IBM and Pasqal Initiate Collaboration to Define Classical-Quantum Integration for Quantum-Centric Supercomputers

– ‘Catch Me Up’ feature – built and trained using IBM’s Granite LLM, through the watsonx platform – helps fans stay up to date on players across all ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles matches
– New IBM survey finds 55% of global tennis fans1 polled think Artificial Intelligence (AI) will have a positive impact on sports

LONDONJune 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) and The All England Lawn Tennis Club today announced a new feature for the Wimbledon digital experience that will leverage match data with generative AI from IBM’s AI and data platform, watsonx, to keep fans updated on the world’s leading players as they advance through The Championships.

The new ‘Catch Me Up’ feature displays pre and post-match player cards with AI-generated player stories and analysis via wimbledon.com and the Wimbledon 2024 App. Player cards will be personalised based on user preferences and data such as their location and myWimbledon profile, starting with their favourite players. Pre-match content will include analysis of recent performance and likelihood to win predictions, and post-match it will include key statistics and highlights. The feature will also create longer-form daily summaries of play.

‘Catch Me Up’ was built using IBM’s Granite large language model (LLM) to provide AI-generated text using the capabilities of the watsonx platform. The model has been trained on the Wimbledon editorial style and will be monitored by the All England Club. The new feature is designed to help Wimbledon scale its content to both new and existing tennis fans globally, as well as provide fans access to timelier, curated coverage across ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles matches which are often happening simultaneously.

This year, Wimbledon will also use generative AI to provide coverage of a broader range of matches than was previously available, including wheelchair events, to offer more to Wimbledon’s diverse international audience. This will form part of a redesigned digital match centre, known as IBM Slamtracker, available on the Wimbledon App and wimbledon.com. Using generative AI built from watsonx, IBM Slamtracker has been enhanced to  provide bullet point-based match previews and post-match reviews for ladies’ and gentlemen’s singles matches.

Majority of tennis fans surveyed positive about AI

The announcement comes as new research from IBM and Morning Consult* reveals that 55% of global tennis fans surveyed think AI will have a positive impact on sports. When considering how generative AI could improve their experience, these respondents prioritised real-time updates (36%), personalised content (31%), and unique insights (30%).

Approximately one-third (31%) of global tennis fans surveyed use multiple devices while watching sporting events, primarily to get more information, watch multiple matches at the same time, and interact with other fans. In addition, nearly half (47%) of them engage with additional content on tennis daily or weekly and rank summarisation and personalisation as the two most important features of sports content.

Chris Clements, Digital Products Lead at the All England Clubsaid: “We are committed to offering fans the highest quality Wimbledon experience, whether it’s in person or digitally. Generative AI allows us to scale our ability to provide different types of content for fans wherever they are in the world in a way that’s personalised for them. This year’s new Catch Me Up feature will make it easier for fans to follow the key storylines as they emerge throughout The Championships.”

Jonathan Adashek, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for IBM, said: “The new Catch Me Up feature is an exciting example of how we can use the power of generative AI to deliver compelling, insight-driven storytelling at scale. For 35 years, IBM and Wimbledon have been co-creating solutions that make fans feel more connected to all the on-court action, and our new research confirms they are beginning to understand the positive impact technologies such as generative AI can have on their digital experiences. IBM is also putting these same technologies from our AI and data platform watsonx into the hands of clients worldwide, across nearly every sector, to address their unique business needs.”

Additional highlights from the IBM and Morning Consult survey include:

Majority of global tennis fans surveyed think technology will have a positive impact on multiple aspects of the sport – for fans, coaches and players alike

  • 60% of tennis fans surveyed think technology will have a positive impact on the advancement of fan engagement.
  • More specifically, 75% of tennis fan respondents think technology will have a positive impact on the advancement of training; game strategy (74%); coaching (71%); and talent identification & acquisitions (66%).

Nearly a third of global tennis fans surveyed use more than one device to watch multiple matches at once, get more information and interact with other fans

  • 24% of tennis fans surveyed use two devices; 5% report using three devices and 2% report using more than three devices at the same time.
  • 45% of the surveyed tennis fans who use multiple devices do so to get more information while watching tennis; 32% do it to watch multiple matches simultaneously; and 30% do so to interact with other fans while watching a match.

More than one-fifth of UK sports fans surveyed use at least two devices simultaneously to consume sport

  • 20% of UK sports fans surveyed use two devices at the same time when watching sports, close to the global average of 22%.
  • Sports fans surveyed aged between 18-29 in Canada are much more likely to use three or more devices at once when watching sports (21%), compared with 7% in the UK and a global average of 10%.
  • In the UK, respondents identified multi-tasking (50%) and finding more information (41%) as the top reasons for multi-device sport consumption. 26% also said they use multiple devices to interact with other fans.

The Championships, Wimbledon will run from 1-14 July, 2024. To see the technology in action, visit wimbledon.com or download the Wimbledon App on your mobile device, available on the App Store and Google Play Store.

Discover more about Wimbledon 2024 and how IBM is supporting sporting events worldwide at http://www.ibm.com/sports/wimbledon.

Notes to Editors

*Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted in May 2024 among a total sample of 18,082 sports fans 18+ in the US, Canada, the UK, FranceGermanyItalySpainIndia, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.

The interviews for each country were conducted online, and the data is unweighted, with ~2,000 responses per market in the US, Canada, the UK, FranceGermanyItalySpain, and India and ~1,000 responses per market in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

To qualify for this survey respondents must be at least an average sports fan and follow one or more of the following sports: Soccer, Cricket, Tennis, Basketball, Baseball, Rugby, Golf, American football, F1 racing, Track and field, Swimming, and the Olympics.

The full findings of this survey will be published on 26 June, 2024.

Rapidus and IBM Expand Collaboration to Chiplet Packaging Technology for 2nm-Generation Semiconductors

Agreement builds on existing collaboration between the two companies for the joint development of 2nm node technology
Jun 3, 2024

TOKYO and ARMONK, NY, June 3, 2024 – Rapidus Corporation, a manufacturer of advanced logic semiconductors, and multinational technology company IBM (NYSE: IBM), today announced a joint development partnership aimed at establishing mass production technologies for chiplet packages. Through this agreement, Rapidus will receive packaging technology from IBM for high-performance semiconductors, and the two companies will collaborate with the aim to further innovate in this space.

This agreement is part of an international collaboration within the framework of the “Development of Chiplet and Package Design and Manufacturing Technology for 2nm-Generation Semiconductors” project being conducted by Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and builds on an existing agreement with IBM for the joint development of 2nm node technology. As part of the agreement, IBM and Rapidus engineers will work in collaboration at IBM’s facilities in North America for R&D and manufacturing of semiconductor packaging for high-performance computer systems.

Over the years, IBM has accumulated R&D and manufacturing technologies for semiconductor packaging for high-performance computer systems. The firm also has a wealth of experience with joint development partnerships with Japanese semiconductor manufacturers, as well as manufacturers of semiconductors, package manufacturing equipment, and materials. Rapidus aims to leverage this expertise to quickly establish cutting-edge chiplet packaging technology.

Rapidus President and CEO Dr. Atsuyoshi Koike commented: “Building on our current joint development agreement for 2nm semiconductor technology, we are extremely pleased to officially announce today this partnership with IBM to establish chiplet packaging technology. We will make the most of this international collaboration, and pursue initiatives that will allow Japan to play an even more important role in the semiconductor packaging supply chain.”

Darío Gil, SVP and Director of Research at IBM, said: “With decades of innovation in advanced packaging, IBM is honored to expand our collaboration with Rapidus to develop state-of-the-art chiplet technology. Through our agreement, we are committed to supporting the development of the most advanced node production processes, design, and packaging, as well as developing new use cases and supporting the semiconductor workforce.”

IBM and Salesforce Expand Partnership to Advance Open, Trusted AI and Data Ecosystems

IBM watsonx platform and IBM Granite series models will bring even more large language models to power generative AI use cases, pre-built actions, and prompts across the Salesforce Einstein 1 Platform
IBM joins the Salesforce Zero Copy Partner Network to enable zero copy data integration between IBM watsonx and Salesforce Data Cloud, giving customers a secure and cost-effective way to connect all of their data and take action on it
Salesforce joins the AI Alliance, bolstering its commitment to responsible AI and continuing to provide customers with trusted and reliable AI tools

ARMONK, N.Y. and SAN FRANCISCOMay 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) today announced an expanded strategic partnership which will bring together IBM watsonx AI and Data Platform capabilities with the Salesforce Einstein 1 Platform for greater customer choice and flexibility in AI and data deployment. This will empower teams to make data-driven decisions and take actions directly in their flow of work.

The expanded relationship spans bidirectional data integration, flexibility in large language models (LLMs), prebuilt actions and prompts for CRM solutions, and a further commitment to responsible AI development.

 

Large language model flexibility with IBM watsonx, Granite models, and Salesforce
Organizations deploying generative AI for CRM use cases need access to LLMs that are suited to their specific business needs. Salesforce, which lets customers choose the LLMs that best suit their needs through its Bring Your Own Large Language Model strategy, plans to allow customers to integrate their LLMs with the watsonx.ai platform and Salesforce Einstein 1 Studio, a collection of low-code AI builders. This will enable access to key IBM Granite series AI models and a customer’s own LLMs built on watsonx.

IBM watsonx helps enterprises build, scale, and govern custom AI solutions with choice of AI models from different providers and the ability to tailor them with their own data. Granite is IBM’s flagship model series trained on enterprise datasets that meet rigorous criteria for data governance, document quality, due diligence, and risk and compliance. IBM Granite models are highly performant and developer-friendly with intellectual property indemnification from IBM to its customers.

Integrating IBM Granite models with the Einstein 1 Platform will empower joint customers of IBM watsonx and Salesforce to utilize Granite models, whether hosted in the cloud or on premises, for diverse use cases including industry content generation, field summarization, and classification. These targeted models are transparent, optimized for trust and designed to scale across the enterpriseIn order to help realize faster ROI of IBM Granite models for these use cases, pre-configured prompt templates and copilot actions powered by IBM data and services will be made available for Einstein 1 Studio and invocable in flow and apex.

The Einstein 1 Platform integrates CRM applications, data from any external system with Data Cloud and AI models using a common metadata framework to power the next generation of AI solutions, including Einstein Copilot.

“Clients need enterprise-grade foundation models that are trusted, performant, and cost-effective,” said Ritika Gunnar, General Manager, Product Management, Data and AI, IBM. “Choosing the right foundation models is essential to every organization’s AI strategy and a key determinant of how quickly projects move from pilot to production. IBM and Salesforce are working together to make it easier to navigate the complex generative AI landscape by helping clients select the right LLM for their business needs.”

Industry-specific IBM prompts and actions for Einstein Copilot and Copilot Studio
Together with IBM Consulting and their strong industry expertise, IBM is creating powerful, industry-specific prompt templates and copilot actions which are expected to be made available in Einstein 1 Studio later this year. Using the AI builders in Einstein 1 Studio, Salesforce customers will be able to access these pre-built actions and prompts across Salesforce applications, including Einstein Copilot, Salesforce’s conversational AI assistant for CRM.

Beginning with public sector use cases such as government contact centers, eligibility determination, and licensing and permitting, these pre-configured prompt templates are being designed to be optimized for both foundation and Granite models to help automotive, energy and utilities, financial services and public sector users connect with their constituents on a new level.

IBM Consulting is already helping joint customers establish sustainable, responsible AI frameworks to scale AI-driven Salesforce CRM initiatives across the enterprise, accelerating time to value while helping mitigate risk.

IBM and Salesforce to enable bidirectional data integration between IBM watsonx and Salesforce Data Cloud
IBM has joined the Salesforce Zero Copy Partner Network, a global ecosystem of technology and solution providers building secure, bidirectional zero copy integrations with Salesforce Data Cloud so data can be actioned across the Salesforce Einstein 1 Platform. Customers will be able to access their IBM data via watsonx.data from within Salesforce Data Cloud in a zero copy pattern, simplifying security management and minimizing security risks when exposing data to the business.

Zero copy enables businesses to keep their data in its original location while accessing external data from Salesforce Data Cloud to create a comprehensive view of the customer. This reduces the need for companies to rely on custom integrations and complex data pipelines to integrate and move data to Salesforce from external data warehouses and vice versa. This approach helps customers maximize their technology investments in IBM and access historical data, ensuring it remains integrated and accessible to power analytics and Generative AI. For example, a Data Cloud-triggered Flow updates an account manager in Slack when shipments are marked as delayed in an external lake, enabling them to immediately engage their client.

“Salesforce and IBM are well positioned to make it easier for customers to get the most value from their data — no matter where it resides — and establish a foundation for customer engagement and trusted AI,” said Rahul Auradkar, EVP & GM, Unified Data Services & Einstein, Salesforce. “With the addition of bidirectional data integration, companies can harmonize all of their data faster, fueling actionable insights that empower teams to make data-driven decisions and deliver amazing integrated experiences across all touchpoints and channels for every customer interaction.”

Salesforce joins the AI Alliance, bolsters commitment to open and trusted AI development
Salesforce has joined the AI Alliance and in doing so, will support its mission to create a world where AI is developed collaboratively and transparently, with a focus on safety, ethics, and the greater good. The AI Alliance is an international community of more than 100 leading organizations across industry, startup, academia, research, and government collaborating together to advance open, safe, and responsible AI. By advocating for open innovation with leaders across industry and government, the AI Alliance seeks to foster an environment where AI can thrive and benefit people and society everywhere.

 

About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.

About Salesforce
Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, empowering companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way through the power of CRM + AI + Data + Trust on one unified platform: Einstein 1. For more information visit: www.salesforce.com.

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase Salesforce applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CRM.” For more information please visit https://www.salesforce.com, or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

IBM Expands Qiskit, World’s Most Performant Quantum Software

– Qiskit now refined as a comprehensive quantum software stack, focused on performance and stability to fully harness the power of utility-scale quantum hardware, and enable users to run increasingly more complex quantum circuits in the search for quantum advantage.

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY – May 15th, 2024 – IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the evolution and expansion of Qiskit, its globally adopted quantum software. Launched in 2017, Qiskit, as a software development kit (SDK) is an open-source tool that has allowed over 550,000 users to build and run quantum circuits on IBM’s quantum hardware systems, resulting in the execution of over 3 trillion quantum circuits to date.

The latest version of Qiskit has been expanded to a comprehensive software stack to deliver even more performance. It has evolved from its beginnings as a popular quantum software development kit used to explore and run quantum computing experiments and into a stable SDK and portfolio of services, built to enable users to extract improved performance while running complex quantum circuits on 100+ qubit IBM quantum computers.

This expansion will equip members of the IBM Quantum Network with the most performant Qiskit capabilities available to discover the next generation of quantum algorithms in their respective domains: which will play an important role in their discovery of quantum advantage.

To reach quantum advantage, users need a toolset which can map their problems in a way which leverages both advanced classical and quantum computation; optimizes the problem for efficient execution with quantum; and then effectively executes the quantum circuits on real quantum hardware. IBM has spent the last seven years developing these tools, which are now coming together to comprise the Qiskit software stack.

This expansion of Qiskit includes over 100 releases from its origins as a pioneering research tool built to study the inner workings of quantum computers. Today, Qiskit has matured as a software stack on which enterprises, government organizations, research institutions, and universities are running large-scale quantum experiments.

The expanded software stack of Qiskit includes:

  • The stable release of Qiskit SDK v1.x for building, optimizing, and visualizing quantum circuits.
  • AI-powered optimization of quantum circuits for quantum hardware, embedded in the Qiskit Transpiler Service.
  • Simplified execution modes for the Qiskit Runtime Service which can be tailored for performant execution of quantum circuits on quantum hardware.
  • The Qiskit Code Assistant, powered by watsonx-based generative AI models, to automate the development of quantum code
  • The Qiskit Serverless open-source tool to run quantum-centric supercomputing workloads across quantum hardware and classical clusters.

The deployment of new capabilities and improvements within Qiskit SDK are enabling users to optimize circuits for quantum hardware at a rate 39 times faster than Qiskit 0.331. Qiskit also is engineered to reduce the overhead and shrink the footprint of circuits, demonstrating an average of 3 times reduction in memory usage compared to Qiskit 0.43.2

And using the Qiskit Transpiler Service, users can reduce two-qubit gate counts by an average of 42 percent by combining AI and heuristic passes, compared to using the Qiskit SDK transpiler.

“The global adoption of quantum computing — and the discovery of quantum advantage — will require a combination of leading quantum hardware alongside a robust and performant software stack to run workloads,” said Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and Vice President, IBM Quantum. “These two pillars are fundamental to the algorithm discovery that has begun on utility-scale quantum hardware. As a growing quantum ecosystem maps their most difficult problems to quantum circuits, the Qiskit stack will be the cornerstone to exploring the computational spaces in which quantum computing excels.”

IBM first demonstrated the utility-scale capabilities of its quantum hardware in 2023. This signaled the start of an era in which quantum hardware can run quantum circuits faster and more accurately than a classical computer simulating a quantum computer can. Now built to maximize the performance of advanced quantum hardware, the Qiskit software stack aims to help a global ecosystem of users discover new quantum algorithms that explore where quantum computers could be the best way to solve challenges over any classical method.

“Qiskit provides an important collection of tools for E.ON as we explore how quantum computing could help us navigate the financial and operational complexities of the energy industry,” said Giorgio Cortiana, Head of Data and AI – Energy Intelligence, E.ON. “As a performant foundation to build and discover quantum algorithms that can be applied to business use cases, Qiskit enables our team to advance utility-scale prototypes, with the goal of finding new solutions to challenges in the European energy sector.”

“We started using Qiskit for our quantum computing efforts several years ago as part of an effort to help develop a quantum-ready workforce.” said Stephan Eidenbenz, senior scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. “Laboratory researchers use Qiskit daily to interact with IBM’s quantum hardware backends and to test new algorithmic ideas. The open nature of Qiskit also offers our team the ability to add compiler optimization passes and allows pulse-level access.”

“At Brookhaven, we have used Qiskit to execute circuits on IBM’s quantum hardware, which has resulted in almost 20 published papers to date, including exploring the frontiers of physics, dynamic systems, condensed matter systems, and more. Qiskit has also enabled our teams to develop extensions that push forward our exploration of bosonic and hybrid qubit-bosonic circuits, and how they could advance fundamental quantum algorithm development and error correction,” said James Misewich, Associate Laboratory Director for Energy and Photon Sciences, Brookhaven National Laboratory. “As we advance the scientific applications of quantum computing, we have incorporated IBM’s Qiskit resources and tutorials into our educational programs through Brookhaven’s Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage, where we partner with academic institutions like Stony Brook University to prepare the quantum workforce of the future.”

“For our Quantum Computing User Program here at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, advances in quantum computing software can help support the innovation and rapid growth of our user community and their developing technologies,” said Travis Humble, director of the Department of Energy’s Quantum Science Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “Improvements in software performance will significantly impact how users test and evaluate the potential of today’s quantum computing systems.”

“The team at Q-CTRL is enthusiastic about building with Qiskit,” said Michael J. Biercuk, CEO and Founder of Q-CTRL. “Its flexible new interfaces and enhanced stability are enabling us to efficiently build simple abstractions on top of our powerful performance-management software at utility scale, so end users can explore their toughest problems with a single command.”

Built for the Era of Quantum Utility and Beyond

Through its support of rapidly advancing quantum hardware, including vendor-agnostic flexibility, the Qiskit software stack is designed to run the breakthrough quantum circuits to progress the era of quantum utility. This is achieved by replacing performance-critical code with the Rust programming language, alongside a full portfolio of tools to enable the efficient execution of quantum circuits.

As IBM continues to build milestones along its IBM Quantum Development and Innovation Roadmap towards error-corrected systems, the company expects that Qiskit will continue to deliver a framework for open, iterative, and collaborative development of new quantum algorithms and applications, done in conjunction with a growing global ecosystem of clients across industries and domain expertise areas.

Additionally, these advancing capabilities will aim to help users weave together classical and quantum computing resources into a new paradigm of high-performance computing defined by quantum-centric supercomputing that integrates QPUs, GPUs, and CPUs. Orchestrated through the performant software layer of Qiskit, this next evolution of high-performance computing aims to open up new, large, and powerful spaces for industries globally.

  1. Disclaimer: IBM’s statements regarding Qiskit’s performance compares the current iteration of the software against its performance from applicable previous version when comparable features were available to users. Qiskit 0.33 total speed time equaled 430.89 seconds at IBM Quantum Summit 2021. Qiskit 1.0 total speed time equaled 10.9 seconds upon release in February, 2024.
  2. Disclaimer: IBM’s statements regarding Qiskit’s performance compares the current iteration of the software against its performance from applicable previous version when comparable features were available to users. Qiskit 0.43 memory usage equaled 1,750 MiB in May, 2023. Qiskit 1.0 memory usage equaled 580 MiB upon release in February, 2024.
  3. IBM’s statements regarding Qiskit’s performance of providing an average reduction of 42 percent two-qubit gate counts compares optimization of the benchmark SU2 circuit with circular entanglement compiled by the Qiskit SDK transpiler to the same circuit compiled by the Qiskit Transpiler Service as of May 17, 2024. The dataset included circuits with widths from 2 to 111 qubits.

IBM’s statements regarding its plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice at IBM’s sole discretion. The development, release, and timing of any future features or functionality described for our products remain at our sole discretion.

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

RIKEN Selects IBM’s Next-Generation Quantum System to be Integrated with the Supercomputer Fugaku

– The engagement will provide RIKEN and its collaborators with on-premises access to an IBM Quantum System Two
– The only quantum system to be co-located with Fugaku, intended to accelerate application development for quantum-centric supercomputing.

ARMONK, N.Y. , April 30, 2024 – Today, IBM (NYSE: IBM) has announced an agreement with RIKEN, a Japanese national research laboratory, to deploy IBM’s next-generation quantum computer architecture and best-performing quantum processor at the RIKEN Center for Computational Science in Kobe, Japan. It will be the only instance of a quantum computer co-located with the supercomputer Fugaku.

This agreement was executed as part of RIKEN’s existing project, supported by funding from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), an organization under Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)’s “Development of Integrated Utilization Technology for Quantum and Supercomputers” as part of the “Project for Research and Development of Enhanced Infrastructures for Post 5G Information and Communications Systems.” RIKEN has dedicated use of an IBM Quantum System Two architecture for the purpose of implementation of its project. Under the project RIKEN and its co-PI SoftBank Corp., with its collaborators, University of Tokyo, and Osaka University, aim to demonstrate the advantages of such hybrid computational platforms for deployment as services in the future post-5G era, based on the vision of advancing science and business in Japan.

In addition to the project, IBM will work to develop the software stack dedicated to generating and executing integrated quantum-classical workflows in a heterogeneous quantum-HPC hybrid computing environment. These new capabilities will be geared towards delivering improvements in algorithm quality and execution times.

IBM Quantum System Two, which will be deployed at RIKEN and integrated with Fugaku, includes IBM’s plans to introduce its next-generation quantum computing architecture, combining expandable cryogenic infrastructure, modular quantum control electronics, and advanced system software to deliver quantum computing services that work alongside traditional HPC services — the core elements of IBM’s vision of quantum-centric supercomputing.

At IBM Quantum Summit 2023, ‘IBM Quantum Heron’ was released as IBM’s best performing quantum processor to date, with newly built architecture offering up to five-fold improvement in error reduction.(Credit: Ryan Lavine for IBM)

Quantum-centric supercomputing emerges from integrated quantum and classical computing resources, working together in parallelized workloads, to run computations beyond what was possible before. Quantum-centric supercomputing is IBM’s vision of the future for traditional HPC, where quantum computing will be an integral part of the architecture. And IBM Quantum System Two constitutes a fundamental building block towards this architecture.

The system will be powered by a 133-qubit ‘IBM Quantum Heron’ processor. IBM Heron is the first in a new series of quantum processors with an architecture that delivers the highest performance metrics of any IBM Quantum processor that has been released, to date. Now available to users via the cloud, experiments on IBM Heron also had the lowest error rates of any IBM Quantum processor, offering a five-fold improvement over the previous best records set by IBM Eagle.

“Advanced quantum computers of NISQ are now moving into the practical stage as the number of qubits is increasing and the fidelity is improved. From the HPC’s point of view, quantum computers are devices that accelerate scientific applications conventionally executed on supercomputers and enable computations that cannot yet be solved by supercomputers. RIKEN is committed to developing system software for quantum-HPC hybrid computing, by leveraging its comprehensive scientific research capabilities and experience in the development and operation of cutting-edge supercomputers, such as Fugaku,” said Dr. Mitsuhisa Sato, Director, Quantum HPC Collaborative Platform Division, RIKEN Center for Computational Science.

“As the first quantum system that will directly connect with the Fugaku classical supercomputer, IBM’s agreement with RIKEN marks a monumental milestone in the journey towards a future defined by quantum-centric supercomputing,” said Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and Vice President, IBM Quantum. “This work will advance the industry towards a modular and flexible architecture that combines quantum computation and communication with classical computing resources, so that both paradigms can work together to solve increasingly complex problems.”

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

About RIKEN

RIKEN is Japan’s largest research institute for basic and applied research. Over 2500 papers by RIKEN researchers are published every year in leading scientific and technology journals covering a broad spectrum of disciplines including physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, and medical science. RIKEN’s research environment and strong emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and globalization has earned a worldwide reputation for scientific excellence.

IBM, Government of Canada, Government of Quebec Sign Agreements to Strengthen Canada’s Semiconductor Industry

BROMONT, QCApril 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM), the Government of Canada, and the Government of Quebec today announced agreements that will strengthen Canada’s semiconductor industry, and further develop the assembly, testing and packaging (ATP) capabilities for semiconductor modules to be used across a wide range of applications including telecommunications, high performance computing, automotive, aerospace & defence, computer networks, and generative AI, at IBM Canada’s plant in Bromont, Quebec. The agreements reflect a combined investment valued at approximately $187M CAD.

“Today’s announcement is a massive win for Canada and our dynamic tech sector. It will create high-paying jobs, invest in innovation, strengthen supply chains, and help make sure the most advanced technologies are Canadian-made. Semiconductors power the world, and we’re putting Canada at the forefront of that opportunity,” said the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada.

The IBM Canada plant in Bromont, Quebec is one of North America’s largest chip assembly and testing facilities. IBM Canada, the Government of Canada, and the Government of Quebec have announced agreements reflecting a combined investment valued at approximately $187M that will strengthen Canada’s semiconductor industry and advance R&D at the IBM facility.

In addition to the advancement of packaging capabilities, IBM will be conducting R&D to develop methods for scalable manufacturing and other advanced assembly processes to support the packaging of different chip technologies, to further Canada’s role in the North American semiconductor supply chain and expand and anchor Canada’s capabilities in advanced packaging.

The agreements also allow for collaborations with small and medium-sized Canadian-based enterprises with the intent of fostering the development of a semiconductor ecosystem, now and into the future.

“IBM has long been a leader in semiconductor research and development, pioneering breakthroughs to meet tomorrow’s challenges. With the demand for compute surging in the age of AI, advanced packaging and chiplet technology is becoming critical for the acceleration of AI workloads,” said Darío Gil, IBM Senior Vice President and Director of Research. “As one of the largest chip assembly and testing facilities in North America, IBM’s Bromont facility will play a central role in this future. We are proud to be working with the governments of Canada and Quebec toward those goals and to build a stronger and more balanced semiconductor ecosystem in North America and beyond.”

IBM Canada’s Bromont plant is one of North America’s largest chip assembly and testing facilities, having operated in the region for 52 years. Today, the facility transforms advanced semiconductor components into state-of-the-art microelectronic solutions, playing a key role in IBM’s semiconductor R&D leadership alongside IBM’s facilities at the Albany NanoTech Complex and throughout New York’s Hudson Valley. These agreements will help to further establish a corridor of semiconductor innovation from New York to Bromont.

“Advanced packaging is a crucial component of the semiconductor industry, and IBM Canada’s Bromont plant has led the world in this process for decades,” said Deb Pimentel, president of IBM Canada. “Building upon IBM’s 107-year legacy of technology innovation and R&D in Canada, the Canadian semiconductor industry will now become even stronger, allowing for robust supply chains and giving Canadians steady access to even more innovative technologies and products. This announcement represents just one more example of IBM’s leadership and commitment to the country’s technology and business landscape.”

Chip packaging, the process of connecting integrated circuits on a chip or circuit board, has become more complex as electronic devices have shrunk and the components of chips themselves get smaller and smaller. IBM announced the world’s first 2 nanometer chip technology in 2021 and, as the semiconductor industry moves towards new methods of chip construction, advances in packaging will grow in importance.

“Semiconductors are part of our everyday life. They are in our phones, our cars, and our appliances. Through this investment, we are supporting Canadian innovators, creating good jobs, and solidifying Canada’s semiconductor industry to build a stronger economy. Canada is set to play a larger role in the global semiconductor industry thanks to projects like the one we are announcing today. Because, when we invest in semiconductor and quantum technologies, we invest in economic security.”  — The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

“This investment by IBM in Bromont will ensure that Quebec continues to stand out in the field of microelectronics. An increase in production capacity will solidify Quebec’s position in the strategic microelectronics sector in North America.” — The Honourable Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Minister responsible for Regional Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Metropolis and the Montreal region

IBM Study: Sustainability Remains a Business Imperative, But Current Approaches are Falling Short

– Three-quarters (76%) of surveyed executives agree that sustainability is central to their business, but nearly half (47%) say they struggle to fund sustainability investments
– Organizations that embed sustainability throughout the business are more likely to see financial benefits, yet only 31% of respondents report they incorporate sustainability data and insights into operational improvements to a great extent

ARMONK, N.Y.Feb. 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — A new global study by the IBM (NYSE: IBM) Institute for Business Value found that while a majority of organizations recognize sustainability as important to their business strategy, many C-suite leaders are struggling to fund their sustainability investments. Data collected from 5,000 global C-suite executives highlighted that organizations that embed sustainability within their operations see better sustainability and financial outcomes, while spending less money than their peers.

The study*, “Beyond checking the box – how to create business value with embedded sustainability,” revealed that almost one-third (30%) of executives surveyed say they have made significant progress in executing their sustainability strategy – up from 10% a year ago – but turning ambitions into impact remains a challenge. Almost half (47%) of executives surveyed struggle to fund sustainability investments; six in 10 say they have to make trade-offs between financial and sustainability outcomes.

Organizations that embed sustainability more deeply into their operations show a marked difference in outcomes from enterprises with a singular focus on areas, such as regulatory reporting or sustainability as a corporate project. Organizations that embed sustainability are 75% more likely to attribute greater improvement in revenue from their sustainability efforts, and are 52% more likely to outperform their peers on profitability.

The findings indicate that many organizations are focused on managing complex, varied reporting requirements rather than real business value and results. The study found that spending on sustainability reporting exceeds spending on sustainability innovation by 43%. Only 31% of executives surveyed report they are incorporating sustainability data and insights into operational improvements to a great extent, while 14% say they do so with innovation initiatives.

“An organization’s approach to sustainability may be holding it back. There is no quick fix. Sustainability requires intentionality and a shared corporate vision,” said Oday Abbosh, Global Managing Partner, Sustainability Services, IBM Consulting. “Sustainability needs to be part of the day-to-day operations, not viewed only as a compliance task or reporting exercise. By embedding sustainability across their business, organizations are more likely to drive internal innovation, attract and retain skilled talent, and be better positioned to deliver both positive environmental impact and financial outcomes.”

Other key study findings include:

Organizations continue to pursue sustainability, but funding, skilling and operationalizing actions remain a challenge

  • Seventy-five percent (75%) of executives surveyed agree that sustainability drives better business results, and 76% agree that sustainability is central to their business strategy.
  • At the same time, 69% of executives surveyed say that sustainability needs to be a higher priority in their organization.
  • While 82% of executive respondents agree that high-quality data and transparency are necessary to achieve sustainability outcomes, only about 4 in 10 organizations can automatically source sustainability data from any of the following core systems: ERP (finance, HR, supply chain), Enterprise Asset Management, CRM, Energy Management Systems, Facilities Management systems.
  • Thirty-nine percent (39%) of executives surveyed also cite a lack of requisite skills as the top barrier to sustainability progress.

Despite most organizations not incorporating sustainability into innovation initiatives, leaders expect generative AI to help supercharge sustainability efforts

  • Sixty-four percent (64%) of executives surveyed agree that generative AI will be important for their sustainability efforts.
  • Seventy-three percent (73%) say they plan to increase their investment in generative AI for sustainability.

Organizations that embed sustainability more deeply into their operations see benefits that can convert sustainability efforts into business value

Further analysis of the survey data found that:

  • Organizations that embed sustainability spend slightly less on dedicated sustainability efforts as a share of their revenue compared to organizations that don’t embed.
  • Fifty-three percent (53%) of these organizations say that business benefits are essential for justifying sustainability investments; only 17% say meeting sustainability objectives is in itself sufficient to justify investment.
  • These organizations are also 191% more likely to have aligned their data and sustainability strategies to a great extent, and 80% more likely to be using AI for sustainability to a great extent.

Beyond checking the box – how to create business value with embedded sustainability underscores the urgent need for organizations to integrate sustainability objectives within business strategy and apply technologies like AI to realize greater progress and profitability. The study also serves as a resource for business leaders, outlining actionable strategies to help enterprises with challenges around data, business integration and decision-making.

To view the full study, visit: https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/en-us/report/sustainability-business-value

*Study Methodology
The study draws on a survey of 5,000 C-suite executives across 22 industries and 22 countries conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value in collaboration with Oxford Economics. In addition to descriptive analysis, the data from the respondents was analyzed to allow for a segmentation of the sample according to how embedded sustainability is in the enterprise. Based on this segmentation, analysis was conducted on differences in sustainability and business outcomes, operational practices, and approaches to enabling progress on sustainability.

The IBM Institute for Business Value, IBM’s thought leadership think tank, combines global research and performance data with expertise from industry thinkers and leading academics to deliver insights that make business leaders smarter. For more world-class thought leadership, visit: www.ibm.com/ibv.

About IBM 
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

Here’s What Policymakers Can Do About Deepfakes, Right Now

WASHINGTONFeb. 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Deepfakes – realistic AI-generated audio, video, or images that can recreate a person’s likeness – are one of the most pressing challenges posed by generative AI, given the potential for bad actors to use it to undermine democracy, exploit artists and performers, and harass and harm everyday people.

What this moment requires is both technical and legal solutions. That’s why IBM (NYSE: IBM) signed the Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in 2024 Elections (Munich Tech Accord), pledging to help mitigate the risks of AI being used to deceive the public and undermine elections. It’s also why IBM has long advocated for regulations that precisely target harmful applications of technology.

We outline below three key priorities for policymakers to mitigate the harms of deepfakes:

  • Protecting elections,
  • Protecting creators, and
  • Protecting people’s privacy

Protecting elections

Democracy depends on a population’s ability to participate in free and fair elections. Unfortunately, bad actors can use deepfakes to impersonate public officials and candidates to deceive voters in a variety of ways that would undermine this key principle. For example, deepfakes could mislead voters about where, when, and how they can vote, or falsely portray a candidate making controversial statements or participating in scandalous activity.

Policymakers should prohibit the distribution of materially deceptive deepfake content related to elections. For example, the Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act, introduced by Senators Klobuchar, Hawley, Coons, and Collins, would curtail the use of AI to generate deceptive content falsely depicting federal candidates in political advertisements with the intent of influencing an election. Other policy approaches could enable candidates targeted by materially deceptive AI-generated content used in political advertisements or fundraising campaigns to seek damages or remove deceptive content, while preserving protections for free speech.

In the EU, IBM has been supportive of the Digital Services Act, which imposes on large internet platforms certain obligations regarding the moderation of online content. Recent guidelines published by the European Commission have also proposed additional requirements for consumer-facing platforms to mitigate against “systemic risks for electoral processes.”

Protecting creators

Musicians, artists, actors, and creators of all kinds use their talents and likeness to help shape culture, inspire, entertain, and make a living. Deepfakes can enable bad actors to exploit creators’ likenesses to push deceptive advertising, scam and mislead consumers, improperly reduce a creator’s ability to profit from their talents, and more.

Policymakers should hold people accountable for producing unauthorized deepfakes of creator performances and hold platforms accountable if they knowingly disseminate such unauthorized content. Some jurisdictions already have what are known as “likeness laws” that prohibit the unauthorized use of a person’s likeness for commercial exploitation, but these can be inconsistent, and few explicitly cover digital replicas or the rights to use a person’s likeness after they die. Given these jurisdictional inconsistencies, IBM supports the NO FAKES Act in the U.S., which would create federal protections for individuals whose voices and/or likenesses are generated by third parties without their consent.

Protecting people’s privacy

Everyday people are already being harmed by deepfakes in profoundly concerning ways, particularly by bad actors using their likeness to create nonconsensual pornography. This abuse primarily targets women, victims have included minors, and could potentially enable further abuse and extortion by bad actors. Nonconsensual sharing of intimate imagery, also known as revenge porn, is expanding with the use of deepfakes but ultimately is not a new problem. But few existing laws adequately hold bad actors accountable for sharing or threatening to share this material, or necessarily cover AI-generated content.

Policymakers should create strong criminal and civil liability for people that distribute nonconsensual intimate audiovisual content, including AI-generated content, as well as for people that threaten to do so. Penalties should be particularly severe when the victim is a minor. Legislators can act on this recommendation now by supporting and passing the bipartisan Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act in the U.S. This bill would create liability for individuals who disclose, or threaten to disclose, a nonconsensual intimate digital depiction of someone, including AI-generated content, and allow affected parties to pursue damages. This legislation would create a much-needed federal baseline of accountability that is inconsistently addressed in various revenge porn laws at the state level, providing greater protections for victims and individuals across the United States.

The EU AI Act – which IBM has long-supported – already addresses many of these types of issues, covering deepfakes more generally and imposing transparency requirements that clarify when particular content is not authentic. As policymakers look towards the Act’s implementation in the coming months, particular attention should be paid to ensuring individuals are protected from non-consensual intimate audiovisual content.

Conclusion

Solving the problems posed by deepfakes will require thoughtful, whole-of-society approaches leveraging both changes in law and technology. Technology companies have a responsibility to pursue technical and governance solutions that address AI-generated content, such as those articulated in the Munich Accord, the White House Voluntary AI Commitments, and Canada’s Voluntary Code of Conduct on the Responsible Development and Management of Advanced Generative AI Systems.

IBM encourages policymakers to seize this opportunity to swiftly target three of the most significant harmful applications of deepfakes to ensure that AI remains a positive force for the global economy and society.

New IBM Study Data Reveals 74% of Energy & Utility Companies Surveyed Embracing AI

– 63% of Energy CEOs surveyed expect to realize value from generative AI and automation

ORLANDO, Fla.Feb. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Today, at Distributech 2024, IBM (NYSE: IBM) unveiled additional findings from its global study findings that show that 74% of Energy & Utility companies surveyed have implemented or are exploring using AI in their operations.

Within the sector, among surveyed IT Professionals, 33% are focusing AI projects on HR/Talent Acquisition and 27% are focused on AI Monitoring & Governance. The findings are from IBM’s Global AI Adoption Index 2023 global study* administered by Morning Consult and commissioned by IBM, based on interviews with 2,342 IT Professionals at enterprises located across 20 countries.

This new data echoes insights from the IBM Institute for Business Value’s 2023 study, ‘CEO decision-making in the age of AI,’ which also interviewed 420 Energy & Resources CEOs thinking around AI. The fresh analysis of the Industry C-suite data shows that:

  • 63% Energy & Resources CEOs surveyed are more likely than their global peers to expect to realize value in the next three years from generative AI and automation
  • 61% of CEOs surveyed express concerns about the sources of data used in generative AI

When considering the impact of transformational technologies, Energy Industry CEOs surveyed appear to place Generative AI first in terms of expected value. To help the industry chart a path forward to realize the value of generative AI, at Distributech 2024, the leading annual transmission and distribution event, IBM at booth#2743 today showcased watsonx – its enterprise ready AI and data platform.

Importantly, to help, Energy & Resources companies to navigate data-related challenges, including unclear data calculation and, critically, a lack of insights, IBM is highlighting its watsonx.governance toolkit for AI governance which allows a Utility company to direct, manage and monitor its AI . It employs software automation to strengthen a company’s ability to mitigate risks, manage regulatory requirements and address ethical concerns for both generative AI and machine learning models. While not all models are created equal, every model should have governance to drive responsible and ethical decision-making throughout the business.

Casey Werth, Global Energy Industry General Manager IBM said, “Energy & Utility CEOs have moved beyond experimentation with AI to focusing on where they can drive the most business value with AI. As they manage ongoing transformation efforts they can also capitalize on the great opportunities of generative AI and foundation models.  In doing so they need to remember to focus on their own data, how it is gathered, accessed and used within their workflows along with the governance that should be baked into their tools and processes.”

A good example of how Utility companies can tap large language models is to augment their internal compliance process. For a Utility company this can allow them to automate and align internal compliance processes to their specific business needs. For example, a utility can:

  • Provide a single repository of obligation management to classify complex requirements.
  • Enable their organization to govern their environmental, social and governance (ESG) programs and sustainability.
  • Track provenance and document model performance against key performance indicators determined by the business.
  • Provide visibility to key stakeholders through dynamic, user-based dashboards, charts and dimensional reporting.

At #DISTRIBUTECH24, IBM has several executive speaking sessions designed to help show how the industry can digitally transform at pace. Topics include; Quantum in the Energy Sector, Digitally Managing Emergency Response & Mobilization, Digital Twin for advanced and predictive Load Management, Preparing the Grid for tomorrow, Applying weather & climate risk analytics to create more sustainable and resilient grids. IBM’s Energy CTO Bryan Sacks, will also lead an industry roundtable focused on AI for Grid Management discussing how companies in the energy and utilities industry are thinking about AI, use cases, policy and governance.

The full IBM Institute for Business Value 2023  CEO Study can be accessed here, data on the specific Energy & Resources cuts of the data are available on request.

* Methodology: IBM’s Global AI Adoption Index 2023 global study administered by Morning Consult and commissioned by IBM was conducted from Nov. 8 – 23, 2023 among a sample of 2,342 IT Professionals at enterprises (organizations with > 1,000 employees) in AustraliaCanadaChinaFranceGermanyIndiaItalyJapanSingaporeSouth KoreaSpain, UAE, UK, US and LATAM (BrazilMexicoPeruArgentinaChileColombia)

IBM Report: Identity Comes Under Attack, Straining Enterprises’ Recovery Time from Breaches

-71% spike in cyberattacks caused by exploiting identity
– 50% AI market share milestone to trigger a cyber problem
– Nearly 70% of attacks globally targeted critical infrastructure in 2023
– Europe feels brunt of cyberattacks, making up 32% of global incidents

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.Feb. 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today released the 2024 X-Force Threat Intelligence Index highlighting an emerging global identity crisis as cybercriminals double down on exploiting user identities to compromise enterprises worldwide. According to IBM X-Force, IBM Consulting’s offensive and defensive security services arm, in 2023, cybercriminals saw more opportunities to “log in” versus hack into corporate networks through valid accounts – making this tactic a preferred weapon of choice for threat actors.

The X-Force Threat Intelligence Index is based on insights and observations from monitoring over 150 billion security events per day in more than 130 countries. In addition, data is gathered and analyzed from multiple sources within IBM, including IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence, Incident Response, X-Force Red, IBM Managed Security Services, and data provided from Red Hat Insights and Intezer , which contributed to the 2024 report.

Some of the key highlights include:

  • Attacks on critical infrastructure reveal industry “faux pas.” In nearly 85% of attacks on critical sectors, compromise could have been mitigated with patching, multi-factor authentication, or least-privilege principals – indicating that what the security industry historically described as “basic security” may be harder to achieve than portrayed.
  • Ransomware groups pivot to leaner business model. Ransomware attacks on enterprises saw a nearly 12% drop last year, as larger organizations opt against paying and decrypting, in favor of rebuilding their infrastructure. With this growing pushback likely to impact adversaries’ revenue expectations from encryption-based extortion, groups that previously specialized in ransomware were observed pivoting to infostealers.
  • ROI from attacks on generative AI not there – yet. X-Force analysis projects that when a single generative AI technology approaches 50% market share or when the market consolidates to three or less technologies, it could trigger at-scale attacks against these platforms.

“While ‘security fundamentals’ doesn’t get as many head turns as ‘AI-engineered attacks,’ it remains that enterprises’ biggest security problem boils down to the basic and known – not the novel and unknown” said Charles Henderson, Global Managing Partner, IBM Consulting, and Head of IBM X-Force. “Identity is being used against enterprises time and time again, a problem that will worsen as adversaries invest in AI to optimize the tactic.”

A Global Identity Crisis Poised to Worsen

Exploiting valid accounts has become the path of least resistance for cybercriminals, with billions of compromised credentials accessible on the Dark Web today. In 2023, X-Force saw attackers increasingly invest in operations to obtain users’ identities – with a 266% uptick in infostealing malware, designed to steal personal identifiable information like emails, social media and messaging app credentials, banking details, crypto wallet data and more.

This “easy entry” for attackers is one that’s harder to detect, eliciting a costly response from enterprises. According to X-Force, major incidents caused by attackers using valid accounts were associated to nearly 200% more complex response measures by security teams than the average incident – with defenders needing to distinguish between legitimate and malicious user activity on the network. In fact, IBM’s 2023 Cost of a Data Breach Report found that breaches caused by stolen or compromised credentials required roughly 11 months to detect and recover from – the longest response lifecycle than any other infection vector.

This wide reach into users’ online activity was evident in the FBI and European law enforcement’s April 2023 takedown of a global cybercrime forum that collected the login details of more than 80 million user accounts. Identity-based threats will likely continue to grow as adversaries leverage generative AI to optimize their attacks. Already in 2023, X-Force observed over 800,000 posts on AI and GPT across Dark Web forums, reaffirming these innovations have caught cybercriminals attention and interest.

Adversaries “Log into” Critical Infrastructure Networks

Worldwide, nearly 70% of attacks that X-Force responded to were against critical infrastructure organizations, an alarming finding highlighting that cybercriminals are wagering on these high value targets’ need for uptime to advance their objectives.

Nearly 85% of attacks that X-Force responded to on this sector were caused by exploiting public-facing applications, phishing emails, and the use of valid accounts.  The latter poses an increased risk to the sector, with DHS CISA stating that the majority of successful attacks on government agencies, critical infrastructure organizations and state-level government bodies in 2022 involved the use of valid accounts. This highlights the need for these organizations to frequently stress test their environments for potential exposures and develop incident response plans.

Generative AI – The Next Big Frontier to Secure

For cybercriminals to see ROI from their campaigns, the technologies they target must be ubiquitous across most organizations worldwide. Just as past technological enablers fostered cybercriminal activities – as observed with ransomware and Windows Server’s market dominance, BEC scams and Microsoft 365 dominance or cryptojacking and the Infrastructure-as-a-Service market consolidation – this pattern will most likely extend across AI.

X-Force assesses that once generative AI market dominance is established – where a single technology approaches 50% market share or when the market consolidates to three or less technologies – it could trigger the maturity of AI as an attack surface, mobilizing further investment in new tools from cybercriminals. Although generative AI is currently in its pre-mass market stage, it’s paramount that enterprises secure their AI models before cybercriminals scale their activity. Enterprises should also recognize that their existing underlying infrastructure is a gateway to their AI models that doesn’t require novel tactics from attackers to target – highlighting the need for a holistic approach to security in the age of generative AI, as outlined in the IBM Framework for Securing Generative AI.

Additional findings:

  • Europe – adversaries’ preferred target — Nearly one in three attacks observed worldwide targeted Europe, with the region also experiencing the most ransomware attacks globally (26%).
  • Where did all the phish go? Despite remaining a top infection vector, phishing attacks saw a 44% decrease in volume from 2022. But with AI poised to optimize this attack and X-Force research indicating that AI can speed up attacks by nearly two days, the infection vector will remain a preferred choice for cybercriminals.
  • Everyone is vulnerable – Red Hat Insights found that 92% of customers have at least one CVE with known exploits unaddressed in their environment at the time of scanning, while 80% of the top ten vulnerabilities detected across systems in 2023 were given a ‘High’ or ‘Critical’ CVSS base severity score.
  • “Kerberoasting” pays off – X-Force observed a 100% increase in “kerberoasting” attacks, wherein attackers attempt to impersonate users to escalate privileges by abusing Microsoft Active Directory tickets.
  • Security misconfigurations – X-Force Red penetration testing engagements indicate that security misconfigurations accounted for 30% of total exposures identified, observing more than 140 ways that attackers can exploit misconfigurations.