IBM Expands Its AI Reach with Major Oracle and Lumen Partnerships
Tech company IBM (IBM) is pushing harder into artificial intelligence with two major partnerships. The first one is with Oracle (ORCL) while the other is with Lumen Technologies (LUMN). With Oracle, IBM is bringing its watsonx AI platform to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) in order to make AI-driven business processes easier and more efficient. Starting in July, IBM's watsonx Orchestrate will be available on OCI and allow companies to create and manage AI agents (software systems that use AI to act on behalf of users) that work across both Oracle and non-Oracle apps.
Protect Your Portfolio Against Market Uncertainty
In a separate move, IBM has partnered with Lumen Technologies to bring AI capabilities to the edge, which basically means closer to where data is created. By combining IBM's watsonx with Lumen's fast, low-latency Edge Cloud infrastructure, businesses in industries like finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail can process large amounts of data in real time. This can reduce costs, improve security, and make customer experiences smarter and faster.
These partnerships demonstrate how IBM is expanding its presence in both cloud and edge computing as AI adoption grows. Indeed, the Oracle collaboration is meant to integrate AI into large enterprise workflows and cloud services, while the Lumen partnership focuses on enabling real-time AI processing. Together, these moves show that IBM is working towards becoming a serious player in the AI industry.
What Is the Target Price for IBM?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on IBM stock based on eight Buys, five Holds, and two Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. Furthermore, the average IBM price target of $258.79 per share implies 3.9% upside potential.
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Associated Press
17 minutes ago
- Associated Press
SkyCrest Capital Announces Completion of SAX-iCore Upgrade for AI Trading System SkyAlpha X, Secures $150 Million in Institutional Orders
Denver, UT, June 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SkyCrest Capital officially announced today that its core AI trading system, SkyAlpha X, has successfully completed a comprehensive upgrade to its third-generation architecture, launching the institutional-grade version SAX-iCore (SkyAlpha X Institutional Core). This upgrade marks SkyAlpha X's entry into a new era that balances high-frequency trading, cross-market arbitrage, and structured asset management, quickly drawing significant attention from international markets. According to SkyCrest Capital's technical and business teams, SAX-iCore has so far secured procurement intentions and signed orders from global hedge funds, quantitative institutions, and crypto-financial platforms, totaling $150 million. These include: • A cross-asset hedge fund based in New York managing over $4.5 billion in assets, which has formally signed an integration agreement to deploy SAX-iCore for strategy automation in the U.S. equities and ETF options markets. • A digital asset market maker in Singapore, which has embedded SAX-iCore as the core execution module in its DEX liquidity engine, mainly for perpetual contract arbitrage and volatility trading. • An asset management firm in London that has signed a cooperation agreement for the AI-driven options volatility detection module, planning to integrate SAX-iCore into its global macro hedge strategies. Key highlights of the upgrade include: • Structured Volatility Engine (SVE): Detects breakout windows hidden within intraday price behavior, adaptable to index futures, tech stocks, and cryptocurrencies. • Cross-Market Signal Coordination System: Enables strategic integration across U.S. equities, crypto, and options markets for trend capture, volatility arbitrage, and macro alerts. • Smart Capital Flow Radar (SCF-Radar): Tracks institutional build-up and withdrawal paths to construct real-time capital behavior maps, enhancing trend confirmation efficiency. • Options Anomaly Volatility Alert Module: Combines implied volatility shifts with Gamma risk identification to significantly improve strategic responsiveness and defense ahead of market events. Dr. Ross, Founder and Chief Science Officer of SkyCrest Capital, stated: 'SAX-iCore is not a mere upgrade of a traditional trading system, but a deep response to the increasingly interconnected multi-market environment. We've made breakthroughs not only at the algorithmic level but also ensured the system evolves in sync with real-world trading structures-this enables us to provide institutional investors with faster, more penetrative strategic decision engines amid globally intensifying asset volatility.' Since its initial launch in 2021, SkyAlpha X has delivered structured trading insights for stocks, futures, options, and crypto assets to SkyCrest's strategy teams and institutional partners. As the flagship module of the platform's 3.0 phase, SAX-iCore will serve as the core infrastructure for high-frequency trading, global asset allocation, and AI-driven execution system integration. SkyCrest Capital is currently offering early access to SAX-iCore for select strategic partners and is opening a whitelist application process for high-net-worth clients to access strategic modules. Retail-focused modules and tiered signal services for high-frequency trading are planned for phased rollout. For further information, please contact: Media Contact SkyCrest Capital PR Department Website: Contact: Audrey Sinclair Email: [email protected] Audrey Sinclair SkyCrest Capital service at
Forbes
24 minutes ago
- Forbes
Outsmarting AI: 4 Ways To Future-Proof Your Threatened Career
According to Gallup, 22% of U.S. workers are worried they will lose their jobs to generative AI—a seven percent increase since 2021. Companies are moving faster than expected to replace workers with AI. Recently, Microsoft cut three percent of its staff, and Duolingo said it would reduce contractors as AI takes over their tasks. The digital consultancy firm Customertimes reports that Google searches for 'Will AI take my job' have risen by +108% after the latest layoffs. And 18.4 million TikTok videos criticize Duolingo's 'AI-first' strategy, calling for a strike. It's time to consider steps to take for outsmarting AI in the age of the machine. Atalia Horenshtien, head of AI practice at Customertimes, is leading the introduction of AI-workers in many global companies. She told me by email that if you've been laid off in an AI restructure, don't blame yourself for a company's failure to evolve responsibly. Instead, she advises that you take inventory by asking 'What broke without you? What decisions relied on your judgment?' She points out that that's your edge: context, nuance and expertise AI still can't replicate. 'In this new era, proving your value means showcasing the human skills machines can't mimic,' Horenshtien explains. "And while companies chase automation, they'd do well to remember: AI doesn't build culture, loyalty or trust. People do.' If you're concerned about losing your job in the age of AI, here are four tips Horenshtien, shared with me on how you can future-proof your career and compete against the algorithms. She reminds you that AI isn't here to compete with your work ethic. 'It's here to automate what can be automated and amplify what you do best,' she says. 'Tools like generative AI aren't just time-savers, they unlock skills many never had before. Writers write faster, non-writers become content creators and everyday professionals suddenly have design, research or strategy capabilities at their fingertips. The most valuable professionals won't be the ones who resist AI--they'll be the ones who know how to partner with it to level up.' AI will likely replace tasks, not whole jobs, especially those rooted in repetition, according to Horenshtien. 'What it still can't replicate well: original thinking, emotional intelligence, ethical judgment and complex decision-making. If your role leans heavily on these, double down. If not, it's time to pivot.' She states that prompt engineering, model selection and workflow design are fast becoming core skills. 'You don't need to become a data scientist, but you do need to know how to make AI tools useful. The ability to bridge the gap between tech and business outcomes is what will set people apart.' Horenshtien suggests that the worst move is to stay still. "If your role includes repetitive tasks, assume they're next in line for automation. Upskilling now, whether in AI tools, business strategy or adjacent fields, puts you ahead of the curve and out of the risk zone when change hits. Before leaders can help employees with the fears of AI taking their jobs, they must first understand the quandary themselves and have clear and factual explanations to the question on everyone's mind, 'Is AI a tool or a threat?' Horenshtien asserts that business leaders have a responsibility to take action for their employees, telling me that they can take at least five steps. Horenshtien explains that if you're like most people, you know change is coming. She believes the worst thing you can do as a leader is to go silent. 'Uncertainty breeds fear, and fear drives talent out the door. 'Be clear about what AI means for your business, how it will affect roles and what support you'll offer. When people understand the plan, they're far more likely to stay, adapt and contribute to the shift." She admits that letting people go may seem efficient, but cautions you that it's short-sighted. She recommends, instead, that your better move is to invest in internal mobility. 'Map out which roles are at risk and which are growing,"she suggests. "Offer real pathways to reskill toward AI-enhanced positions, and make that part of a clear workforce transition strategy, not an afterthought'. 'AI is part of your future, it needs to be part of your onboarding,'she advises. 'Don't just roll out tools—equip people to understand and use them effectively. Introduce AI basics, tool-specific training, and real examples during onboarding so employees build confidence early. When teams know how and why AI fits into their day-to-day, adoption becomes a mindset, not a mandate." She points out that AI frees up time and recommends that you use it wisely. 'Encourage employees to test new tools, automate the boring stuff and rethink their workflows. When people are given the mandate to innovate, many will discover value the business didn't know it needed.' 'AI adoption is a change management challenge as much as a technical one,' she explains, adding the importance of preparing teams for shifts in roles, responsibilities and expectations. 'Give managers the training and support they need to lead through change, not just push new tools.' I spoke with Alari Aho, career expert and CEO of Toggl Hire, who suggests the first step to bounce back from an AI threat is to remember that layoffs are the beginning, not the end. If you're faced with a sudden job layoff, Aho suggests it could be a gift in disguise, calling layoffs a rebranding moment. 'It's a chance to take control of your story, redefine your professional identity and show the market what you're truly made of.' He suggests that you start by owning the narrative—frame the layoff as a business decision, not a personal failure. Then sharpen your value through a thoughtful rebrand, reconnect with your network with purpose and use any downtime to upskill in ways that align with where you want to go next. If you're a full-time employee and are replaced by AI, business leaders declare that one of the best ways of outsmarting AI in 2025 is to build gig jobs as a safety net, not only as extra income to make ends meet but as career insurance in case your job disappears or you're faced with layoffs. Studies show that many laid-off workers end up in side hustles with more autonomy, making higher salaries than in their previous positions that rival full-time wages.
Atlantic
26 minutes ago
- Atlantic
Where Is Barack Obama?
Last month, while Donald Trump was in the Middle East being gifted a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar, Barack Obama headed off on his own foreign excursion: a trip to Norway, in a much smaller and more tasteful jet, to visit the summer estate of his old friend King Harald V. Together, they would savor the genteel glories of Bygdøyveien in May. They chewed over global affairs and the freshest local salmon, which had been smoked on the premises and seasoned with herbs from the royal garden. Trump has begun his second term with a continuous spree of democracy-shaking, economy-quaking, norm-obliterating action. And Obama, true to form, has remained carefully above it all. He picks his spots, which seldom involve Trump. In March, he celebrated the anniversary of the Affordable Care Act and posted his annual NCAA basketball brackets. In April, he sent out an Easter message and mourned the death of the pope. In May, he welcomed His Holiness Pope Leo XIV ('a fellow Chicagoan') and sent prayers to Joe Biden following his prostate-cancer diagnosis. No matter how brazen Trump becomes, the most effective communicator in the Democratic Party continues to opt for minimal communication. His 'audacity of hope' presidency has given way to the fierce lethargy of semi-retirement. Obama occasionally dips into politics with brief and unmemorable statements, or sporadic fundraising emails (subject: 'Barack Obama wants to meet you. Yes you.'). He praised his law-school alma mater, Harvard, for 'rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt' by the White House 'to stifle academic freedom.' He criticized a Republican bill that would threaten health care for millions. He touted a liberal judge who was running for a crucial seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. When called upon, he can still deliver a top-notch campaign spiel, donor pitch, convention speech, or eulogy. Beyond that, Obama pops in with summer and year-end book, music, and film recommendations. He recently highlighted a few articles about AI and retweeted a promotional spot for Air Force Elite: Thunderbirds, a new Netflix documentary from his and Michelle's production company. (Michelle also has a fashion book coming out later this year: 'a celebration of confidence, identity, and authenticity,' she calls it.) Apparently, Barack is a devoted listener of The Ringer 's Bill Simmons Podcast, or so he told Jimmy Kimmel over dinner. In normal times, no one would deny Obama these diversions. He performed the world's most stressful job for eight years, served his country, made his history, and deserved to kick back and do the usual ex-president things: start a foundation, build a library, make unspeakable amounts of money. But the inevitable Trump-era counterpoint is that these are not normal times. And Obama's detachment feels jarringly incongruous with the desperation of his longtime admirers—even more so given Trump's assaults on what Obama achieved in office. It would be one thing if Obama had disappeared after leaving the White House, maybe taking up painting like George W. Bush. The problem is that Obama still very much has a public profile—one that screams comfort and nonchalance at a time when so many other Americans are terrified. 'There are many grandmas and Rachel Maddow viewers who have been more vocal in this moment than Barack Obama has,' Adam Green, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Institute, told me. 'It is heartbreaking,' he added, 'to see him sacrificing that megaphone when nobody else quite has it.' People who have worked with Obama since he left office say that he is extremely judicious about when he weighs in. 'We try to preserve his voice so that when he does speak, it has impact,' Eric Schultz, a close adviser to Obama in his post-presidency, told me. 'There is a dilution factor that we're very aware of.' 'The thing you don't want to do is, you don't want to regularize him,' former Attorney General Eric Holder, a close Obama friend and collaborator, told me. When I asked Holder what he meant by 'regularize,' he explained that there was a danger of turning Obama into just another hack commentator—' Tuesdays With Barack, or something like that,' Holder said. Like many of Obama's confidants, Holder bristles at suggestions that the former president has somehow deserted the Trump opposition. 'Should he do more? Everybody can have their opinions,' Holder said. 'The one thing that always kind of pisses me off is when people say he's not out there, or that he's not doing things, that he's just retired and we never hear from him. If you fucking look, folks, you would see that he's out there.' From the April 2016 issue: The Obama doctrine Obama's aides also say that he is loath to overshadow the next generation of Democratic leaders. They emphasize that he spends a great deal of time speaking privately with candidates and officials who seek his advice. But unfortunately for Democrats, they have not found their next fresh generational sensation since Obama was elected 17 years ago (Joe Biden obviously doesn't count). Until a new leader emerges, Obama could certainly take on a more vocal role without 'regularizing' himself in the lowlands of Trump-era politics. Obama remains the most popular Democrat alive at a time of historic unpopularity for his party. Unlike Biden, he appears not to have lost a step, or three. Unlike with Bill Clinton, his voice remains strong and his baggage minimal. Unlike both Biden and Clinton, he is relatively young and has a large constituency of Americans who still want to hear from him, including Black Americans, young voters, and other longtime Democratic blocs that gravitated toward Trump in November. 'Should Obama get out and do more? Yes, please,' Tracy Sefl, a Democratic media consultant in Chicago, told me. 'Help us,' she added. 'We're sinking over here.' Obama's conspicuous scarcity while Trump inflicts such damage isn't just a bad look. It's a dereliction of the message that he built his career on. When Obama first ran for president in 2008, his former life as a community organizer was central to his message. His campaign was not merely for him, but for civic action itself—the idea of Americans being invested in their own change. Throughout his time in the White House, he emphasized that 'citizen' was his most important title. After he left office in 2017, Obama said that he would work to inspire and develop the next cohort of leaders, which is essentially the mission of his foundation. It would seem a contradiction for him to say that he's devoting much of his post-presidency to promoting civic engagement when he himself seems so disengaged. To some degree, patience with Obama began wearing thin when he was still in office. His approval ratings sagged partway through his second term (before rebounding at the end). The rollout of the Affordable Care Act in 2013 was a fiasco, and the midterm elections of 2014 were a massacre. Obama looked powerless as Republicans in Congress ensured that he would pass no major legislation in his second term and blocked his nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. 'Obama, out,' the president said in the denouement of his last comedy routine at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, in 2016. In Obama lore, this mic-drop moment would instantly become famous—and prophetic. After Trump's first victory, Obama tried to reassure supporters that this was merely a setback. 'I don't believe in apocalyptic—until the apocalypse comes,' he said in an interview with The New Yorker. Insofar as Obama talked about how he imagined his post-presidency, he was inclined to disengage from day-to-day politics. At a press conference in November 2016, Obama said that he planned to 'take Michelle on vacation, get some rest, spend time with my girls, and do some writing, do some thinking.' He promised to give Trump the chance to do his job 'without somebody popping off in every instance.' But in that same press conference, he also allowed that if something arose that raised 'core questions about our values and our ideals, and if I think that it's necessary or helpful for me to defend those ideals, then I'll examine it when it comes.' That happened almost immediately. A few days after vowing in his inaugural address to end the 'American carnage' that he was inheriting, Trump signed an executive order banning foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States for 90 days. The so-called Muslim travel ban would quickly be blocked by the courts, but not before sowing chaos at U.S. points of entry. Obama put out a brief statement through a spokesperson ('the president fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion'), and went on vacation. Trump's early onslaught made clear that Obama's ex-presidency would prove far more complicated than previous ones. And Obama's taste for glamorous settings and famous company—Richard Branson, David Geffen, George Clooney—made for a grating contrast with the turmoil back home. 'Just tone it down with the kitesurfing pictures,' John Oliver, the host of HBO's Last Week Tonight, said of Obama in an interview with Seth Meyers less than a month after the president left office. 'America is on fire,' Oliver added. 'I know that people accused him of being out of touch with the American people during his presidency. I'm not sure he's ever been more out of touch than he is now.' Oliver's spasm foreshadowed a rolling annoyance that continued as Trump's presidency wore on: that Obama was squandering his power and influence. 'Oh, Obama is still tweeting good tweets. That's very nice of him,' the anti-Trump writer Drew Magary wrote in a Medium column titled 'Where the Hell Is Barack Obama?' in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. 'I'm sick of Obama staying above the fray while that fray is swallowing us whole.' Obama did insert himself in the 2024 election, reportedly taking an aggressive behind-the-scenes role last summer in trying to nudge Biden out of the race. He delivered a showstopper speech at the Democratic National Convention and campaigned several times for Kamala Harris in the fall. But among longtime Obama admirers I've spoken with, frustration with the former president has built since Trump returned to office. While campaigning for Harris last year, Obama framed the stakes of the election in terms of a looming catastrophe. 'These aren't ordinary times, and these are not ordinary elections,' he said at a campaign stop in Pittsburgh. Yet now that the impact is unfolding in the most pernicious ways, Obama seems to be resuming his ordinary chill and same old bits. Green, of the Progressive Change Institute, told me that when Obama put out his March Madness picks this year, he texted Schultz, the Obama adviser. 'Have I missed him speaking up in other places recently?' Green asked him. 'He did not respond to that.' (Schultz confirmed to me that he ignored the message but vowed to be 'more responsive to Adam Green's texts in the future.') Being a former president is inherently tricky: The role is ill-defined, and peripheral by definition. Part of the trickiness is how an ex-president can remain relevant, if he wants to. This is especially so given the current president. 'I don't know that anybody is relevant in the Trump era,' Mark Updegrove, a presidential historian and head of the LBJ Foundation, told me. Updegrove, who wrote a book called Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House, said that Trump has succeeded in creating a reality in which every president who came before is suspect. 'All the standard rules of being an ex-president are no longer applicable,' he said. Still, Obama never presented himself as a 'standard rules' leader. This was the idea that his political rise was predicated on—that change required bold, against-the-grain thinking and uncomfortable action. Clearly, Obama still views himself this way, or at least still wants to be perceived this way. (A few years ago, he hosted a podcast with Bruce Springsteen called Renegades.) From the July 1973 issue: The last days of the president Stepping into the current political melee would not be an easy or comfortable role for Obama. He represents a figure of the past, which seems more and more like the ancient past as the Trump era crushes on. He is a notably long-view guy, who has spent a great deal of time composing a meticulous account of his own narrative. 'We're part of a long-running story,' Obama said in 2014. 'We just try to get our paragraph right.' Or thousands of paragraphs, in his case: The first installment of Obama's presidential memoir, A Promised Land, covered 768 pages and 29 hours of audio. No release date has been set for the second volume. But this might be one of those times for Obama to take a break from the long arc of the moral universe and tend to the immediate crisis. Several Democrats I've spoken with said they wish that Obama would stop worrying so much about the 'dilution factor.' While Democrats struggle to find their next phenom, Obama could be their interim boss. He could engage regularly, pointing out Trump's latest abuses. He did so earlier this spring, during an onstage conversation at Hamilton College. He was thoughtful, funny, and sounded genuinely aghast, even angry. He could do these public dialogues much more often, and even make them thematic. Focus on Trump's serial violations of the Constitution one week (recall that Obama once taught constitutional law), the latest instance of Trump's naked corruption the next. Blast out the most scathing lines on social media. Yes, it might trigger Trump, and create more attention than Obama evidently wants. But Trump has shown that ubiquity can be a superpower, just as Biden showed that obscurity can be ruinous. People would notice. Democrats love nothing more than to hold up Obama as their monument to Republican bad faith. Can you imagine if Obama did this? some Democrat will inevitably say whenever Trump does something tacky, cruel, or blatantly unethical (usually before breakfast). Obama could lean into this hypocrisy—tape recurring five-minute video clips highlighting Trump's latest scurrilous act and title the series 'Can You Imagine If I Did This?' Or another idea—an admittedly far-fetched one. Trump has decreed that a massive military parade be held through the streets of Washington on June 14. This will ostensibly celebrate the Army's 250th anniversary, but it also happens to fall on Trump's 79th birthday. The parade will cost an estimated $45 million, including $16 million in damage to the streets. (Can you imagine if Obama did this?) The spectacle cries out for counterprogramming. Obama could hold his own event, in Washington or somewhere nearby. It would get tons of attention and drive Trump crazy, especially if it draws a bigger crowd. Better yet, make it a parade, or 'citizen's march,' something that builds momentum as it goes, the former president and community organizer leading on foot. This would be the renegade move. Few things would fire up Democrats like a head-to-head matchup between Trump and Obama. If nothing else, it would be fun to contemplate while Democrats keep casting about for their long-delayed future. 'The party needs new rising stars, and they need the room to figure out how to meet this moment, just like Obama figured out how to meet the moment 20 years ago,' Jon Favreau, a co-host of Pod Save America and former director of speechwriting for the 44th president, told me. 'Unless, of course, Trump tries to run for a third term, in which case I'll be begging Obama to come out of retirement.'
