International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) announced on Tuesday that it will launch a family of AI models as open-source software and assist Saudi Arabia in training an AI system in Arabic.
Unlike rivals such as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), IBM is adopting an open-access approach similar to Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), making its "Granite" AI models available for companies to customize.
The Granite tools aim to help developers complete code faster. To monetize these models, IBM offers a paid tool called Watsonx, which helps ensure smooth operation in data centers after customization.
The technology giant’s strategy is to capitalize when customers actually make use of AI models, regardless of whether they came from IBM or other companies and whether they run in IBM’s data centers or not.
“We believe we're in the early days of generative AI models," IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna told Reuters.
"Competition at the end of the day is good for buyers. We also want to be safe and responsible."
Moreover, the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority will use Watsonx to train its "ALLaM" Arabic language model, expanding IBM's language capabilities to include multiple Arabic dialects.