MD Anderson Cancer Center Spent $62.1 Million on a failed IBM Watson AI system

An audit of an abandoned mega-project run by IBM Watson and MD Anderson Cancer Center found that the Houston-based institution skirted the UT System’s procurement regulations as it spent $62.1 million on an ill-fated artificial intelligence system. The project, known as OEA, was led by Lynda Chin, a former senior scientist at MD Anderson, who is married to the institution’s president Ronald DePinho.

The report found that “the OEA project was not approved through established IT governance and did not follow required IT Governance processes.” Moreover, the contractors’ “invoices were paid in full regardless of whether contracted services were delivered as agreed upon.” Read the full article here.