IBM Report Reveals Manufacturing Sector as Cyber Attack Prime Target in Asia Pacific

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko

Per IBM Report, the Manufacturing Sector becomes Top Targeted for Cyber Attacks in Asia Pacific, as Critical Infrastructure Globally sees increased targeting

IBM Launches $500 Million Enterprise AI Venture Fund

IBM (NYSE: IBM) has announced that it is launching a $500 million venture fund to invest in a range of AI companies - from early-stage to hyper-growth startups - focused on accelerating generative AI technology and research for the enterprise.

With a differentiated model and strategy consisting of domain expertise from across IBM and a dedicated portfolio development team, the IBM Enterprise AI Venture Fund will invest in current and future AI leaders that are helping businesses around the world realize the potential of AI for business. Led by a dedicated team at IBM with decades of combined experience as highly successful investors and enterprise AI experts, the fund will provide each startup with opportunities to develop meaningful partnerships with IBM, while gaining operational expertise on product and engineering and go-to-market strategies.

 

IBM has a long history of bringing proven enterprise AI technology and capabilities to organizations around the world and is capitalizing on the latest wave of AI innovation in generative AI with watsonx, the company’s AI and data platform. With the IBM Enterprise AI Venture Fund, the company will grow its ecosystem of AI partnerships - including working with companies leveraging and building on watsonx - and create long-term value for AI leaders as well as new and existing clients.

“AI is slated to unlock nearly $16 trillion in productivity by 2030. With the launch of the IBM Enterprise AI Venture Fund, we’re opening another channel to harness the enormous potential of the AI revolution into tangible, positive outcomes for IBM and the companies we invest in,” said Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, Software and Chief Commercial Officer, IBM. “This fund is yet another way we’re doubling down on our commitment to responsible AI innovation through watsonx and helping organizations put this transformational technology to work.”

 

A Differentiated Approach to AI Investing

IBM has demonstrated its commitment to promoting AI for business through its recent investments in AI technology and companies. For example, IBM announced in August that it is participating in the $235M Series D funding round of Hugging Face, the leading open-source collaboration platform for the machine learning community building the future of AI. IBM has contributed hundreds of open models and datasets on Hugging Face, including the recent release of the Geospatial Foundation Model in partnership with NASA. It is the largest geospatial foundation model on Hugging Face and the first-ever open-source AI foundation model built in collaboration with NASA.

Hugging Face co-founder and CEO, Clem Delangue said: “We've been thrilled to collaborate with IBM in democratizing AI. With hundreds of open models on the Hugging Face hub, they are significantly boosting the open-source ecosystem. This is the reason why we wanted to have them join our series D round. I am convinced that they'll be able to accelerate their impact on AI with the IBM Enterprise AI Venture Fund.”

IBM also recently participated in HiddenLayer’s Series A funding to expand its talent base, increase go-to-market efforts, and further invest in its award-winning Machine Learning Security (MLSec) Platform. HiddenLayer is the leading security provider for AI models and assets, and this funding round marks the largest Series A funding raised by a cybersecurity company focused on protecting AI this year.

Chris Sestito, CEO and Co-founder of HiddenLayer said: "IBM’s commitment to progressing secure and responsible AI, access to global clients, and the scale of one of the most innovative companies in the world has made them the perfect partner to support us in driving the next stage of our business growth. Our partnership will help us bring our AI threat detection capabilities to the most cutting-edge companies in the world.”

Today’s news builds on the momentum and market adoption of IBM’s watsonx and furthers the company’s strategy of leveraging both third-party and its own AI models to accelerate open innovation in AI. In September, IBM announced the general availability of the first models in the watsonx Granite model series — a collection of generative AI models to advance the infusion of generative AI into business applications and workflows. IBM also confirmed that the standard contractual intellectual property protections for IBM products will apply to IBM-developed watsonx AI models. Earlier this year, IBM also announced plans to host Meta's Llama 2-chat 70 billion parameter model within watsonx, furthering the company's strategy of leveraging both third-party and its own AI models to maintain open innovation.

 

IBM is the sole investor of the Enterprise AI Venture Fund. Visit https://www.ibm.com/ventures for more information.

IBM Commits to Train 2 Million in Artificial Intelligence in Three Years, with a Focus on Underrepresented Communities

To help close the global artificial intelligence (AI) skills gap, today IBM announced a commitment to train two million learners in AI by the end of 2026, with a focus on underrepresented communities. To achieve this goal at a global scale, IBM is expanding AI education collaborations with universities globally, collaborating with partners to deliver AI training to adult learners, and launching new generative AI coursework through IBM SkillsBuild. This will expand upon IBM's existing programs and career-building platforms to offer enhanced access to AI education and in-demand technical roles.  

According to a recent global study conducted by IBM Institute of Business Value, surveyed executives estimate that implementing AI and automation will require 40% of their workforce to reskill over the next three years, mostly those in entry-level positions. This further reinforces that generative AI is creating a demand for new roles and skills.

“AI skills will be essential to tomorrow's workforce," said Justina Nixon-Saintil, IBM Vice President & Chief Impact Officer. "That's why we are investing in AI training, with a commitment to reach two million learners in three years, and expanding IBM SkillsBuild to collaborate with universities and nonprofits on new generative AI education for learners all over the world.”

 

AI training for universities

IBM is collaborating with universities at a global level to build capacity around AI leveraging IBM’s network of experts. University faculty will have access to IBM-led training such as lectures and immersive skilling experiences, including certificates upon completion. Also, IBM will provide courseware for faculty to use in the classroom, including self-directed AI learning paths. In addition to faculty training, IBM will offer students flexible and adaptable resources, including free, online courses on generative AI and Red Hat open source technologies.

Roadmap of new, free course offerings in generative AI

Through IBM SkillsBuild, learners across the world can benefit from AI education developed by IBM experts to provide the latest in cutting edge technology developments. IBM SkillsBuild already offers free coursework in AI fundamentals, chatbots, and crucial topics such as AI ethics. The new generative AI roadmap includes coursework and enhanced features.  

• Coursework includes Prompt-Writing, Getting Started with Machine Learning, Improving Customer Service with AI, and Generative AI in Action.
• AI-enhanced features within the IBM SkillsBuild learning experience will include chatbot improvements to help support learners throughout their journeys, and tailored learning paths based on each learner’s personal preferences and experiences. 

These courses are all completely free and available to learners around the world. At course completion, participants will be able to earn IBM-branded digital credentials that are recognized by potential employers. 

This new effort builds on IBM’s existing commitment to skill 30 million people by 2030, and is intended to address the urgent needs facing today’s workforce. Since 2021, over 7 million learners have enrolled in IBM courses. Worldwide, the skills gap presents a major obstacle to the successful application of AI and digitalization, across industries, and beyond technology experts. This requires a comprehensive world view to be developed and implemented. IBM’s legacy of investing in the future of work includes making free online learning widely available, with clear pathways to employment, and a focus on historically underrepresented communities in tech, where the skills gap is wider.