IBM By The Bay

IBM doesn’t just show up—they lead. Let’s be honest—when IBM’s on the schedule, you know it’s going to be good. They’ve been with us for years, always bringing big ideas and even bigger questions to the table.

RSVP

This year we're excited to welcome Michael Maximilien—better known as Dr. Max from IBM. He’ll present Maestro, a new project from BeeAI Labs. Maestro enables fast, no-code development of multi-agent AI workflows using simple text descriptions. Users can collaborate with helper and supervisor agents to build agent-based systems in real time—then easily edit, test, and deploy them using Docker or Kubernetes.

Earlier this year, Max presented at the AI Alliance Meetup, offering a deep dive into BeeAI, an open-source, LLM-agnostic agent platform with a complete OSS stack for building no-code AI agents. His talk included live demos—creating agents and tools on the fly with audience participation—and a preview of the platform’s roadmap. That included a first look at Bee Hive, an extension of Bee that introduces multiagency capabilities for even more complex workflows.

In 2023, IBM truly shined at our conference, bringing speakers who combined rigorous knowledge with practical insights.

Dean Wampler examined the intersection of open-source science vs. software, emphasizing reproducibility, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the evolving role of data and models in AI/ML-driven discovery.

Guang-Jie Ren explored IBM’s enterprise-grade foundation models, diving into data pipelines, high-quality datasets, and data lakehouse architectures. Highlighted challenges and opportunities in large-scale AI data management.

Dr. Anthony J. Annunziuata delivered a keynote on AI + Quantum, showcasing IBM’s hybrid cloud strategy integrating QPUs, CPUs, and GPUs. Shared thoughts on accelerated scientific discovery and the future of automated workflows for complex problems.

Looking back, in 2019 IBM demonstrated its strength in practical AI with Nick Pentreath and Prashant Sharma. Nick shared his expertise in building intelligent systems with Apache Spark, while Prashant showcased a complete end-to-end ML pipeline using Spark Structured Streaming and Kubernetes, including a live real-time object detection demo.

From no-code AI agents to real-time pipelines and hybrid cloud breakthroughs, IBM keeps raising the bar year after year.

IBM Today – Pushing the Frontiers of Technology

In 2025, IBM has transformed from a hardware giant into a leader in AI, quantum computing, and hybrid cloud solutions, creating platforms and tools to solve complex business and scientific challenges.

At the heart of IBM’s AI strategy is watsonx, enabling enterprises to build, deploy, and govern AI applications across hybrid environments. With watsonx.ai, users can access customizable models and APIs, while watsonx.governance ensures responsible AI practices. watsonx.orchestrate allows multi-agent AI workflows to automate complex processes and scale solutions in real-world settings.

Quantum computing remains a major focus. IBM is developing Quantum Starling, a large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer, supported by Quantum System Two, which integrates quantum and classical resources for applications in drug discovery, materials science, and optimization.

IBM’s hybrid cloud strategy provides secure, scalable infrastructure for AI and compute-intensive workloads, enhanced by high-performance GPUs like the AMD Instinct™ MI300X. Acquisitions such as Seek AI and open-source collaborations further expand IBM’s AI ecosystem, offering specialized enterprise solutions while promoting community-driven innovation.

Through these initiatives, IBM continues to translate advanced research into practical, scalable technologies, creating the future of AI, quantum computing, and hybrid cloud infrastructure with real-world impact.

RSVP