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IBM makes Watson Assistant available free of charge to process questions about COVID-19. A selected number of services provided by the tech giant’s supercomputer will be made available free of charge to government agencies, scientific institutions and health care organizations.

The company will offer a package that will be called IBM Watson Assistant For Citizens for at least 90 days free of charge. This will allow users to process questions asked online or over the phone.

According to IBM, COVID-19 queries can take up to two hours and according to the company, this can be done much faster with Watson. IBM hopes that with the help of artificial intelligence more questions about the virus can be dealt with.

Interpreting and answering questions

IBM Watson Assistant can interpret colloquial language and answer questions by searching through encyclopedias, books, journals, scientific articles and downloaded websites. To answer questions about COVID-19, the supercomputer will use data from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Watson is available in thirteen languages, including English and Spanish. Watson’s services are used not only in the United States, but also in the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and Finland.