“As intelligent machines become increasingly autonomous and operate in the presence of people, the requirements for safety, security, reliability and real-time determinism become even more important,” CEO John Giamatteo said during an earnings conference call. “Unlike probabilistic AI systems, QNX technology is deterministic and safety-certified, which is exactly why it is so difficult to replicate and why customers trust it for systems where failure is not an option.”
Investors have taken note, and the stock is up nearly 23% on Thursday, after a sharp rise in earnings and an upward revision to forecasts. Meanwhile, sell-side analysts are quick to tout BlackBerry’s critical infrastructure for the artificial intelligence boom.
One thing to note is that BlackBerry’s physical devices were so popular among governments and leaders because they were secure and unhackable. Their encryption relied on the same fundamental mathematical and cryptographic principles used by modern cryptocurrency. Of course, the way the company applied this math had an entirely different goal.
Today, it has evolved to provide similar security to AI systems. Although QNX is not exactly the same system as before, the software still relies heavily on the same crypto library.
So now BlackBerry is also part of the AI business.