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title: IBM’s Supercomputer Watson Is Now a Chef With His Own Food Truck
description: Testing the creative capabilities of computers
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# IBM's Supercomputer Watson Is Now a Chef With His Own Food Truck

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![Olivia B. Waxman](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3c95204947ba81f/6989408e97cdff3ae16b6e48/o_waxman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1:1)

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## Olivia B. Waxman


Staff Writer

Mar 5, 2014 4:31 PM UTC

![Olivia B. Waxman](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf3c95204947ba81f/6989408e97cdff3ae16b6e48/o_waxman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1:1)

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## Olivia B. Waxman


Staff Writer

Mar 5, 2014 4:31 PM UTC

First, _Jeopardy!_ champions Ken Jennings and Ben Rutter [got served ](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2049187%5F2049195%5F2049266,00.html)by Watson, the IBM supercomputer. Now, Watson is serving up dishes from a food truck as part of a new partnership with the Institute of Culinary Education in New York, NPR [reports](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/03/03/285326611/our-supercomputer-overlord-is-now-running-a-food-truck?utm%5Fmedium=facebook&utm%5Fsource=npr&utm%5Fcampaign=nprnews&utm%5Fcontent=03042014).

The supercomputer made its debut as a chef at a Las Vegas tech conference last week, and so far has produced gourmet, fusion fare like a Swiss-Thai asparagus quiche, an Austrian chocolate burrito, and a pork belly moussaka.

Named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, the supercomputer comes up with creative meals based on a series of algorithms, [according to](http://www.research.ibm.com/software/IBMResearch/multimedia/Cognitive-Cooking-Fact-Sheet.pdf) the company’s website:

---

> “”

---

(**MORE**: [Watson’s path to profits is anything but elementary](http://business.time.com/2014/01/22/for-ibm-watsons-path-to-profits-is-anything-but-elementary/))

IBM hopes Watson will become a lucrative revenue stream, TIME [recently reported](http://business.time.com/2014/01/22/for-ibm-watsons-path-to-profits-is-anything-but-elementary/), after the company’s sales fell for seven straight quarters and its stock price dropped — arguably due to changes within the technology industry and the larger shift from PCs and printers toward software and services. “Cloud computing” is now a formidable competitor, and IBM executives have “projected” that Watson, which operates in the cloud, will generate $1 billion in revenue by 2018, the [_Wall Street Journal_](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303754404579308981809586194)reports.


However, three years after its _Jeopardy!_ debut, the supercomputer has only produced $100 million, [according to](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303754404579308981809586194) the newspaper. So at the beginning of 2014, “IBM announced that it will invest more than $1 billion into the Watson Group, including $100 million for venture investments to support start-ups and businesses that are building a new class of applications powered by Watson,” TIME [reported](http://business.time.com/2014/01/22/for-ibm-watsons-path-to-profits-is-anything-but-elementary/).

The food truck will be at [SXSW](http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/cognitivecooking/truck.html), the music and tech festival in Austin, Texas, from March 7 to 11.

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