IBM Watson is getting an AI makeover, and that's bad news for workers everywhere

Artificial intelligence India
(Image credit: Google)

IBM has announced its new Watsonx platform designed to supply the right tools to companies still struggling to get their versions of AI to market.

The all-encompassing platform promises to deliver ML tools and AI foundation models, as well as the right hardware and data storage, in a bid to help enterprises train their own tools including AI writers. IBM is also making available a governance toolkit as part of the offering.

At the company's annual Think conference, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna described the platform as enabling customers to develop from being “users” to becoming “AI advantaged,” citing scalability, affordability, and efficiency.

Train your own AI with IBM Watsonx

The company’s own foundation models and open-source models promise to speed up AI development for companies, though the thought is nothing new and is already one being used by some of its biggest competitors including Amazon.

The move also sees IBM broadening a partnership with Hugging Face, which will in turn allow the watsonx.ai studio to benefit from the latter’s open source libraries and its thousands of open models and datasets.

Cost is clearly the area that IBM is looking to tackle with the launch of Watsonx, promising a reduction in data warehouse costs by as much as 50%.

It is also hoped that the Watson Code Assistant will be rolled out “later this year” - much like GitHub Copilot X, it will use generative AI to help developers write and amend code with English-language prompts.

While AI investments continue to skyrocket, many, including IBM’s own workers, are concerned at the thought of the company’s commitment to the emerging technology, given as it was reported earlier this month that IBM would be pausing hiring in favor of AI, with as many as 7,800 jobs at risk.

IBM watsonx.ai and watsonx.data are expected to be generally available by July 2023.

Craig Hale

With several years’ experience freelancing in tech and automotive circles, Craig’s specific interests lie in technology that is designed to better our lives, including AI and ML, productivity aids, and smart fitness. He is also passionate about cars and the decarbonisation of personal transportation. As an avid bargain-hunter, you can be sure that any deal Craig finds is top value!

Read more
Image of someone clicking a cloud icon.
Unified data means faster AI: Here’s how to unleash its potential
OpenAI
OpenAI wants to help your business build its next generation of AI agents
Oracle
Oracle is giving your business the chance to create its own AI agents
An AI face in profile against a digital background.
Bang goes AI? DeepSeek and the ‘Star Trek’ future
MindpoolAI
What is MindpoolAI? Everything we know about the AI model platform
A person holding out their hand with a digital AI symbol.
Your AI, your rules: Why BYO-LLM “bring your own LLM” is the future
Latest in Software & Services
TinEye website
I like this reverse image search service the most
A person in a wheelchair working at a computer.
Here’s a free way to find long lost relatives and friends
A white woman with long brown hair in a ponytail looks down at her computer in a distressed manner. She is holding her forehead with one hand and a credit card with the other
This people search finder covers all the bases, but it's not perfect
That's Them home page
Is That's Them worth it? My honest review
woman listening to computer
AWS vs Azure: choosing the right platform to maximize your company's investment
A person at a desktop computer working on spreadsheet tables.
Trello vs Jira: which project management solution is best for you?
Latest in News
Zendesk Relate 2025
Zendesk Relate 2025 - everything you need to know as the event unfolds
Disney Plus logo with popcorn
You can finally tell Disney+ to stop bugging you about that terrible Marvel show you regret starting
Google Gemini AI
Gemini can now see your screen and judge your tabs
Girl wearing Meta Quest 3 headset interacting with a jungle playset
Latest Meta Quest 3 software beta teases a major design overhaul and VR screen sharing – and I need these updates now
Philips Hue
Philips Hue might be working on a video doorbell, and according to a new report, we just got our first look at it
Microsoft
"Another pair of eyes" - Microsoft launches all-new Security Copilot Agents to give security teams the upper hand