“As intelligent machines become increasingly autonomous and operate around people, the requirements for safety, security, reliability and real-time determinism become even more important,” CEO John Giamatteo said during an earnings call. “Unlike probabilistic AI systems, QNX technology is deterministic and safety certified, which is exactly why it is so hard to replicate and why customers trust it for systems where failure is not an option.”
Investors are taking notice, and the stock is up nearly 23% on Thursday, after a massive earnings beat and a revised upward guidance. Meanwhile, sell-side analysts are falling over themselves to praise BlackBerry’s mission-critical infrastructure for the artificial intelligence boom.
One thing to note is that BlackBerry’s physical devices were so popular among governments and executives because they were secure and unhackable. Their encryption relied on the same fundamental math and cryptographic principles used by modern cryptocurrency. Of course, the way the company applied that math served a different purpose entirely.
Now, it has evolved to provide similar security for AI systems. While QNX isn’t exactly the same system as it used before, the software still relies heavily on the same cryptography library.
So now, BlackBerry, too, is part of the AI trade.