for IBM Cloud

Now that you're ready, let's sign up for IBM Cloud. To begin with, you don't have to pay for IBM Cloud, or even provide your credit card information. Using the IBM Cloud Lite tier, you can use most services for free!

While it is quite self-explanatory, here's a list of steps to sign up for IBM Cloud:

1. Head over to https://www.ibm.com/cloud
2. Hit the Sign up for IBM Cloud button
3. Fill in all the required information
4. Verify your email address by clicking the link sent to your email
5. Once you're in IBM Cloud, give a name to your brand new space and organization

An organization is a set of spaces relevant to a certain company or entity, and a space is a set of services or applications relevant to a project.