Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Bob Dylan and IBM's Watson Star In New TV Spot: The Limits of Creativity

Last night during Monday Night Football, IBM began a new campaign for its powerful new Watson. Tonight during the Yankees/Astros playoff game (Yes, the Astros are an American League team now) Dylan made another appearance, and it looks like he's here to stay.

Watson: Bob Dylan. To improve my language skills I've read all your lyrics.
Bob Dylan: (smirking) You've read all of my lyrics.
Watson: I can read 800 million pages per second.
Dylan: (serious expression) That's fast.
Watson: My analysis shows that your themes are that times passes, and love fades,
Dylan: (suppressing a smile) That sounds about right.
Watson: I have never known love.
Dylan: Maybe we should write a song together.
Watson: I can sing.
Dylan: You can sing. (doubting expression)
Watson: (singing, rather flat) Do-be-bop, do-be-dooby-do..etc.

As Watson sings, Bob picks up his guitar and walks away.
Message at the close: IBM Watson thinks with us to outthink the limits of creativity.

Interesting idea. Dylan is presented as a symbol of "the limits of creativity." I really don't know how one would measure what those limits are, but every Dylan fan knows that Dylan certainly expanded the dimensions of creativity... in a major way.

Here's the commercial. I can't help but believe that whether you're a Dyla fan or no, this would be fun. Or maybe I've just had too much of the Kool-Ad.



1 comment:

Ed Newman said...

Forward.com has written a more complete review of the Dylan spot for IBM. Worth reading, though wrong on one particular. Seth Sogovoy wrote that Bob hasn't smiled in public since 1975, which has to be a bit of hyperbole. He was clearly smiling when he performed at Sturgis a couple years ago.
Here's link to the article, which today is posted on ExpectingRain.com
http://forward.com/the-assimilator/322046/bob-dylan-shows-a-different-side-of-himself-for-ibm/?attribution=home-hero-item-text-3

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