IBM is launching a new AI and data platform aimed at allowing businesses to accelerate advanced AI usage with trusted data, speed and governance.
The new platform, called watsonx, was introduced by IBM CEO Arvind Krishna at IBM’s three-day annual Think conference, which started today in Orlando.
Watsonx comprises three main components:
- Watsonx.ai, aimed at AI builders to train, test, tune and deploy traditional machine learning and new generative AI capabilities powered by foundation models.
- Watsonx.data, a data store optimized for governed data and AI workloads, supported by governance, querying and open data formats to access and share data.
- Watsonx.governance, a toolkit to enable trusted AI workflows.
The first two components are expected to be ready in July with governance following sometime later in the year, according to IBM.
Krishna called watsonx “a groundbreaking platform for data and AI that will be inclusive of machine learning, deep learning and foundation models.”
IBM also introduced GPU-as-a-service, which is designed to support AI intensive workloads, with an AI dashboard to measure, track and help report on cloud carbon emissions.
A new practice for watsonx and generative AI also was announced, with the intent of IBM Consulting supporting client AI deployments.
Krishna also promoted hybrid cloud environments, highlighting Delta Airlines as an example.
Joining the CEO on stage, Rahul Samant, chief information officer at Delta Air Lines, said the airline has been using AI technology in its operations for some time.
“We're no stranger to machine learning models and have been using around scheduling and optimizing our routes for over two decades,” said Samant.
IBM also announced a partnership with ML tool developer Hugging Face, allowing the watsonx.ai library to carry thousands of Hugging Face open source models, datasets and libraries.
Krishna made a point of noting that Watsonx was built on Red Hat OpenShift and brought Kaete Piccirilli, director of product marketing at Red Hat Ansible Automation, to the stage to present a short use case of how developers could use the new platform.
“The use cases are as endless as what you can imagine,” she said.
