It’s been a long time since IBM (NYSE:IBM) has actively touted Watson. Originally created to beat humans at the “Jeopardy!” game show, Watson marked IBM’s early splash in artificial intelligence, but it never amounted to a profitable offering.
About 15 months ago, IBM sold its Watson Health unit for an undisclosed amount to private equity firm Francisco Partners.
Now, Watson has given way to WatsonX, and IBM is trying to ride the latest boom in AI. IBM is billing it as a development studio for companies to “train, tune and deploy” machine-learning models. The platform includes a feature for AI-generated code, an AI governance toolkit, and a library of thousands of large-scale AI models, trained on language, geospatial data, IT events and code, according to a release.
The new offering is part of a larger strategy shift, as IBM seeks to take the lead on user-friendly platforms for companies looking to introduce AI into their business models, in part because there’s a massive shortage of human talent in the AI market.
IBM is partnering with HuggingFace, the buzzy AI startup and open-source platform that reached a $2-billion valuation last year.
In a question-and-answer session with reporters on Monday, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said companies can come in with a model they want to build and then let WatsonX get to work.
“Big Blue” shares dumped 53 cents to $121.22.
