IBM has announced global availability of Bob, the AI coding assistant - sorry partner - which it claims has delivered a productivity boost to the 80,000 big bluers pressed into guinea pig status last year. The GA status coincides with the launch of an IBM Bob Premium Package for Z, "which integrates and enhances the capabilities of IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Z to deliver advanced features for enterprise-scale mainframe applications." IBM said in a statement it's teams that used Bob saw an "average of 45 percent productivity gains across complex, multi-step workflows." This makes IBM just the latest company to lean on its own staff to "prove" the efficacy of it AI platforms. PwC and Accenture have both told staff progression depends on buying into their AI visions.…