IBM uses its annual Think conference as a platform to highlight movements in its business and showcase innovation, and this year was no exception. During this year's Think event, held May 20-23 in Boston, the tech giant announced several updates to its watsonx platform, promising to make artificial intelligence more accessible, cost-effective and flexible for businesses.
We highlight key IBM Think announcements and detail the potential impact on IT professionals in Australia in particular, with insights from Nick Flood, IBM's general manager for Australia.
What are some key IBM Think announcements?
IBM launched a family of Granite models in open source and launched InstructLab in collaboration with Red Hat
Available under Apache 2.0 licenses on Hugging Face and GitHub, open source Granite models range from 3B to 34B parameters and come in basic and instruction-following model variants. Those variants are suitable for various tasks, including modernizing complex applications, generating code, fixing bugs, explaining and documenting code, and maintaining repositories.
IBM presented a new range of watsonx assistants
IBM's annual Global AI Adoption Index recently found that, while 42% of enterprise-scale companies (>1,000 employees) surveyed have implemented AI in their businesses, another 40% of those companies that are exploring or experimenting with AI have not yet implemented their models. .
To help those struggling to adopt AI, IBM announced the following updates and improvements to its Watsonx family of assistants:
- watsonx assistant for Z transform the way users interact with the system to quickly transfer knowledge and experience. Availability is planned for June 2024.
- an expansion of watsonx code wizard for service z with code explanation to help customers understand and document applications through natural language. Availability is planned for June 2024.
- watsonx code assistant for java enterprise applications. Availability is planned for October 2024.
IBM previewed new capabilities for AI-powered automation
At the event, IBM unveiled a new AI-powered generative tool called IBM Concert, which will be generally available in June 2024. IBM said Concert will serve as the “nerve center” of a company's technology and operations. Powered by watsonx AI, IBM Concert will deliver AI-powered generative insights into clients' application portfolios to identify, predict and suggest solutions to problems.
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Additionally, IBM announced a wide range of activities with third parties, from AWS and Microsoft to Adobe, Meta and SAP. In partnership with these companies, IBM is bringing third-party models to watsonx and offering IBM Consulting expertise for business transformation. This enables end-user customers to adopt and scale AI solutions that are specific to their business needs.
What does this IBM news mean for Australia?
Firstly, according to IBM's Nick Flood, the company's announcements will help Australians deal with several major issues in the economy, including skills shortages and lack of productivity.
“The number one issue on the minds of boards and elected officials in Australia is productivity, specifically the lack of it in Australia,” Flood said. He cited data from the Australian Center for Economic Development and the OECD, with Australia ranking 61st out of 63 counties in some areas. “We are going backwards,” Flood said, “and comparatively, we are lagging behind comparable countries like the United Kingdom and the United States.”
Flood believes taking a leadership position in generative artificial intelligence and quantum computing can help Australia take a leap forward in terms of productivity. “I am full of optimism that, with great Australian ingenuity and these emerging technologies, we can take a leap forward in terms of productivity. And everyone will benefit from that.”
Flood also shared interesting work on how generative AI is helping the Australian environment overcome critical skills shortages. “At our THINK conference, we launched two generative AI capabilities specifically for IBM mainframe technology,” she said. These include watsonx Assistant for Z, an AI-based generative chat agent that can generate contextualized recommendations or run sheets, and includes watsonx Code Assistant for Z, which can take legacy mainframe architectures and code and rewrite them in more contemporary programming languages. , all without human intervention.
Challenges for AI and IBM's vision in Australia
Despite his optimism, Flood acknowledged the challenges arising from AI adoption in Australia. “One of the other prominent issues on the minds of boards, CIOs, CEOs and elected officials is cyber risk,” she said.
Hyperscale cloud platforms remain a hurdle
He noted that Australian customers looking to get into generative AI are hesitant when required to make exclusive use of hyperscale cloud platforms. They want a setup where they can live in a hybrid setup where certain large language models sit safely on Australian shores in their data center.
Flood highlighted the importance of understanding these technologies and how they can be applied to work. “I think the number one challenge is really ensuring that there's a consistent understanding across the organization and across all operations or disciplines, not just IT, about what generative AI could do for the business,” he said.
Social responsibility is key for AI
He also recognized that there were some social challenges that needed to be taken into account, particularly in multicultural societies like Australia. Flood said it is imperative that as IT professionals develop and implement AI, it is free of bias and aligned with the highest ethical standards.
“IBM is taking many proactive steps to work with the government to ensure that as AI proliferates throughout the economy, there are safeguards in place and a discussion to think about both intended and unintended consequences and the best way forward.” way to manage harmful impacts. of the last.”
SEE: 9 innovative use cases for AI in Australian businesses in 2024
IBM's commitment to Australia includes support for quantum computing
Finally, Flood made it clear that IBM is not a bystander in the Australian market; The company established operations in 1932 and now has around 3,600 employees in the country. Far from being a branch or sales office, the local IBM team generates patents and supports clients on a technical level.
Currently, this means that IBM is actively supporting Australia to achieve its quantum computing ambitions. “Earlier this month, IBM and the University of Sydney won a $10 million award from IAPRA. Researchers at the University of Sydney will now work with IBM researchers and use IBM quantum capacity delivered via the IBM cloud from Yorktown Heights in upstate New York to develop new mechanisms around error suppression quantum, which is a really key milestone that the world will have to overcome in the future. the path to quantum utility,” Flood said.
“In addition, earlier this month, IBM was delighted to be part of a consortium with the University of Sydney that won an $18.3 million Australian grant from the Albanian government to develop the Australian Center for Quantum Growth at the University from Sydney.
“We are passionate about the national interest,” Flood said. “We are very proud of what we have achieved in this country.”
