But Watson has descendants. They’re also called Watson, and they are legion. Some of those Watsons will grow up to be medical experts. Other Watsons will become health and wellness coaches, motivating humans to become better humans. Still other Watsons will strive to be the best, and most attentive of personal shoppers. Those last Watsons won’t understand the sad trombone noise you’re mentally conjuring. But explain it, and they must might.

Maybe I should explain.

IBM announced today that it has opened up Watson to developers, including access to an API (or application programming interface) and tools for incorporating its cognitive computing into existing software. What Watson did on TV in 2011, crushing two quiz show champions with its encyclopedic knowledge and rapid response time, and what it’s doing for cancer researchers, scanning through whole archives of medical records and journaled papers, actually reading and understanding the text, as opposed to simply collecting excerpts based on keywords, it can now do for whoever’s willing to buy access.