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Key Takeaways
- International Business Machines on Tuesday unveiled several artificial intelligence announcements, including expanding partnerships and updates on watsonx, its AI and data platform.
- IBM said it partnering with companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Adobe, Mistral, and Salesforce, which could strengthen its ties to AI leaders.
- The company, alongside the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), officially launched the ‘ALLaM’ Arabic model through an ongoing partnership with Saudi Arabia.
International Business Machines (IBM) unveiled several artificial intelligence (AI) updates on Tuesday that could bolster the legacy computer maker’s standing in the AI race and promote openness with the AI ecosystem.
The company reported strengthening collaborations with companies like Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Meta Platforms (META), and expanded offerings through its partnership with Saudi Arabia, among other announcements about its AI and data platform, watsonx.
Expanding IBM AI Ecosystem With Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Others
IBM expanded ecosystem access to its generative AI (genAI) and data cloud platform by allowing third-party models on the watsonx platform, through collaborations with several companies leading AI innovation.
The company announced it is partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to bring AI governance to the platform and collaborating with Adobe (ADBE) on hybrid cloud and AI.
IBM unveiled deals with Meta and Microsoft-backed Mistral to bring Meta Llama 3 and Mistral models to watsonx.
The company also announced it is in talks with Salesforce (CRM) to collaborate on AI offerings and that watsonx is supported by Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure.
The expansion of third-party offerings and strengthening partnerships could make it easier for IBM to collaborate with AI leaders going forward and promote openness between AI firms.
Launches Arabic Model Through Saudi Government Partnership
IBM and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) officially launched the “ALLaM” Arabic model on watsonx.
The Arabic model will expand the reach of the large language models and could further AI innovations within Arabic-speaking regions.
The model comes as part of the ongoing partnership between IBM and the Saudi government focused on progressing AI in the Middle East and furthering Saudi Arabia’s position in the world of AI.
AI Updates Could Bolster IBM’s Standing and Further AI Openness
IBM announced updates to watsonx to better meet the needs of enterprise customers on the platform and further its focus on AI openness.
The company said it would release a family of Granite models, its foundational AI model, to be open-source, allowing others to use the model and encourage AI openness.
IBM and Meta launched the AI Alliance in December 2023 to advance safe and open AI.
The company also said it enhanced its family of watsonx assistants with capabilities like coding, expanded its Nvidia (NVDA) GPU offerings to facilitate clients’ AI workloads better, and announced upcoming data products.
Several big tech companies, including Microsoft, Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon, and Meta found early success in AI monetization through enterprise customers.
IBM shares were up 2.4% to $174.11 as of 11:30 a.m. ET Tuesday. The stock is up about 6.5% since the start of 2024.