The Register
·
2 months ago
IBM announced general availability of Bob, an AI coding assistant that combines frontier LLMs, open-source models, and IBM's Granite SLM family to support the full software development lifecycle. Internal testing with 80,000 IBM employees reported 45 percent average productivity gains, with the Z mainframe package currently offered as a free technical preview and standard pricing ranging from $20 to $200 per month. The tool aims to help organizations analyze systems with technical debt and legacy documentation, though it has previously faced security vulnerabilities including malware manipulation and data exfiltration risks.
The Register
·
2 months ago
Amazon announced two AI services: an updated Amazon Quick desktop app that integrates with Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zoom, and Salesforce to automate tasks like meeting scheduling, and a significant overhaul of Amazon Connect into four agentic AI components for supply chains, hiring, healthcare, and customer experience. The Quick service was first unveiled in October 2025 as a web-based experience and now operates as a desktop application requiring only an email address to start. The moves position Amazon to compete with Microsoft Copilot and Salesforce Agentforce in the crowded market for AI agents that handle business processes, though existing customer relationships with other vendors present a significant adoption challenge.
