IBM (NYSE: IBM) began Thursday trading lower, as the company known as “Big Blue” and Pearson, the world's lifelong learning company, today announced a global partnership to build new personalized learning products powered by AI for businesses, public organizations, and educational institutions.
Recent research from Pearson found that inefficient career transitions and skills mismatches will cost the US economy $1.1 trillion in lost earnings annually. Employers, educators, and learners need faster, more relevant ways to learn new skills as AI reshapes how people work and learn.
IBM and Pearson aim to address these needs with AI-powered learning tools, built using watsonx Orchestrate and watsonx Governance, which will be available globally. IBM will also help Pearson build a custom AI-powered learning platform - similar to IBM Consulting Advantage - that combines human expertise with AI assistants, agents, and assets. The platform will drive growth with new products and services, while transforming Pearson's operations to enhance workflows, productivity, and data-driven decision-making.
As IBM's primary strategic partner for customer upskilling and workforce transformation, IBM customers and its 270,000 employees will benefit from Pearson's enterprise learning solutions. These include, Credly for digital credentialing, Faethm for strategic workforce planning, and Pearson Professional Assessments, which delivers IBM professional certification exams globally.
In addition, IBM and Pearson will explore the development of tools that will help verify the capabilities of AI agents, ensuring organizations can deploy them with confidence.
IBM shares docked 50 cents to $312.18.
