IBM on Thursday unveiled a multi‑year partnership with OpenAI designed to bring the AI company’s latest models to the consulting giant’s enterprise customers. The deal, whose financial details remain private, adds a dedicated OpenAI practice to IBM Consulting and commits to training tens of thousands of consultants on OpenAI’s portfolio, including Codex, the API, cybersecurity tools and ChatGPT Work.
Mike Healy, managing partner at IBM Consulting, said the new unit will focus on industry‑specific solutions for sectors such as financial services, government, telecommunications and retail. IBM will also certify a cadre of “Forward Deployed Experts” through OpenAI’s Partner Network, positioning them to help clients deploy AI across core business operations.
Under the agreement, OpenAI’s most recent models—GPT‑5.6, Codex and ChatGPT Work—will be integrated into IBM Consulting Advantage, the firm’s AI platform for consultants. The integration aims to streamline the deployment of generative AI tools in areas ranging from data analysis to customer service automation.
The partnership follows a similar alliance IBM announced with Anthropic less than a year ago and reflects OpenAI’s broader strategy of expanding its enterprise footprint through large systems integrators. OpenAI has already teamed with firms such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services, leveraging their global consulting reach to sell AI products to corporate buyers.
For IBM, the collaboration fits a model‑agnostic approach that blends its own Granite family of AI models with third‑party offerings on the watsonx platform. The move comes as IBM seeks to accelerate growth in its AI business after it trimmed its 2026 revenue forecast earlier this month. CEO Arvind Krishna reiterated that AI remains a long‑term growth driver and that adoption complements, rather than replaces, demand for the company’s mainframe solutions.
Security also figures prominently. The partnership expands a prior OpenAI Daybreak Cyber Partner Program, integrating OpenAI’s models with IBM Autonomous Security, a multi‑agent‑powered cybersecurity service. By combining OpenAI’s generative capabilities with IBM’s security stack, the firms aim to offer more proactive threat detection and response for enterprise clients.
Overall, the agreement gives OpenAI a direct line to some of the world’s largest corporations via IBM’s consulting network, while providing IBM with cutting‑edge AI tools to enrich its service portfolio and drive new revenue streams.
This article was written with the assistance of AI.
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