Watson Assistant is apparently being used by speaker maker Harman, retail bank Royal Bank of Scotland, Autodesk, Munich Airport and Motel One.  Big Blue wants to position its smart assistant technology as an alternative to the likes of Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

However, IBM also wants to release it to the great unwashed with a consumer version of the enterprise AI voice assistant that securely brings together data on all of the places and “things” consumers visit and interact with daily.

This is different to Google and Amazon’s approach, where the web giants log the consumer’s interactions, building vast pools of behavioural insight.

IBM said: “Data ownership, a critical factor in the future of AI, and with Watson Assistant, IBM does not and will not own the consumer data via Watson Assistant. Any data captured through conversations, texts and videos are contained within the brand to better serve its customers.”

IBM said the companies that use Watson Assistant could have their brand front and centre. “Businesses can now create personalised and engaging experiences for consumers to make natural conversations that pick up where the chat left off – no matter where the consumer is”, the company stated.

Big Blue added that data on the customer’s specific daily preferences could be securely shared between their vehicle, favourite hotel or local coffee shop. It claimed consumers also have more control of their data, and how and where it is shared.

It wants Watson Assistant to enable consumer-facing companies to retake control of their customers’ voice queries, which could allow them to build better customer experiences.