IBM struck a deal to buy start-up Seek AI to use its data agents as the foundation of watsonx AI Labs, an initiative to help enterprises make better use of their data.
The computing giant stated Seek AI helps businesses use “agentic AI to mine value from enterprise data”, expertise it plans to employ as a foundation for watsonx AI Labs, to be located in New York City.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Seek AI CEO and founder Sarah Nagy stated on LinkedIn the company was founded in 2021 when she realised “AI had the potential to automate much of the mundane, repetitive work that I was performing as a quantitative analyst in the finance industry”.
“We’ll scale our platform, deploy mission-critical solutions for IBM clients, empower the next generation of AI developers and grow our team significantly,” she explained.
Seek AI’s natural language platform is built on company-specific foundation models designed to improve a businesses’ search queries over time.
It uses agentic AI and machine learning to translate natural language questions into the base queries.
The company also conducts high-level data analysis and summaries.
IBM stated the AI accelerator would bring together its researchers and engineers into a collaborative hub to build advanced services using agentic AI.
“The lab will work side-by-side with start-ups, scale-ups and the world’s largest enterprises to help clients unlock real-world value from their AI.”
Ritika Gunnar, GM of data and AI at IBM, stated by locating the hub in New York City, it is “investing in a diverse, world‑class talent pool and a vibrant community whose innovations have long shaped the tech landscape”.