Last week, members of the CBA Tech Club became some of the first high school students in the country to see IBM’s Watson artificial intelligence firsthand.

IBM Watson is a supercomputer that uses a combination of artificial intelligence and analytical software to create a question answering machine that learns. Named after IBM’s founder—Thomas J. Watson—the supercomputer is perhaps best known for beating top world competitors in Jeopardy, chess and the ancient board-game Go.

At IBM’s lower Manhattan offices, CBA students took part in a demonstration of IBM’s industry-leading technology—a demonstration that was previously reserved for top-level investors and early-adopting business partners.

Watson Experience Leader Rachel Liddell took the students through a hands-on simulation of IBM Watson’s programming power and capabilities. The experience showed how IBM Watson “learns” via a combination of big data analysis and high-performance processing. Afterwards, the students met with the members of the programming team behind the Watson demonstration and were able to see several other smaller scale project demonstrations.

IBM CTO of Tech Club co-moderator Tom Eck also took students on a tour of the start-up-like workplace at IBM’s 51 Astor Place offices.

A large portion of the technologies demonstrated were and are still in the research and development phase; however, those in attendance were given a unique look into what the future holds for practical applications of technology at work and in everyday life.

Christian Brothers Academy (CBA) is a private, Catholic, academic preparatory school for boys located in Lincroft, New Jersey. Founded in 1959 and taught in the Lasallian tradition, CBA is dedicated to helping students become intellectually mature and morally responsible leaders for society. Through the combined efforts of the Office of Advancement and friends of the Academy, CBA awards over $1.3 million in scholarships and financial aid to current students. Experience the Academy at www.CBALincroftNJ.org.