IBM has launched watsonx, an AI and data-management platform designed to help companies integrate AI into their business. Reuters reports.
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According to the announcement, companies can use watsonx to train and deploy AI algorithms, automatically generate code, and use a range of large language models.
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The platform consists of three main components:
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- watsonx.ai for creating new foundational models, generative AI, and machine learning;
- watsonx.data, providing flexibility and performance for data storage;
- watsonx.governance, enabling AI workflows built with transparency.
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The platform’s launch comes more than a decade after IBM’s Watson program drew attention for its Jeopardy win. At the time, the tech giant said the software could “learn” and process human language. But the high cost of development hindered its use by companies.
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However, cheaper AI-model development increases IBM’s odds of success, said CEO Arvind Krishna.
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“When something becomes 100 times cheaper, it truly creates an entirely different appeal. The initial hurdle to developing a model is high, but once you do it, adapting it to hundreds or thousands of different tasks becomes easier, and it can empower non-specialists,” he said.
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Krishna added that in the coming years AI could reduce certain back-office roles at IBM.
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“That does not mean overall employment will decrease,” he said.
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According to Krishna, this allows the company to invest far more in value-creating activities.
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“We hired more people than we laid off because we are hiring in areas where demand from our clients is much higher,” said the company’s chief.
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He added that IBM is also embracing a more open ecosystem and working with open-source software creators such as Hugging Face.
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In May, Krishna said that hiring for roles potentially replaceable by AI had been paused.