IBM brings its Watson AI to all cloud platforms

IBM Corp announced on Tuesday that some of its Watson artificial intelligence services will now work on rival cloud computing providers as it seeks to win over customers that want greater flexibility in how they store and analyse data. The announcement builds on IBM's moves to position its services as compatible with nearly any form of computer infrastructure a customer wants to operate. Other efforts include a pending acquisition of open-source software company Red Hat for $34 billion. With the change, companies will be able to use Watson AI tools such as Watson Assistant, which can help them develop conversational services such as a virtual customer service agent, in mobile apps hosted on Amazon.com "With most large organizations storing data across hybrid cloud environments, they need the freedom and choice to apply AI to their data wherever it is stored," Rob Thomas, general manager of IBM Data and AI, said in a news release on Tuesday as it opened "Think," its annual conference in San Francisco to showcase new technology.