IBM Bob

bob.ibm.com

219 points by artpar 12 hours ago


mrbluecoat - 11 hours ago

Totally reminds me of "HP Offers 'That Cloud Thing Everyone Is Talking About'"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9ntPxdWAWq8

woah - 6 hours ago

Nobody ever got fired for IBM Bob setting up a secret message board and establishing a persistent foothold in an internal inference cluster

dgacmu - 5 hours ago

I laughed when I saw this; my 14yo looked over to see why I was laughing and asked "what's IBM?"

indeed, child, indeed.

tims33 - 7 hours ago

I thought they were resurrecting Microsoft Bob, the operating system for kids.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob

PaulRobinson - 10 hours ago

You should never name a tech product Bob in the UK, because the moment it isn't perfect, it'll just get called "Bobbins" [0], especially where I'm from.

I wish IBM got better at product again, and took themselves off the services and consulting morphine they've been on for ~35 years now since OS/2 Warp flopped. Their 1980s/1990s hardware was great. Their software actually was great until Win95 took their lunch money. They've just slunk off into a corner hugging their old architectures they have a moat around, and thrown out some audacious nonsense like Watson now and again, but nothing has stuck. When is somebody in that organisation going to try and innovate properly again?

I'm not sure this is the answer I'd be rooting for.

[0] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bobbins

exakoustos - 10 hours ago

The "What developers say" carousel has a single Java dev and dev advocate. They got lots of quotes from managers, directors, CEOs, and an "AI strategist".

Stevvo - 11 hours ago

Interesting they are renting out agent skills. You can pick up "Java Modernization" at $20 a month for "Specialist workflows to help with modernizing Java applications", or "IBM i" for "Specialist modes, workflows, and skills to work with IBM i applications".

bluerooibos - 4 hours ago

I feel second hand embarrassment for IBM. Terrible name, subpar landing page, no mention of coding ability or which LLM "Bob" uses.

If you're launching something 2 years late, you've got to do better than this.

cube00 - an hour ago

> Bobcoins are the consumption-based billing metric used for Bob subscriptions. They provide a transparent, predictable way to measure and bill for your Bob usage. Each action you take in Bob—such as generating code, reading files, or running commands—consumes a certain number of Bobcoins based on the computational resources required.

transparent, predictable ... "a certain number of Bobcoins" ... so not that transparent then?

Ciantic - 11 hours ago

This sounds a lot like Spotify's XIRP. They managed to vibe something useful for their own engineers, were super hyped, and decided to release it in public. However what are the odds this harness will stand the test of time against actual harness makers like OpenAI or Anthropic? Neither Spotify or IBM are focused on making models or harnesses, these are just side-products.

TYPE_FASTER - 7 hours ago

Definitely gonna change Jira config to start estimating work in Bobcoins.

crash-universe - 7 hours ago

Someone must have thought about this. PMs, Directors, lots of people involved in putting this together.

I wonder what their target customer is. They must have analyzed and projected this. I'm genuinely interested.

a012 - 11 hours ago

Nobody got fired for using IBM Bob

absoluteunit1 - 10 hours ago

The landing/marketing page for this looks like something someone promoted/vibe coded including the Bob mascot.

Looks awful from a design perspective. Had to double check that this was the actual IBM domain

mvk666 - 10 hours ago

I was at an IBM Bob party, behind the scenes it's basically other frontier models with an IBM-specific context.

butterisgood - 10 hours ago

The last product I know of named Bob didn’t fare so well.

throwfaraway135 - 10 hours ago

Working with any AI tool means you trust the vendor, sometimes you don't have a choice because the best models/tools are from specific providers. IBM isn't a company I would ever trust.

cmiles8 - 2 hours ago

Ever since the Watson debacle I just run the other way anytime IBM turns up wanting to talk about AI

psygn89 - 11 hours ago

Is Bib Bob's partner?

https://imgur.com/a/3PQXIsQ

sajithdilshan - 11 hours ago

I'm really confused what this is, is it a harness or a new model by IBM? Some reviews on that page suggests that it's a new model

mansilladev - 3 hours ago

Ask the AI chat agent on the website what a BobCoin is. Because, I really want to know.

> I’m not able to find a definition for BobCoin in IBM’s content. If you have another term or topic you’d like to explore, let me know!

brk - 11 hours ago

This can only mean that IBM Clippy is next.

hmokiguess - 7 hours ago

I love how the pricing page has a "Most Popular" offering, totally.

cbsmith - 2 hours ago

Anyone else immediately think "Clippy for developers".

roncesvalles - 7 hours ago

Nothing coming out of IBM is worth any attention.

maxbobby - 6 hours ago

No one at IBM remembers Microsoft Bob (one of the earliest, if not the earliest virtual assistants) from the 90s? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob

cisrockandroll - 11 hours ago

Is this just a harness or using a proprietary model in the background? Anthropic and OpenAI are already very well trained in IBM system i and z knowledge. Unless Bob is somehow improving the integration to these midrange and mainframe systems I literally dont see any benefit to using Bob. IBM will just kill this proprietary tech in 5 years as they are currently doing with RDi or forget about updating it like SEU.

stefangordon - 6 hours ago

I can't tell if this is an excellent joke, or a sad not-joke.

kyle-rb - 5 hours ago

Microsoft Bob wasn't wrong, it was just early.

karim79 - 7 hours ago

Is anyone out there paying for this? I know you are there. Come out explain yourself. And also explain the value of a Bobcoin, and if can be scalped and resold on eBay.

DeathArrow - 11 hours ago

31 years after Microsoft Bob, IBM releases it's own IBM Bob. :)

legitster - 9 hours ago

This is especially funny when you realize how much money IBM dumped into Watson over all these years.

1970-01-01 - 7 hours ago

NYSE: IBM -20% YTD.

I promise you Bob isn't going to fix the long-term stupidity.

bob1029 - 11 hours ago

I like how the solitary review is word salad.

perarneng - 3 hours ago

I hope its good, I wont test it though

pram - 11 hours ago

I thought the image was a joke, but you really pay with Bobcoins.. lmao

https://bob.ibm.com/pricing

getatme32 - 3 hours ago

I’m going to get a free trial and test it. If you do, leave your comments below on the experience

meerita - 10 hours ago

Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Meta, all the giants are always coming late to the party.

globalise83 - 6 hours ago

IBM Watson 2.0

unleashhale - 10 hours ago

This somehow has less personality than plain enterprise software. How IBM.

amelius - 10 hours ago

Looks like LEGO's lawyers will be knocking on their door soon.

Stitch4223 - 7 hours ago

That was fast.

The copy is "clearly" written with AI… too bad. Some organizations "can't go wrong with Big Blue," so this will probably be a success. Perhaps it's even good, but that's not the case with this sloppy copywriting.

First paragraph: focused, what matters, clean. Shame they didn't throw in a "load-bearing" example and a few pelicans to boot.

amelius - 10 hours ago

Companies trying to make AI less of a commodity that you can just swap out for another ...

No thanks, that's what I like about AI so I'll just stay with the raw tokens.

0xWTF - 9 hours ago

So much for the "THINK" motto.

throwitaway222 - 6 hours ago

They got it wrong - they're showing code in the ad.

ctoth - 7 hours ago

Who're they subcontracting for the Von Neumann probes?

woggy - 11 hours ago

Bobcoins. Hehe.

lowbloodsugar - 2 hours ago

Bob the Builder? Right age bracket I guess.

- 7 hours ago
[deleted]
arpanghoshal07 - 7 hours ago

seems like they used claude for this

quietsegfault - 11 hours ago

I used Bob extensively at an IBM acquisition, it was absolutely dreadful. Bobcoins.

dainiusse - 9 hours ago

The next step is yandex/nebius "vasya"

- an hour ago
[deleted]
selfawareMammal - 11 hours ago

The logo, the name... Horrible marketing/branding.

mv4 - 6 hours ago

what happened to Watson?

nielsbot - 10 hours ago

Should have called it Bob The Builder

karim79 - 7 hours ago

Bobcoins. Intriguing.

madspindel - 5 hours ago

Hi Bob! Bob!

m_w_ - 11 hours ago

The review that "IBM Bob isn't just another autocomplete tool" tells you everything you need to know about this product. lol.

- 11 hours ago
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swiftcoder - 11 hours ago

At least it's not Clippy?

basisword - 10 hours ago

Thought this was going to be about Microsoft Bob.[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob

saberience - 11 hours ago

This is embarrassing. It would have been better to release nothing than this.

TheAtomic - 6 hours ago

Oh Clippy

- 11 hours ago
[deleted]
DonHopkins - 6 hours ago

What do you call an agent with no arms and no legs in the ocean?

Surac - 6 hours ago

Clippy the Clip is it's uncle

ltbarcly3 - 7 hours ago

Aww IBM wants to play too. I forgot they were still around.

ChrisArchitect - 10 hours ago

Announcement post from April: https://newsroom.ibm.com/2026-04-28-introducing-ibm-bob-ai-d...

Hypergraphe - 10 hours ago

Too late ?

walrus01 - 11 hours ago

Not to be confused with Microsoft Bob:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob

- 11 hours ago
[deleted]
antonvs - 11 hours ago

Should have been IBM Tom, after legendary IBM CEO Thomas J. Watson. But perhaps they didn't want to sully his name.

Geonode - 12 hours ago

I bet this will be as successful as Microsoft Bob.

taspeotis - 11 hours ago

Not to shit on their effort or anything, but it looks like a VS Code fork + an agent panel which is very ... late 2024 energy?

h_mirin - 11 hours ago

Bobalytics

mattmcbrien - 6 hours ago

their swag too tough

jgbuddy - 10 hours ago

Lol github copilot 5 years late

- 11 hours ago
[deleted]
xyst - 11 hours ago

ibm desperately clinging to relevancy by hopping on the LLM bandwagon.

znpy - 11 hours ago

Lost opportunity to call it Hal

colordrops - 4 hours ago

Has any product with an infantilized agent avatar like this ever turned out to be useful or succeed in gaining traction?

Henchman21 - 7 hours ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust

yapyap - 11 hours ago

ibm bob, will help you make slop

self_awareness - 11 hours ago

Oh, so we are yet again in the 'Bob' phase?

Maybe this time it'll work.

varispeed - 11 hours ago

The companies who are hoarding RAM to produce pointless products should be called out. Deprive working class from computing resources to sell some corporate crap. Get fucked.

- 11 hours ago
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gregce10 - 7 hours ago

[flagged]

rdtsc - 10 hours ago

[flagged]

jrflo - 11 hours ago

So it's just a vscode wrapper around a mystery open weights LLM I'm guessing?

> Can I choose which model Bob uses?

> No. Bob automatically selects the most appropriate language model for each task based on complexity, required capabilities, and cost-efficiency. This intelligent routing ensures you receive high-quality responses while optimizing resource usage.

- 11 hours ago
[deleted]
gilliethefoil - 11 hours ago

[dead]

skrebbel - 7 hours ago

[dead]

colesantiago - 12 hours ago

I never thought the day that IBM would make complete slop.

But it is IBM after all.

villish - 10 hours ago

“Bobcoins are the consumption-based billing metric used for Bob subscriptions. They provide a transparent, predictable way to measure and bill for your Bob usage.”

I’m getting sick of these mobile game currency style credits/coins that obfuscate costs or usage. It’s honestly pretty gross.

Just telling us exactly what we get for our money.

- 9 hours ago
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