IBM has announced Watsonx, its latest AI offering, which it claims provides more accurate answers and takes a more responsible approach than rivals. Unlike Microsoft, OpenAI, and Google, which are rushing to lock down potentially massive new consumer markets for generative AI, IBM is instead helping other companies implement their AI via a “data model factory” that offers IBM clients products tuned for their specialties in domains like language, code, chemistry, and geospatial data. Watsonx, in partnership with startup Hugging Face, incorporates open-source models, uses narrower, carefully culled datasets, and provides a “toolkit for governance.” IBM’s top execs threw shade on rivals at a Monday Watsonx preview. IBM knows about failed AI hype, and after its original Watson won Jeopardy in 2011, the company’s revenue declined for 10 consecutive years leaving Watsonx with a lot to prove. IBM helped draft the EU’s upcoming rules, which focus on regulating high-risk uses of AI. IBM’s CEO, Arvind Krishna, said that the systems still have years to go when it comes to trying to replace a human being in their completeness. IBM’s chief commercial officer, Rob Thomas, said that managers that use AI will replace the managers that do not. IBM isn’t the only AI provider to claim the mantle of responsibility, as OpenAI and Google also tout their ethical scruples.
