At the IBM Think conference, IBM announced a collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to integrate the full suite of IBM’s watsonx AI and data platform with AWS services. The partnership helps streamline enterprise AI scaling through an open, hybrid approach with comprehensive governance.
Key points of the collaboration include:
- Integration of IBM watsonx Platform with AWS Services:
- IBM watsonx.governance with Amazon SageMaker: This integration helps customers manage model risk and comply with regulatory requirements such as the EU AI Act. It combines IBM’s AI governance capabilities with the fully managed machine learning infrastructure of Amazon SageMaker, which includes tools for building, training, and deploying machine learning and generative AI models.
- Availability on AWS Marketplace: The watsonx platform, including watsonx.ai and watsonx.data, is available as a customer-managed offering on AWS Marketplace, providing seamless access to IBM’s AI tools and data management solutions within the AWS ecosystem.
- Support for AI Governance and Compliance:
- End-to-End Governance: The integration provides comprehensive AI governance, enabling enterprises to configure and track risk assessment and model approval workflows. This ensures compliance with evolving AI regulations and provides an audit trail for watsonx and Amazon SageMaker users.
- Customization and Automation: Watsonx.governance allows businesses to customize governance solutions to their unique needs, automating the management and monitoring of AI solutions.
- Enhanced Generative AI Capabilities:
- Data Management for Generative AI: Watsonx.data on AWS simplifies data access, visualization, and transformation for generative AI workloads. It integrates with various data sources, including Db2 Warehouse, Netezza, Amazon RDS for Db2, and AWS services like Amazon S3.
- Scalability and Efficiency: The collaboration accelerates AI project deployment, streamlines workflows, and manages AI across complex IT environments.
- Expanded IBM Offerings on AWS Marketplace:
- IBM offers a broad range of software products, consulting services, and a consumption-based license for Amazon RDS for Db2. This simplifies workload management and enables faster cloud provision with on-demand licenses across 92 countries.
- Training AI Models:
- IBM Granite Series and Amazon SageMaker HyperPod: IBM uses a combination of on-premises and cloud-hosted infrastructure to train its large language models. Amazon SageMaker HyperPod supports seamless scaling and optimization of training workloads, leveraging open-source tools and orchestrators.
- IBM Consulting Expertise:
- Responsible AI Frameworks: IBM Consulting is expanding its generative AI expertise to help joint customers operationalize responsible AI. This includes establishing frameworks to manage model risk, demonstrate regulatory compliance, and monitor model performance within Amazon SageMaker initiatives.
Impact and Benefits:
- Flexibility and Scalability: The integration offers businesses flexibility in deploying AI solutions, ensuring they can scale efficiently and integrate seamlessly with existing AWS services.
- Enhanced AI Governance: The combined capabilities of IBM watsonx.governance and Amazon SageMaker provide robust governance and compliance tools, addressing critical regulatory concerns and promoting responsible AI use.
- Accelerated Time to Market: The streamlined workflows and comprehensive governance tools help businesses accelerate their AI initiatives, reducing time to market and enhancing overall efficiency.
IBM and AWS’ collaboration leverages both companies’ strengths to deliver a powerful, integrated AI platform. This enhances the scalability, governance, and compliance of enterprise AI solutions, offering significant value to enterprises looking to harness the power of AI securely and efficiently.
