Covering Disruptive Technology Powering Business in The Digital Age

Written by: Khairul Haqeem, Journalist, AOPG.

In a world where artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer an afterthought but a central driver of business initiatives, IBM has announced the launch of a new AI and data platform – Watsonx. “When it comes to AI for business you cannot replace accuracy and trustworthiness, they are paramount when it comes to running a business,” said Kitman Cheung, Director of Technical Sales – APAC, IBM Technology – Software. This highly anticipated announcement marks a major inflexion point in IBM’s AI journey with its customer base.

The platform is designed to address the challenges businesses face in scaling and operationalising AI. “We are trying to solve business problems, so it is important that this platform helps our customers roll out models in an accurate, scalable and adaptable manner and that is why we feel it is the right time to roll out Watsonx,” Kitman explained.

Watsonx comprises three offerings: Watsonx.ai, Watsonx.data, and Watsonx.governance. Together, these solutions provide businesses with a platform to advance their machine-learning and generative AI initiatives at scale. The goal is to help businesses profit from AI and ethically integrate emerging technologies into their operations.

One of the most exciting aspects of this launch is the new collaboration between IBM and Hugging Face, which will provide businesses access to thousands of open models and datasets. This openness is intentional. Kitman shared, “Our intention is for this platform to be the AI innovation platform not to be closed and locked down in any way.” Indeed, this platform is meant to be an enterprise platform where innovation can take place.

According to PWC, AI is set to unlock nearly USD $16 trillion by 2030. With Watsonx, IBM is strategically positioned to play a significant role in this growth. The platform’s potential is not lost on Kieran Hagan, Data, AI & Automation Technical Sales Leader, ASEANZK, who said, “AI is at a momentum point the advent of generative AI and the potential it has on interacting with information is huge.”

IBM’s new offering comes at a time when the ASEAN region has digitally accelerated its infrastructure faster than the rest of the world following the COVID-19 pandemic. Kieran pointed out, “After COVID, we the ASEAN region have digitally accelerated a lot of our infrastructure faster than the rest of the world – if anything we are more ready for AI adoption for the convenience and returns it can deliver.”

The Watsonx platform, expected to be generally available in July 2023, marks the advent of a new era of AI in business, one that is set to revolutionise how businesses operate. As Kieran noted, “AI used to be the domain of data scientists but the interesting thing about the recent AI advances is coding is no longer a barrier to realising some of these AI outcomes.”

As AI continues to shape the future of business, IBM’s Watsonx is set to be at the forefront of this transformation. Businesses worldwide now have a new tool in their arsenal, one that promises to harness the power of AI for unprecedented growth and innovation.

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