In August last year, IBM unveiled a chip designed to operate something like the neurons and synapses of the brain (see “IBM Chip Process Data Similar to the Way Your Brain Does”). Now the company has begun work on a next generation aimed at making mobile devices better at tasks that are easy for brains but tough for computers, such as speech recognition and interpreting images.

“We’re working on a next generation of the chip, but what’s most important now is commercial partners,” says John Kelly, a senior vice president at IBM who oversees IBM Research and several business units, including two dedicated to the company’s Watson suite of machine intelligence software. “Companies could incorporate this in all sorts of mobile devices, machinery, automotive, you name it.”

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