IBM’s latest super computer, dubbed Watson, recently triumphed over its human competition on the TV game show “Jeopardy!”  Its creators have now announced that the artificial intelligence that powers Watson may have several useful applications in the insurance industry.

For example, in an interview with Insurance Journal, IBM spokesperson Jamie Bisker stated that Watson might help large insurance companies move through the myriad of regulations and scenarios that are involved in selling multiple products in multiple states or countries.

According to Bisker, by using Watson, an insurance company could build a knowledge set using its most experienced people, where the knowledge these people bring can be kept forever.  Such data could be accessed by other people in the company through the use of question-and-answer scenarios.  This way, the tricks of the trade learned by the best in the business can be dispersed to the rest of the organization on an as-needed, just-in-time basis.

Bisker stated that while Watson may not actually replace humans, it does offer several advantages.  “It wouldn’t be tired, it wouldn’t have an emotional bias, and it couldn’t be bribed.”