IBM to release updated AI system called 'watsonx' in July

IBM Korea’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Lee Ji-eun introduces its AI system "watsonx" at a press event in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Tuesday. [IBM]

IBM will release its updated AI system called "watsonx" in July both at home and abroad, targeting the fast-growing demand for large-scale, generative AI.

The English version will be released globally next month. The Korean version of one of its services, watsonx.data, will be released in the first quarter of next year.

Watsonx is an integrated AI and data platform that lets corporate clients train and deploy AI models.

“Watsonx is all about how our clients can easily, flexibly and safely utilize data and AI,” said IBM Korea’s Chief Technology Officer Lee Ji-eun at a press event in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Tuesday. “IBM aims to provide an end-to-end platform where enterprises can fully utilize AI.”

The platform consists of watsonx.ai, watsonx.data and watsonx.governance.

Watsonx.ai and watsonx.data will be released next month worldwide, while watsonx.governance will be released in the fourth quarter of this year.

watsonx.ai is dubbed by IBM as an “AI studio,” which allows AI developers to train, test and deploy generative AI capabilities powered by foundation models.

A foundation model is an AI neural network — pre-trained by mountains of raw data by self-supervised learning — which serves as a fundamental building block for various AI applications and tasks.

Watsonx contains a model library with IBM’s trained foundation models, which users can use them freely. When an enterprise utilizes a foundation model, it can efficiently cut the time and cost to train AI, the company says.

Watsonx.data is the latest data repository which allows users to access and extract data regardless of the data location — whether it’s within a company server or hybrid cloud.

Watsonx.governance is a toolkit reducing AI-related risks and protecting data privacy.

Lee emphasized that the core of IBM lies in data storage. IBM stressed that watsonx.data is built on an up-to-date open lakehouse structure. A data lakehouse is a single, big-data storage architecture that contains all structured, semi-structured and unstructured data needed to build a foundation model.

“IBM focuses on how an enterprise can reap full benefits from utilizing AI,” Lee said. “The very basic foundation of that is data, and how companies can manage and utilize it will be the key.”

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]