2024 Curated Analysis, Opinions, Reports
  • 18 Mar 2024
  • 194 Minutes to read
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2024 Curated Analysis, Opinions, Reports

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Information Week - Overcoming AI’s 5 Biggest Roadblocks

Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool, yet harnessing its inherent capabilities can be a challenging and, in some cases, overwhelming task. Still, there are several best practices that can help newcomers overcome many of AI’s biggest roadblocks. 

AI

Computerworld - AI to create a half billion new jobs — here’s why

Mark Kashef, an AI consultant and prompt engineer on Fiverr, an online freelance marketplace, believes genAI will create jobs that today can’t even be imagined. Areas such as AI development, data analysis, and AI ethics are all fields likely to see a boom because of genAI adoption.

Tech Jobs

ZDNet - The best AI chatbots: ChatGPT isn't the only one worth trying

When I use a chatbot, I typically reach for Copilot because I found that it solved two major issues with ChatGPT, including access to current events and linking back to the sources it retrieved its answer for free. It is also the only way to access OpenAI's most advanced LLM--GPT-4 Turbo--for free.

Automation & Productivity

Information Week - What Can a CIO Do About AI Bias?

Tools such as IBM’s AI Fairness 360 (AIF360) can tell IT leaders to what degree their AI models are biased toward one group of people versus another. RagaAI’s tool, called RagaAI DNA, identifies biases in AI models by training on a multimodal data set. Organizations can custom-train RagaAI DNA to test product descriptions and customer reviews in retail, location data in geospatial applications, and medical records and images in healthcare.

AI Ethics

VentureBeat - Security expert Chris Krebs on TikTok, AI and the key to survival

“If it doesn’t get through, I think we have this outstanding issue of data security and data privacy in addition to the foreign propaganda piece and the potential for influence. So I still think, and I thought this for a decade now, is that we really do need a national or federal privacy law. “

Security

Network Computing - Cloud Adoption Soars as Organizations Navigate Challenges

Forty-one percent of the respondents said they are currently using artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML); however, nearly half, 49%, are experimenting and planning to use ML/AL platform-as-a-service (PaaS) services.

Cloud

eWeek - 20 Top Generative AI Companies Leading In 2024

Beyond its flagship content generation solution, ChatGPT, and image generation solution, DALL-E, OpenAI also offers its API and different generative AI models to support companies in their own AI development efforts. GPT-4, chat models, instruct models, fine-tuning models, audio models, image models, and embedding models can all be customized for a usage fee to meet individual business needs.

AI

SiliconANGLE - AI and data security: Prioritizing speed, protection and visibility in cloud migration

“Businesses really want to use AI and large language models to accelerate their business decisions. It makes a lot of things really easy,” he said. “You can kind of put some prompts in and get some information back, and then you can make decisions based on that. But at the same time, it’s actually a really traditional problem. Having visibility of where your data is and what systems are using that data is something we’ve been doing in the security industry for a really long time.”

AI/Data

Computerworld - Generative AI will drive a foundational shift for companies — IDC

Through 2025, 75% of organizations are expected to create AI implementation review boards; 40% will be looking to increase their outsourced AI services, including AI delivery; and 40% of new applications are expected to be more intelligent, as developers incorporate genAI to enhance existing and new use cases, according to a recent CIO survey by IDC.

GenAI

SiliconANGLE - Insights from AI innovators: Data is driving infrastructure – but the data needs to be better

“You’ll see the CNCF community probably take charge of the generative AI, because as we’ve been saying, the democratization of the data side is not going to be by the data scientist. It’s going to be by the AI itself,” said Furrier. The result, said Alessya Visnjic, co-founder and chief executive officer of WhyLabs Inc.: “The power of creating AI applications is now in the hands of any developer.”

AI/Data

Network World - Why edge computing is both hyped and ignored

But wait. Does that mean your smartphone will be replaced by the cloud? How about your PC? We’ve had virtual PCs for several decades now, but in the almost-three-thousand user conversations I’ve had over the last year, I never had a single one where the user was running a virtual PC instead of a real one. People want more stuff running in their phones, not less. In all those latency-sensitive verticals I’ve assessed, in all those conversations, across over four hundred enterprises, how many have replaced their real-time, industrial-strength, on-premises applications with cloud applications? None.

Edge Computing

Datanami - Highlights from the Gartner Data and Analytics Summit in Orlando, FL

Gartner expects CDAOs and D&A leaders to become indispensable. However, they can expect their roles to become more complex as they gain more access to data and budgets. While they still need to take ownership of foundational capabilities of data and analytics strategies, they must reinvent themselves as drivers of business innovation. If they don’t take on this new role, they might find themselves becoming irrelevant.

Data & Analytics

Forbes - Business Transformation And Managing The Pace Of Change

This might seem obvious, but employees have a strong desire for visible leadership. There is value in having an individual represent a company’s vision and strategy; someone who can and is telling the story of the company and the goals of artificial intelligence in the business.

Leadership

Datanami - Three-Quarters of Organizations Have Reached High Levels of AI Maturity, LXT Survey Finds

This latest report found that organizations have taken large steps, with nearly three-quarters (72%) reporting that they have reached higher levels of AI maturity. The most significant shift is in the mid-range, where nearly a third of companies state that AI is now in production and creating value. To achieve this, half of all organizations invest between $1 million and $50 million, and more than ten percent reported an AI budget between $50 million and $500 million.

AI

Computerworld - AI hallucination mitigation: two brains are better than one

In other words, genAI’s natural language processing has no transparent rules of inference for reliable conclusions (outputs). What’s needed, some argue, is a “formal language” or a sequence of statements — rules or guardrails — to ensure reliable conclusions at each step of the way toward the final answer genAI provides. Natural language processing, absent a formal system for precise semantics, produces meanings that are subjective and lack a solid foundation.

AI Ethics

SiliconANGLE - Accelerating AI with real-time analytics: Startups on ‘the growth curve’ weigh in

Universal data lakehouses serve to unify data from diverse sources, catalyzing AI innovation as a result. The challenge, however, lies in bridging the gap between transactional databases, event streams and vast data lakes, necessitating a comprehensive solution.

Data & Analytics

SupplyChainBrain - Implement iPaaS to Become a Data-Driven Enterprise

Where SaaS grants access to software applications via the cloud, iPaaS focuses on integrating and orchestrating data flows across various software systems, encompassing services offered by SaaS, such as ERP, CRM, WMS, billing, and sales applications within a single platform. It’s also worth noting that iPaaS isn’t confined to cloud-based solutions; it also extends integration to on-premises systems.

Data Management

Information Week - A Lesson in Nightshade and Defenses Against GenAI Content Abuses

One way of restricting scraping includes the Robots Exclusion Protocol, which can be included in the coding of websites to instruct bots and crawlers on what parts of a site they can and cannot look at. This assumes the creators of the bots care about compliance with such voluntary protocols.

AI Ethics

SiliconANGLE - BlackBerry: Global financial sector faces ‘death by a million cuts’ through malware attacks

The BlackBerry Threat Research and Intelligence team also registered a 27% uptick in novel malware. Novel malware, as opposed to off-the-shelf, widely available commodity malware, refers to new, previously unseen types of malicious software that are often designed to evade detection by traditional cybersecurity measures.

Security

Network World - AI drives Ethernet switch buying, IDC reports

“Wi-Fi remains a critically important technology for organizations across the globe, and with the Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 standards enabling Wi-Fi to use the 6 GHz band, a range of enhanced use cases are being supported,” Butler said. “Wi-Fi 6E access points grew to make up just under a quarter (23%) of enterprise-dependent AP sales in the fourth quarter of 2023, indicating the continued rapid adoption of Wi-Fi 6E technology.”

Network Management

SiliconANGLE - Harnessing generative AI for global profit growth: CalypsoAI’s approach

“It’s become easier and easier for anyone and everyone inside an enterprise to use generative models,” Serebryany said. “What ends up becoming more and more important as you have more and more models is how you control how those models are orchestrated, how you control how those models are used and how you control the input and output data.”

GenAI

ZDNet - What is Copilot (formerly Bing Chat)? Here's everything you need to know

With Copilot, you can ask the AI chatbot questions and get detailed, human-like responses with footnotes that link back to the original sources. Since the chatbot is connected to the internet, it can provide you with up-to-date information, which is another capability ChatGPT's free version doesn't boast.

Automation & Productivity

The EU browser wars have begun as Apple opens up

Third-party browsers have been supported in iOS since version 14. What's changed is that Apple must now offer EU users a choice of which browser becomes the default when they use their device. Apple clearly didn’t want to do this as WebKit (which drives Safari) is fundamental to many of the technologies and solutions the company packs inside its iPhones. (I think it’s likely to stay that way.)

Automation & Productivity

SiliconANGLE - Salt Security identifies critical flaws in ChatGPT plugins that risk third-party data breaches

The second vulnerability was within PluginLab, a framework developers and companies use to develop plugins for ChatGPT. During installation, Salt Labs researchers found that PluginLab did not properly authenticate user accounts, allowing a prospective attacker to insert another user ID and get a code that represents the victim, which can lead to account takeover via the plugin.

Security

Information Week - Can Anyone Be a Realistic Competitor for OpenAI?

Myriad smaller startups are entering the market with GenAI-driven platforms and tools. But the billions that big tech companies have at their disposal put them ahead in the game. “I think it's very hard for a hyperscaler today to see any startup as a competitor,” says May Habib, the CEO and co-founder of Writer, a full-stack generative AI platform, contends.

AI

Information Week - 10 Enterprise AI Startups to Watch in 2024

News of relatively new companies getting huge investment boosts have become daily updates as companies race to get in on the AI gold rush. It’s hard not to think of the dot com explosion of the 1990s. With daily AI headlines fighting for attention, it can be hard to separate noteworthy startups. For businesses, finding the right use cases will be key to unlocking AI’s enterprise potential.

AI

Network World - Omdia: Servers for AI processing are big sellers

“Delaying server refresh has freed up capex funds for AI clusters,” Omdia’s analysts wrote. “We anticipate that were they to reach 7 years, a set of formal disclosures will be made. Using equipment which is already amortized positively benefits the balance sheets of companies.”

Automation & Productivity

AiThority - Open and Transparent AI Implementation is the Key to Trust

Another finding of the study is that governments would have a tough time gaining citizens’ trust in AI-powered tools and services. Just over 20% of people say they have greater faith in AI-powered services than they do in more conventional human-assisted ones, while nearly 50% say the opposite.

AI

Harvard Business Review - Why Adopting GenAI Is So Difficult

First, many businesses, large and small, are still grappling with how to integrate traditional AI — such as rule-based algorithm and machine learning — into their operations. At best, they are in an exploratory phase with traditional AL, and at worst they’re simply feeling lost. A recent study suggested that more than 70% of the large companies surveyed were still wondering how to reap the potential benefits that AI can offer.

GenAI

ZDNet - Generative AI will change customer service forever. Here's how we get there

Mistakes can come back to embarrass the company that builds the generative AI system. In a recent example at Chevrolet, an AI-enabled bot told customers false information that resulted in financial loss. A North American airline, meanwhile, attempted to make the legal argument that its bot was a separate entity whose answers were not the company's responsibility.

GenAI

Information Week - Ripples of Innovation and New Business Needs from GenAI's Splash

GenAI’s impact also set off ripples across ancillary hardware and software sectors that sought to respond to new needs and questions that arose in relation to the technology. Where are the chips that can support AI in devices? What kind of oversight and observability is needed in the use of GenAI? Is there room for newcomers or will incumbents dominate the data and resources that support AI?

GenAI

SiliconANGLE - Report: Automakers might be secretly selling your driving data to insurance companies

Car companies have been selling their customers’ detailed driving behavior data to third-party brokers, possibly affecting the owners’ insurance premiums, according to a New York Times exposé published today that asks serious questions about privacy within the internet of things.

Data Privacy

Information Week - Special Report: What's Next for the GenAI Market in 2024?

However, there aren’t just new generative AI companies themselves growing; there are industries growing in reaction to AI. IT departments -- recognizing that their hardware might not be up to the task of running AI workloads -- are looking for AI chips. Businesses are readying themselves for AI-related legal challenges, privacy compliance snags, and ethical quagmires by seeking specialized services. (Quite possibly there will be cyber incident response companies touting their enterprise “singularity defense management” platform before 2025.)

GenAI

VentureBeat - State Dept-backed report provides action plan to avoid catastrophic AI risks

The report focuses on two key risks: weaponization and loss of control. Weaponization includes risks such as AI systems that autonomously discover zero-day vulnerabilities, AI-powered disinformation campaigns and bioweapon design. Zero-day vulnerabilities are unknown or unmitigated vulnerabilities in a computer system that an attacker can use in a cyberattack.

AI/Security

InfoWorld - How generative AI will change low-code development

One of my points was that today’s code generators may evolve the software development lifecycle (SDLC) into a manufacturing process where developers prompt for application components and assemble them into applications and services. That may sound futuristic, but code generators are already making significant impact. GitHub found that 88% of developers reported improved productivity, 74% focused on more satisfying work, and over 87% said they completed tasks faster using GitHub Copilot.

AI/DevOps

VentureBeat - Why we need to move away from anthropomorphic naming conventions in AI

All that to say, female-gendered names given to AI bots that you control can lead to confirmation bias and reinforce the idea that women are subservient to men. This is not merely an implication. Furthermore, the use of anthropomorphic conventions in naming AI can affect its perceived potential to harm, as it begins to appear to have a “mind of its own.”

AI Ethics

Harvard Business Review - Why Adopting GenAI Is So Difficult

First, many businesses, large and small, are still grappling with how to integrate traditional AI — such as rule-based algorithm and machine learning — into their operations. At best, they are in an exploratory phase with traditional AL, and at worst they’re simply feeling lost. A recent study suggested that more than 70% of the large companies surveyed were still wondering how to reap the potential benefits that AI can offer.

AI

Information Week - IT’s Waste Management Job With Software Applications

In 2023, SaaS management firm Zylo reported that “44% of businesses' SaaS licenses were wasted or underutilized and that the average organization was wasting $17 million in unused SaaS licenses every year.” Zylo went on to say, “Enterprise organizations (10,000 employees+) spend over $224M on SaaS but only utilize 50% of their SaaS licenses.” Zylo added that “70% of SaaS application contracts were renewed in 2023, despite being underutilized.”

IT Management

ZDNet - Generative AI on its own will not improve the customer experience

As many as 90% say difficulty integrating AI with other systems is a barrier, followed by 79% reporting security concerns. But perhaps the biggest barrier to AI adoption is a mix of data silos and systems fragility holding companies back. Almost universally, 98% of IT leaders report facing challenges regarding digital transformation.

AI

Network Computing - How to Securely Access Customer Networks With BYOC

To address these challenges, a new architecture has emerged called Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC). BYOC means that the data plane portion of the SaaS vendor’s software stack is deployed into their customers’ environment to store, process, and analyze customer data. The control plane consists of all the backend services and computational resources required to configure and manage data sets in the vendor’s network, and it runs in the SaaS vendor’s cloud environment while connecting to the BYOC data plane that runs in the customer’s network via APIs

Data Management

eWeek - Generative AI Landscape: Trends of 2024 and Beyond

In 2017, Google laid the foundation for the generative AI we use today when the company first proposed a neural network architecture called the Transformer. With transformers, it became possible to create higher-quality language models that could be trained more efficiently and with more customizable features. At this time, tools with predictive text and simple AI chatbots began to emerge and mature sparsely.

GenAI

VentureBeat - Large language models exhibit significant Western cultural bias, study finds

A new study by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology has found that large language models (LLMs) exhibit significant bias towards entities and concepts associated with Western culture, even when prompted in Arabic or trained solely on Arabic data.

AI/LLMS

tech.co - What Is Mistral AI? Le Chat and Mistral Large Explained

Mistral AI is making a splashy entrance into the already-packed battle for AI hegemony, alongside more established competitors including Google Gemini, Claude, Copilot Pro, and many others. What makes it stand out? Mistral is claiming that its most powerful model, Mistral Large, is second only to ChatGPT 4 Turbo.

AI

GeekWire - AI’s trust problem: Richard Edelman on the risk from the tech industry’s rapid rollouts

“But if we rush this, if we put it out in a way where government isn’t seen as being able to regulate because it can’t keep up, or if it’s seen as done without context where there’s reskilling or upskilling to take care of people whose jobs are going to end, then we’re going to have a populist reaction.”

AI

Computerworld - Researchers, legal experts want AI firms to open up for safety checks

The letter was sent to companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, and Midjourney, and asks them to allow researchers to investigate their products to ensure consumers are protected from bias, alleged copyright infringement, and non-consensual intimate imagery.

AI Ethics

The Verge - The EU’s new competition rules are going live — here’s how tech giants are responding

The EU has designated six companies as gatekeepers, which it defines as large digital platforms providing “core” services like app stores, search engines, and web browsers. The DMA’s restrictions apply to specific services within these companies: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft. Here’s what each has been doing to meet — and fight — those demands.

Digital Management

sdxCentral - Assessing the post-quantum threat – 3 tips to be ready

A fully functional quantum computer capable of breaking current cryptographic systems is not yet a reality. The threat is imminent enough, however, to cause some to take action in anticipation of nation state and other threat actors gaining access to quantum computing. The idea of hackers using a “harvest now, decrypt later” tactic poses an immediate risk. Adversaries could be collecting encrypted data with the purpose of decrypting it once quantum computing becomes sufficiently advanced.

Quantum Computing

CIO Influence - The ChatGPT Revolution is Coming for Compliance

Business heavyweights from Goldman Sachs to Apple – many of which have banned employees from using ChatGPT – have joined a call to rein in generative AI development over fears of misinformation and replacing human labor, as well as cybersecurity concerns. Any tool that possesses the capability to undermine data privacy, leak source code, and compromise compliance and regulatory performance through “automated decision-making” is the last thing many business leaders want to see in the pipeline.

AI/Security

Data Center Frontier - How AI Is Affecting Data Center Networks

"With growing demands from large language modeling, HPC simulation, and AI training in hyperscale data centers, network boundaries are crossing over the Terabits per second threshold," notes Peter Jones, chairman, Ethernet Alliance. "The availability of development tools capable of meeting these needs is critical to the success of next-generation Ethernet standards addressing this market."

Network Management

MIT Technology Review - Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

Grokking is just one of several odd phenomena that have AI researchers scratching their heads. The largest models, and large language models in particular, seem to behave in ways textbook math says they shouldn’t. This highlights a remarkable fact about deep learning, the fundamental technology behind today’s AI boom: for all its runaway success, nobody knows exactly how—or why—it works.

AI/LLM

Datanami - Reveal Survey Report: AI Integration is Biggest Software Challenge of 2024

However, those who have not jumped on the AI bandwagon cite concerns such as: generative AI code lacks the creativity and innovation of human developers, AI can produce code with security vulnerabilities, and code developed with AI may contain errors, bugs, or inefficiencies. There is also a concern that AI might make the developer’s role obsolete.

AI

The Verge - Microsoft’s Mistral deal beefs up Azure without spurning OpenAI

The company invested €2 billion ($2.1 billion) into Mistral and announced it would bring Mistral’s newest AI model, Mistral Large, to Azure. But the investment into Mistral, mainly a developer of open-source AI models, doesn’t mean Microsoft lost faith in its first AI child, OpenAI. Instead, Microsoft is laying the groundwork to build Azure as a model garden and give itself a foothold in Europe.

AI

AiThority - Is AI the Solution to Cyber Resilience?

The current economic climate also increases cyber risks, particularly insider threats. Threat actors take advantage of layoffs by targeting companies that have reduced their cybersecurity teams: ISC2 found that “those at companies that have had layoffs in cybersecurity are three times more likely to have been approached to act as a malicious insider.”

AI/Security

Network World - And the AI winner is…IBM?

For decades, I’ve listened to sales management tell the sales force to avoid consultative selling, avoid “educating” the customer. Make your darn numbers, sales management says. For decades (six, in fact) IBM has taken another path. They used to hand out notebooks to people, emblazoned with one word: Think. I’ve sat in on CIO/CTO-level meetings that included IBM’s account teams, and I was struck by how much the team worked to draw out that thinking. And not just thinking about technology, thinking about how technology changes business.

Automation & Productivity

Information Week - Squeezing the Maximum Value Out of Generative AI

Before LLMs, organizations needed to perform complex text analytics in order to get value out of unstructured text data, such as maintenance records or shift logs in a production environment. “LLMs can be used to structure text data and prepare it as inputs for machine learning models used for production optimization and predictive maintenance.”

AI/Data

Forbes - Three Custom AI Solutions To Implement To Increase Efficiency In 2024

So far, based on Deloitte's analysis, most organizations are primarily relying on off-the-shelf generative AI solutions. Yet with the increasing specialization, differentiation, and strategic nature of GenAI applications, the development methodologies and technological infrastructure are expected to evolve accordingly.

Automation & Productivity

ZDNet - 5.5G touted as the network to bring improved enterprise connectivity

The technology offers speeds 10 times higher than 5G, delivering peak uplink rates of 1Gbps and downlink rates of 10Gbps. He noted 5.5G also improves on three of 5G's features, namely enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-reliable low-latency communication, and massive machine-type communications.

5G

Data Science Central - GenAI: The User Interface to Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

Don’t become complacent by the GenAI productivity promises because faster doesn’t always mean better, more accurate, or less risky when reengineering or transforming operational processes and business models.

Automation & Productivity

SiliconANGLE - The unplanned genius of Broadcom’s route to AI dominance

Broadcom is positioned in the middle of the AI capital expenditure buildout, as are the hyperscalers, which are a major part of Broadcom’s business. The world, as John Furrier put it, has “just spun in Broadcom’s direction…. People changed their data center to a cloud operating model. Now they’re extending their cloud, hybrid, on-premises and edge deployments, including device mobility.”

AI

eWeek - Businesses Investing in AI: An Industry Perspective

For example, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Intel have teamed up to create an AI model trained on BCG’s confidential data, spanning over 50 years. BCG employees can now retrieve and summarize information that was previously difficult to find using a chatbot powered by Intel AI hardware and software while keeping the data private.

AI

eWeek - Top 9 AI Governance Tools 2024

IBM Cloud Pak for Data is an integrated data and AI platform that helps organizations accelerate their journey to AI-driven insights. Built on a multicloud architecture, it provides a unified view of data and AI services, enabling data engineers, data scientists, and business analysts to collaborate and build AI models faster.

AI Governance

sdxCentral - Google Cloud optimizes databases, data analytics for genAI

The hyperscaler shared the general availability of AlloyDB AI, which is designed to simplify the process of building enterprise-grade genAI applications. The AI database platform can run on-premises or in any public cloud environment and is ideal for transactional, analytical and vector workloads.

AI/Data

eWeek - GitHub Copilot vs. ChatGPT: Ultimate AI App Comparison

GitHub Copilot doesn’t do any of this, but it isn’t designed to. Rather than trying to be everything ChatGPT attempts to be, GitHub Copilot focuses — deeply and effectively — on its role as an AI assistant for software coding. However, it’s important to note that this AI assistant interface works similarly to a chatbot, as users can request code improvements, completions, and more in a chatbot interface with natural language.

Automation & Productivity

VentureBeat - Generative AI and the big buzz about small language models

In contrast, SLMs consume fewer computing resources than their larger brethren and provide surprisingly good performance — in some cases on par with LLMs depending on certain benchmarks. They’re also more customizable, allowing organizations to execute specific tasks. For instance, SLMs may be trained on curated data sets and run through retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) that help refine search. For many organizations, SLMs may be ideal for running models on premises.

AI/LLMs

Computerworld -The ROI in AI (and how to find it)

By 2030, companies will spend $42 billion a year on generative artificial intelligence (genAI) projects such as chatbots, research, writing, and summarization tools. And while the technology has been heralded as a boon to productivity, nailing down a return on investment (ROI) in genAI could prove to be elusive.

Automation & Productivity

SiliconANGLE - How synthetic data powers AI innovation – and creates new risks

Synthetic data is information that’s artificially created by computer algorithms instead of gathered from real-world events and is generally used to test and train artificial intelligence models. It’s most often generated based on real-world information and is designed to mimic it as closely as possible. But at the same time, it allows for reducing risks associated with the original data or filling in gaps missing in real-world data.

AI/Data

VentureBeat - Why does AI have to be nice? Researchers propose ‘Antagonistic AI’

This has led to growing disillusionment: Some LLMs are so “good” and “safe” that people aren’t getting what they want from them. These models often characterize “innocuous” requests as dangerous or unethical, agree with incorrect information, are susceptible to injection attacks that take advantage of their ethical safeguards and are difficult to engage with on sensitive topics such as religion, politics and mental health, the researchers point out.

AI Ethics

SciTechDaily - Revolutionizing Real-Time Data Processing: The Dawn of Edge AI

Edge computing receives a significant boost from a new optical device developed by researchers from the Tokyo University of Science, capable of real-time signal processing across various timescales. This device, demonstrating high classification accuracy on the MNIST dataset, represents a leap forward in efficient and cost-effective computing at the edge, offering a promising solution for applications requiring rapid data processing and analysis.

Edge Computing

Computerworld - Enterprise mobility 2024: Welcome, genAI

“This has been the main topic of interest in the last year. We see generative AI having impacts in multiple areas, such as script creation, knowledge-based article creation, NLP [natural language processing]-based querying of endpoint data, and help desk chatbots. All of these are considerations for inclusion within the UEM stack.”

GenAI

Network World - AI server market: cloud giants to command 60% demand in 2024

The Trendforce report also highlighted an increasing move towards proprietary ASIC development by cloud giants such as Google, AWS, Microsoft, and Meta, driven by scalability and cost efficiency. Additionally, AMD is intensifying competition by offering products at 60%–70% of the cost of similar Nvidia models, adopting a more cost-effective strategy.

Cloud

Computerworld - As workers embrace AI, employers are slow to issue guidance

One implication, said Slack, is that that employees are less likely to experiment with tools that could boost productivity. Workers at companies that have defined AI guidelines are almost six times more likely to have tried the tools, the survey indicated. Even staff at companies that limit the use of AI are more likely to try out the tools than those who work for companies with no guidelines.

Automation & Productivity

Datanami - Reducing Cloud Waste a Top Priority in 2024, FinOps Foundation Says

The biggest FinOps spending is targeting compute instances, the survey shows, with more than 50% having already spent heavily to optimize compute. That leaves plenty of room for optimizing other aspects of cloud computing, the FinOps Foundation says, including data and storage, database, containers, backup and retention, data transfer and networking, and more.

Cloud

VentureBeat - Why Meta’s V-JEPA model can be a big deal for real-world AI

The goal of V-JEPA, which stands for Video Joint Embedding Predictive Architecture, is to mimic the abilities of humans and animals to predict and anticipate how objects interact with each other. It does this by learning abstract representations from raw video footage.

AI

Forbes - Saving Telco From Itself: Overcoming The Top 5 Challenges In 2024

A common theme that is creating challenges across all of these industries is the rise of software, silicon and the edge as critical enablers—whether it’s the via disruption of AI, the re-working of operations around software development, deployment and support or the deconstruction of proprietary tech stacks into “open” hardware, software and services combinations.

Tech Trends

SiliconANGLE - CAST AI report unveils major underuse of cloud resources in Kubernetes environments

That’s resulting in substantial inefficiencies and opportunities for cost optimization in cloud computing. The second annual CAST AI Kubernetes Cost Benchmark Report, based on the analysis of 4,000 clusters runnineb Services, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure, found that for clusters containing 50 to 1,000 CPUs, organizations only use 13% of provisioned CPUs and 20% of memory, on average.

Cloud

TechBullion - From Payment Processing to Blockchain: The Hottest Fintech Startups to Watch

In the world of fintech, payment processing and blockchain technology have emerged as two of the hottest trends, revolutionizing the way we handle financial transactions. While payment processing is not a new concept, it has undergone significant advancements with the introduction of blockchain technology.

Blockchain

Computerworld - Enterprise mobility 2024: Welcome, genAI

Many of the buzziest IT trends — low-code automation, digital employee experience, and yes, even generative AI — are making their way into the major mobility management platforms. Here’s what to look for in 2024 and beyond.

Automation & Productivity

ZDNet - Beyond programming: AI spawns a new generation of job roles

Prompt engineering is also seen as a hot new job in the AI era. However, its long-term future as a professional pursuit is uncertain, says Tony Lee, CTO at Hyperscience: "I see it as a skill and expertise that is valuable and distinct. Is it a full-time job though? I'll leave that to the hiring company to decide."

Tech Jobs

AiThority - ChatGPT Benefits: 1 in 4 Information Workers Use AI Tools Every Week at the Workplace

Of the information sector respondents surveyed, almost a third (31%) agreed that the technical abilities needed to use AI efficiently was a potential drawback, and a further 31% also saw bias errors in AI systems as a potential drawback.

ChatGPT

sdxCentral - Data center demand geographically shifts in search of power

Generative AI (genAI) requires incredible amounts of power compared to general purpose computing, with some use cases demanding between 300 and 500 MW of electricity. New York and New Jersey saw the most substantial AI deployments in H2 2023. “The proximity to financial services firms and the network of AI talent have driven demand in those markets,” according to the report.

AI/Data

CIO Influence - AI Security Imperatives for 2024: Collaboration Between Tech and Governments

Cisco’s recent findings from the Cybersecurity Readiness Index underscore a concerning reality: only a mere 15% of organizations demonstrate mature readiness to withstand cybersecurity threats, with a mere 22% adequately prepared to safeguard data. Concurrently, the 2023 Cisco AI Readiness Index reveals a stark truth: a staggering 86% of global organizations lack comprehensive readiness to integrate AI into their operations seamlessly.

AI/Security

Computerworld - Microsoft, OpenAI move to fend off genAI-aided hackers — for now

The bad news: nation states have already begun using genAI to attack the US and its friends. The good news: so far, the attacks haven’t been particularly dangerous or especially effective. Even better news: Microsoft and OpenAI are taking the threat seriously. They’re being transparent about it, openly describing the attacks and sharing what can be done about them.

AI/Security

Information Week - How to Cope with AI Disappointment

“It’s important to have the right human intelligence upfront to manage the AI and to build it into the process. “Enterprises want to implement AI to make programs faster, but must first understand the intended result, the true result, as well as the problems that haven’t been addressed.”

Automation & Productivity

sdxCentral - Deloitte on Tech: Overcoming obstacles to business value on the road to generative AI

The survey revealed that some are already actively managing genAI implementation risks through actions such as monitoring framework for genAI (46%), and conducting internal audits and testing on Generative AI tools and applications (42%).

GenAI

Network Computing - 5G is Moving Downstream to Enterprises—And Everyone Stands to Gain from It

The same survey showed that almost two-thirds of MNOs consider private wireless networks as an important part of their enterprise strategy. While not discounting considerable consumer interest in 5G-driven services for things like gaming on the go, B2B enterprise is clearly the strongest 5G opportunity for MNOs in 2024, driving 5G indoors through on-premises public and private 5G networks.

5G

Blocks & Files - Developing AI workloads is complex. Deciding where to run them might be easier

But connectivity is not simply an external concern. “Within the four walls of the data centre we’re seeing six times the cable requirements [as] customers are connecting their GPUs, the CPUs, the network nodes. …. so, where we had one cable tray for fibre runs, now we have six times those cable trays, just to enable that.”

AI

AiThority - New IBM Study Data Reveals 74 Percent of Energy & Utility Companies Surveyed Embracing AI

Importantly, to help, Energy & Resources companies to navigate data-related challenges, including unclear data calculation and, critically, a lack of insights, IBM is highlighting its watsonx.governance toolkit for AI governance which allows a Utility company to direct, manage and monitor its AI

AI/Data

Washington Examiner - Digital detection tools struggle to identify AI-generated content, Mozilla analysis finds

The AI identifiers were divided into “human-facing disclosure methods,” such as visible labels on images, and “machine-readable methods,” such as invisible changes to an image’s code, known as “watermarks.” The researchers found that the tools fell short of what was needed to counter the sharing of AI-generated images designed to deceive the public, also known as “deepfakes.”

AI Ethics

Network World - It’s time for collaboration, not abusive positioning, telco leaders tell MWC

He highlighted 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and the cloud as the main drivers of growth and called for “continued investment in new technology.” He also applauded the rapid adoption of the Open Gateway initiative, which seeks to streamline telecommunications networks and open them up to developers. In just 12 months, 47 operators have joined the project, representing 239 networks and over 65% of global mobile connections.

Tech Trends

sdxCentral - Red Hat, Nvidia, NTT, Fujitsu power AI analysis at the edge

As artificial intelligence (AI), sensor technology and networking architectures continue to evolve, AI analysis will be crucial for assessing and triaging at the network edge. But AI analysis at a large scale can be slow, expensive and complex. By running AI analysis closer to the edge, bandwidth increases, latency lowers and the potential for innovation expands.

AI

Forbes - Unraveling The Four-Dimensional Equation Of The Modern Data Landscape

While some aspects, like data growth, are inevitable as companies grow, the challenge becomes how to make all this data more accessible and meaningful. Traditional data lakes, although initially designed to handle this growth, have become data swamps, collecting endless amounts of data that people need help with. Instead of utilizing it in real time, the data collects dust, hindering real-time analytics.

Data Management

Information Week - How to Ready Your Company for The Cloud Revolution in 2024

By the end of the year, the world's first zero-touch call centers will likely be unveiled -- a testament to the strides made in GenAI. These centers will be equipped to perform tasks that surpass the abilities of traditional chatbots, such as handling customer histories, inventory management and sensitive communication tasks, all enhanced by advanced natural language processing.

Cloud

Forbes - Lessons From The Insurance Industry: Six Keys To Developing An Effective Data Strategy

Any path toward an effective data strategy begins with knowing where your data originates and the types of data you’re collecting. Consider whether you can combine data sources or if it’s time to retire others. Your initial understanding sets the stage for a more far-reaching and well-informed approach to the data’s ultimate deployment.

Data Management

Network Computing - Why Businesses Should Watch Wi-Fi-7 Closely

Wi-Fi 7 products offer significantly more performance for enterprise users and can support more users in denser environments compared to Wi-Fi 6. It is pitched as a match for streaming applications and is able to handle more users per Access Point (AP), which translates into fewer devices to manage and maintain in deployments.

Network Management

Forbes - Five Predictions For How SaaS Will Be Managed By IT, Software Asset Management And Procurement Teams In 2024

SaaS management is often referred to as a team sport. When it’s done right, it’s the joining of forces of the IT and finance organizations. This partnership makes sense, as these teams have a common goal of efficiency. While CFOs approach efficiency from a purchasing and cash flow perspective, CIOs are focused on maximizing investments and software utility.

IT Management

SiliconANGLE - Dissecting the AI boom through the dotcom lens

Like all waves, there are also major differences. Two of the most evident are the speed of innovation and the quality of today’s companies leading the AI charge. Like the internet, AI will be ubiquitous and available for virtually all organizations to leverage, not just traditional tech firms. As well, many patterns of the dotcom era are repeating and worth examining in more detail.

AI

VentureBeat - Generative AI, IAM, culture-based programs will shape cybersecurity in 2024, Gartner says

To support organizations in their move to this model, Garter has developed PIPE (practices, influences, platforms, enablers), a framework guiding practices not traditionally used in security awareness programs — such as organizational change management, human-centric design practices, marketing and PR and security coaching.

AI/Security

SiliconANGLE - Organizations need a business-driven AI strategy, not a CAIO

Given the speed of AI updates and changes, it is imperative that organizations operate in a dynamic, iterative, risk-adjusted, repeatable approach to better focus on the value that AI can bring to their organization. The key is a synergistic multidisciplinary approach to measurement, AI-ready data strategy, security, risk governance and talent shifts.

AI Management

Computerworld - The highest-paid IT skills — and why you need them on your resume

The top 10 highest paid skills in tech can help workers earn up to 47% more — and the top skill among them is generative artificial intelligence (genAI), according to a new report from employment website Indeed and other sources.

Tech Jobs

sdxCentral - GenAI, boardroom communications gaps top Gartner’s list of cybersecurity trends

Gartner noted that security behavior and culture programs (SBCPs) have gained traction to reduce human risks, as security leaders shift focuses from increasing awareness to fostering behavioral change. The firm expected half of large enterprise chief information security officer (CISO) will adopt human-centric security design practices to minimize cybersecurity-induced friction and maximize control adoption by 2027.

Security

ZDNet - What is deep learning? Everything you need to know

In very plain terms, a computer model is shown different images of a variety of objects and is told what each one represents. With training, the model can learn to recognize and categorize the different patterns it makes out in the images and eventually recognize and learn from new images it perceives.

Machine Learning

insideHPC - In-Memory Computing Could Be the Inference Breakthrough AI Needs

CPUs, GPUs and many of the custom-designed accelerators have been the main choices for AI so far, but even the most advanced solutions are slowed by the traditional Von Neumann architecture. Custom-designed ASICs, FPGAs and APUs offer specialized controllers with higher memory bandwidth and require large amounts of RAM to hold the model in memory, making generative AI almost impossible to deliver economically.

AI

appleinsider - Apple users are increasingly falling victim to malware, phishing, and viruses

Overall, it claims that "40% of mobile users are running a device with known vulnerabilities," and that "39% of organizations had at least one device" with such issues. The report typically refers to iOS and Android together, rather than breaking out any differences, but says this is because there are growing issues even with the iPhone.

Privacy & Security

Information Week - RAI Institute Founder on Steering AI Systems to Maturity

The institute’s new model outlines five stages of maturity, including aware, active, operational, systemic, and transformative. Used in conjunction with RAI’s benchmark tools, the group hopes the maturity model will help organizations realize better AI practices and provide a grading process to track AI maturity.

AI

VentureBeat - AI set to drive major tech advancements in 2024, IEEE study finds

The proliferation of AI across industries will lead to major advancements in software development, supply chain management and cybersecurity, according to experts. Extended reality, cloud computing, 5G networks, and electric vehicles rounded out the top five technologies cited by survey respondents.

Automation & Productivity

ZDNet - Employees input sensitive data into generative AI tools despite the risks

Asked about the risks to their organization from using public generative AI tools, 39% of respondents pointed to the potential leak of sensitive data, while 38% said these tools could produce incorrect, inaccurate, or unhelpful information. Another 37% of respondents cited compliance risks and 19% noted the technology could negatively impact productivity.

AI/Data

AiThority - The Future of AI: A 2024 Vision for Customer Service and Beyond

While proprietary LLMs from the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and others currently maintain the lead, open source is catching up and will inevitably reach parity in terms of performance. Mistral’s LLMs, Meta’s Llama 2, and Microsoft’s Phi2 have already gone open-source and Apple has recently developed a smaller-scale LLM able to run on an iPhone. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen what type of market share equally powerful open-source models take, especially considering the still high cost to not just train, but also run the models on powerful GPUs.

AI

Computerworld - Microsoft Copilot Pro review: Office joins the genAI revolution

Copilot for Microsoft 365: This is the version of Copilot intended for businesses. It’s more expensive than Copilot Pro, and it’s not just integrated into Office apps — with Microsoft Graph, it can tap into all of a business’s data so you can have it write a Word document based on the contents of an email, for example, or ask it for insights that might involve looking up information in a variety of documents.

Automation & Productivity

SiliconANGLE - CrowdStrike warns of surge in adversaries using stolen credentials to exploit cloud environments

The fastest attack in 2023 was recorded at two minutes and seven seconds. Once initial access was obtained, it took only 31 seconds for an adversary to drop initial discovery tools in an attempt to compromise victims.

Security

AiThority - IBM Report: Identity Comes Under Attack, Straining Enterprises’ Recovery Time from Breaches

According to IBM X-Force, IBM Consulting’s offensive and defensive security services arm, in 2023, cybercriminals saw more opportunities to “log in” versus hack into corporate networks through valid accounts – making this tactic a preferred weapon of choice for threat actors.

Security

SiliconANGLE - Metadata is the glue: federated data silos, metadata and governance

We believe that no single data platform will conquer them all. And that organizations will look to continue to break apart the compute or execution layer from the data storage layer in their composable data platform. In the research, we see organizations looking at ways to address their major challenges: costs of compute and storage, number of systems to manage, how to understand what data they have, and how to govern the use of that data. This research note digs into the last two issues around knowing what data you have and who can use it.

Data Management

CIO Influence - Balancing Act: Ethics and Privacy in the Age of Big Data Analytics

The significance of big data collection and analytics is increasing at a rapid pace. According to IBM, a staggering 90% of the world’s data has been generated in the past two years alone. This exponential growth in data holds profound implications across various industries, underlining the need for data analysis. Organizations leverage big data to drive informed decision-making, innovate products and services, and address complex challenges.

Data & Analytics

SiliconANGLE - New report warns of ongoing rise of malicious emails bypassing secure email gateways

The Cofense 2024 Annual State of Email Security Report, based on 35 million employee accounts tracked by Cofense, identified more than 1.5 million malicious emails bypassing customer secure email gateways, or SEGs, last year, up 37% from 2022 and 310% from 2021. In context, the report notes that Cofense detected at least one malicious email bypassing their customer’s SEGs every 57 seconds.

Security

VentureBeat - These are the software roles you can leverage for remote working

In particular, if you’re looking for a job in natural language processing, blockchain engineering, front and back end as well as full stack, cloud computing, version control with Git and GitHub, database management or cybersecurity, then you’ve got the best possible chance of securing the working conditions that work for you.

Tech Jobs

ZDNet - Does your business need a chief AI officer?

"That's why you see task forces," she says. "And, generally, it's much better to have line risk. It's better to have clear responsibilities and task forces." Implementing and overseeing AI successfully is a complicated conundrum that touches on all parts of the enterprise.

IT Management

sdxCentral - Tech companies ditch degree requirements, focus on skills

The practice is gaining ground on the governmental level, too: Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey recently instituted skills-based hiring practices for state jobs, noting that “too many job applicants are being held back by unnecessary degree requirements.”

Tech Jobs

Information Week - Solving the Non-Invasive Data Governance Puzzle

Employee non-adherence (or in some cases, lack of knowledge) to security and governance policies is one reason why more companies are using social engineering audits to review practices in user departments. Another reason for lapses in governance is employee stress, which in 2023, according to Gallup, was at 44% of all employees.

Data Management

sdxCentral - Dragos warns of rising ransomware, inaccurate vulnerability advisories

Dragos argues OT vulnerabilities should be addressed and mitigated differently from IT ones based on the strict operational requirements of OT systems, such as system uptime and vendor qualification processes.

Security

CIO Influence - HP Reveals Security Threat Trends: Adversaries Target Endpoints

In Q4, a significant portion of intrusion attempts, with 84% involving spreadsheets and 73% involving Word documents, targeted vulnerabilities in Office applications, marking a departure from macro-enabled attacks. However, macro-enabled attacks remain prevalent, especially in instances utilizing low-cost malware like Agent Tesla and XWorm.

Security

AiThority - Survey Shows K-12 Schools Unprepared to Manage Risks and Capture Benefits of AI

“EAB’s report confirms that teacher shortages, behavioral disruptions, worsening student mental health, and other familiar challenges are so pervasive that exploring how new technologies such as AI can help doesn’t even make the ‘to-do’ list,” said EAB Senior Director of K-12 Research Ben Court.

AI

The Verge - Watermarking the future

Watermarking puts the burden on the consumer, relying on an individual’s sense that something isn’t right for information. But people generally do not make it a habit to check the provenance of anything they see online. Even if a deepfake is tagged with telltale metadata, people will still fall for it — we’ve seen countless times that when information gets fact-checked online, many people still refuse to believe the fact-checked information.

AI Ethics

VentureBeat - Why artificial general intelligence lies beyond deep learning

The goal is to identify decisions that demonstrate robustness — the ability to perform well across diverse futures. While many deep learning approaches prioritize optimized solutions that may fail when faced with unforeseen challenges (such as optimized just-in-time supply systems did in the face of COVID-19), DMDU methods prize robust alternatives that may trade optimality for the ability to achieve acceptable outcomes across many environments

AI/ML

Data Science Central - Transparency? What the Heck is That!?

Transparency is essential if organizations want to create AI models people can trust and will comfortably and confidently embrace. Understanding how the AI models reason and make decisions can determine whether people embrace them and have moral implications. Unfortunately, explanations of transparency can be too complicated and focus too much on technical details about data and AI technologies.

AI/Data

VentureBeat - How AI is redefining data-based roles

AI will replace few if any data-related roles. Instead, AI-powered software will enhance their capabilities — and encourage ambitious data professionals to jump on acquiring whatever new AI-related skills may be demanded. Here’s a quick rundown of the impact AI will have on data roles across the organization.

AI/Data

sdxCentral - Tech leaders can’t play it safe in 2024

While 60 percent of workers use genAI tools internally is impressive, more eye-catching is the fact that 50 percent will use AI to offer custom-facing tools, according to Forrester’s research. Guarani said Forrester is an example of this shift to custom-facing AI that lets its clients can now use genAI to search its entire library of research.

Automation & Productivity

Computerworld - Tech spending shifts to meet AI demand, forces a 'reshuffling of skills' for workers

The adoption of AI has the potential to reshape the workforce, though many employees could be looking at reskilling instead of separation. According to a 2023 survey of 1,684 C-suite executives by McKinsey Global Institute, about four in 10 respondents reporting AI adoption expect more than 20% of their companies’ workforces will be reskilled in the next three years; and 8% expect the size of their workforces to decrease by more than 20%.

Automation & Productivity

SiliconANGLE - Cloud optimization wanes as AI slowly lifts off

In this Breaking Analysis, we update you on our latest hyperscale cloud spending and market share data. We’ll analyze the Enterprise Technology Research survey data on cloud optimization, assess the generative AI updraft for the big three U.S. cloud players and look at some of the industry trend data on cloud spend by platform.

Cloud

eWeek - What Is A Large Language Model (LLM)? A Complete Guide

Large language models bridge the gap between human communication and machine understanding. Aside from the tech industry, LLM applications can also be found in other fields like healthcare and science, where they are used for tasks like gene expression and protein design. DNA language models (genomic or nucleotide language models) can also be used to identify statistical patterns in DNA sequences. LLMs are also used for customer service/support functions like AI chatbots or conversational AI.

AI/LLM

SiliconANGLE - Contentsquare survey shows rising online frustration and falling traffic

Experimenting with traffic sources and entry pages: Relying on the same channels and landing pages won’t lead to success. Rather, experimenting with the traffic mix and testing entry pages to start visitor journeys in the best possible spot is the way to go. Tailoring the journey to visitor intentions will almost certainly improve conversion rates.

Sales/Marketing

Information Week - Has Apple Changed VR and AR’s Trajectory with the Vision Pro?

So now Apple’s Vision Pro is out, offering VR and AR, with spatial computing that lets users control and use software and apps through the headset. This includes Bloomberg Pro that lets subscribers access news, research, and other content. Consumer brand Mars ran a Snickers AR experience, via Blippar, for its candy tied to Super Bowl LVIII.

AR/VR

sdxCentral - AI security initiatives comparison: Microsoft and OpenAI vs. Google

Microsoft and OpenAI also work with MITRE to integrate LLM-themed tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) into the MITRE ATT&CK framework or MITRE ATLAS (Adversarial Threat Landscape for Artificial-Intelligence Systems) knowledgebase.

AI/Security

Information Week - Keys to Maximizing Data Value

Jain believes that the most effective way to maximize data value is by ensuring that the data is well-connected and not isolated within silos. “When data elements are interconnected and form a unified fabric, they can collectively tell a more comprehensive story,” she says. “It’s about establishing a single source of truth within your organization where every piece of data contributes to a larger, interconnected narrative.”

Data Management

VentureBeat - ‘Game on’ for video AI as Runway, Stability react to OpenAI’s Sora leap

Clearly, the race for video AI gold is on. After all, just a few months ago Runway blew people’s minds with its Gen-2 update. Three weeks ago, Google introduced its Lumiere video AI generation model, while just last week, Stability AI launched SVD 1.1, a diffusion model for more consistent AI videos.

AI/Video

CIO Influence - Leveraging Augmented Analytics for Enhanced Business Intelligence

According to insights from Gartner, augmented analytics involves leveraging enabling technologies such as machine learning and AI to support data preparation, insight generation, and insight explanation. This augmentation aims to enhance how individuals explore and analyze data within analytics and business intelligence (BI) platforms.

Data & Analytics

VentureBeat - What is Apple’s generative AI strategy?

Apple is not a hyper-scaler and can’t build a business model based on selling access to large language models (LLMs) running in the cloud. But it has the strongest vertical integration in the tech industry with full control over its entire stack, from the operating system to the development tools and down to the processors running in every Apple device.

GenAI

The Verge - The text file that runs the internet

For decades, robots.txt governed the behavior of web crawlers. But as unscrupulous AI companies seek out more and more data, the basic social contract of the web is falling apart.

AI/Data

Business Insider - Amazon, Microsoft, and Google say cloud cost-cutting is waning. Customers say cost controls are still a major barrier.

Companies often don't understand exactly what they're spending on in the cloud, the survey found. 65% said they were unsure of all their company's cloud instances. 35% reported cloud cost overruns in the last 12 months, nearly half of which were over $100,000 or $500,000.

Cloud

Computerworld - Tech spending shifts to meet AI demand, forces a 'reshuffling of skills' for workers

CompTIA pegs the IT unemployment rate in the US at 2.3%, more than a full percentage point below the national unemployment average of 3.7%. Janco Associates, however, puts IT unemployment at 5.5%, more than a full point above the national average. And Janco’s data paint a far grimmer picture for 156,000 unemployed IT pros.

Tech Jobs

InfoWorld - 5 things to consider before you deploy an LLM

Most enterprise LLM systems will be custom-trained in specific data sets. A disadvantage to the neural networks on which LLMs rely is that they are notoriously difficult to debug. As the technology progresses, LLMs may develop the ability to revise, erase, or “unlearn” something false that it has learned. But for now, unlearning can be quite difficult. What is your process or procedure for regularly updating the LLM, and eliminating bad responses?

AI/LLMs

ZDNet - Microsoft and OpenAI detect and disrupt nation-state cyber threats that use AI, report shows

The two tech companies tracked state-affiliated adversary attacks from Forest Blizzard, Emerald Sleet, Crimson Sandstorm, Charcoal Typhoon, and Salmon Typhoon. Each attack used LLMs to augment its cyber operations in some capacity, including assistance with research, troubleshooting, and generating content.

AI/Security

SiliconANGLE - New report finds sensitive information at risk in 55% of generative AI inputs

In the last thirty days, more than half of data loss prevention or DLP events detected by Menlo Security included attempts to input personally identifiable information. The next most common data type that triggered DLP detections included confidential documents, representing 40% of input attempts.

AI/Security

TechBullion - Discover the Top 10 CDN Tools for 2024

A CDN is a geographically distributed network of servers that work together to deliver web content more efficiently and effectively to users. It works by storing static website content, such as images, videos, and files, on multiple servers located around the world. When a user requests this content, the CDN serves it from the server closest to them, reducing latency and improving overall website performance.

Content Management

Information Week - Pressure to implement AI raises IT tensions

“To accommodate AI’s increased power and computing demands, more than three-quarters of companies will require further data center graphics processing units (GPUs) to support current and future AI workloads. In addition, 30% say the latency and throughput of their network is not optimal or sub-optimal, and 48% agree that they need further improvements on this front to cater to future needs.”

AI/IT Management

AiThority - JumpCould Finds Organizations Embracing AI Despite Security Concerns

With a strong majority of respondents both planning or actively implementing within the next year and advocating for AI investment, IT leaders clearly see potential benefits from deploying AI in their workplaces. But IT admins report notable concerns around their organizations’ current ability to secure against related threats—and personal concerns about AI’s impact on their career.

AI/Security

VentureBeat - How AI is strengthening XDR to consolidate tech stacks

XDR is riding a strong wave of support due to its ability to consolidate functions while limiting data movement, two high priorities for CISOs today. Those benefits are especially important in an era of security budgets being scrutinized more closely than before. Add to that the ability to bring in more telemetry data, including sources that are behaviorally based that can be used to identify anomalous behavior, including insider threats, and AI’s potential impact to improve XDRs continually is clear.

AI/Security

SiliconANGLE - Rethinking the business of software at ZohoDay 2024

Vegesna presented a live AI-driven demo, building an application on the fly and generating relevant data tables with just a prompt to “Generate an Analyst Relations management app” to its Zia AI assistant atop Zoho Creator, using the context of its analyst contact data. Having managed analyst relations as a vendor in my own past, I found the resulting instant app looked surprisingly workable, containing the parameters I’d expect for organizing this complex relationship-centric process.

Emerging Tech

Forbes - 18 Best Practices For Designing Seamless, Flexible And Efficient APIs

“An API’s design must hide the complexity of the underlying computations, no matter how intensive, convoluted and advanced the solution is at a lower level. Good interfaces are those that abstract complexity and provide universally intuitive access to data and functionalities that make sense for the average user.”

DevOps

eWeek - 20 Key Generative AI Examples in 2024

Stable diffusion can be used across multiple domains. For manufacturing, especially in the early stages of product development, it can be instrumental in visualizing product concepts and designs. This application of generative AI allows designers to quickly iterate on ideas and visualize potential products, streamlining the design process and powering more creative exploration.

GenAI

SiliconANGLE - The role of data loss prevention tools in protecting against AI data exfiltration

One of the cybersecurity challenges associated with generative AI is the potential for attackers to utilize it for multivector social engineering attacks and creating clean malware code. Attackers are using gen AI to create language models that can launch targeted voice, email and text attacks, making it difficult to protect against because they appear legitimate. Additionally, generative AI is being used to create clean malware code, making it challenging to identify the actor behind the attack

Data Management

eWeek - Generative AI and Cybersecurity: Ultimate Guide

In this guide, you’ll learn about generative AI’s pros and cons for cybersecurity, how major companies are currently using this technology to bolster their cybersecurity tools, and how you can use generative AI in ways that balance efficacy with cybersecurity and ethical best practices.

AI/Security

Information Week - Investing In a Multi-Cloud Strategy to Maximize Efficiency

While the first significant wave of cloud adoption was driven mainly by the opportunity for cost savings, more recent moves to multi-cloud architectures are often caused by a desire for greater innovation. Many organizations are shifting their IT focus from cost savings and operational streamlining to generating revenue and innovation.

Cloud

Network World - AI-powered 6G wireless promises big changes

6G (sixth-generation cellular) will deliver significant improvements in security, resilience, reliability, latency, connection density, traffic capacity, spectrum efficiency, and user data rates, compared to 5G. It is expected to be 50 times faster than 5G, with a top-end, theoretical speed of 1Tbps, compared to 20Gbps for 5G. It can also handle 10 million devices per square kilometer, compared with 1 million for 5G, according to Keysight Technologies.

Network Management

Computerworld - The AI data-poisoning cat-and-mouse game — this time, IT will win

One, it tries to target a specific company by making educated guesses about the kind of sites and material they would want to train their LLMs with. The attackers then target, not that specific company, but the many places where it is likely to go for training. If the target is, let’s say Nike or Adidas, the attackers might try and poison the databases at various university sports departments with high-profile sports teams. If the target were Citi or Chase, the bad guys might target databases at key Federal Reserve sites.

AI Ethics

VentureBeat - Year of the dragon: We have entered the AI age

The resulting landscape is one where gen AI becomes not just an option, but an essential driver of innovation, efficiency and competitive edge. This transformative shift signifies a move from tentative exploration to confident, informed application, marking 2024 as the year where gen AI transitions from an emerging trend to a fundamental business practice.

AI

sdxCentral - 5 hot data center jobs for 2024

Data center IT operations manager - As artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) remain high business priorities in 2024, companies like Microsoft, Amazon Data Services and Google are hiring data center IT operations managers in Q1 2024.

Tech Jobs

CIO Influence - Gemini Advanced: All You Need to Know About Google’s Powerful AI Suite

The Gemini Advanced version, accessible through a Google One AI Premium subscription, unlocks the full potential of Ultra 1.0. This enhanced experience excels in reasoning, following instructions, coding, and creative collaboration. Imagine a personal tutor tailored to your learning style or a creative partner assisting with content strategy or business plans.

AI

TechTarget - IoT trends to keep an eye on in 2024 and beyond

And with more IoT devices collecting data, there's more data for analysis and training. These models, once created in data centers, can be implemented as an inference engine at the network edge or in IoT endpoint devices to enable new and better performing applications. Some of these models can also learn locally, adjusting their capabilities as they gain experience with data in the field.

IoT

SiliconANGLE - The rising tide of sovereign AI

In practice, sovereign AI involves national governments’ strategic development and deployment of AI technologies to protect national sovereignty, security, economic competitiveness and societal well-being. Sovereign AI encompasses a nation’s approach to harnessing AI for its socioeconomic, cultural and geopolitical context and – in theory – stands in contrast with corporate-controlled AI, which is developed and deployed less in any nation-state’s interest and more to generate profits and gain market share.

AI

Data Science Central - 10 Prominent Data Science Predictions 2024- Know What the Industry Experts Say?

Real-time data shall become the standard for businesses to power generative experiences with artificial intelligence. Data layers should support both transactional and real-time analytics. He further goes on to say that, the world of data science should expect a paradigm shift from model-centric to data-centric Artificial intelligence. Multimodal LLMs and databases will enable a new frontier of AI applications across industries.

Data & Analytics

ZDNet - ChatGPT vs. Microsoft Copilot vs. Gemini: Which is the best AI chatbot?

Knowing which of the three most popular AI chatbots is best to write code, generate text, or help build resumes is challenging, so we'll break down the biggest differences so you can choose one that fits your needs.

Automation & Productivity

CIO Influence - Why Should Companies Invest in a Strong ZTNA Technology

Talent acquisition and retention challenges in technology fields, coupled with compliance with diverse and evolving regulations, present additional hurdles. Meeting heightened customer expectations for seamless digital experiences, addressing supply chain disruptions, and managing the ethical use of technology further contribute to the multifaceted challenges businesses face today.

IT Management

sdxCentral - Verizon’s 70 billion network data points highlight genAI potential (and challenges)

“AI and analytics engines are only as good as the data you put into them,” Silliman said. “We have an enormous body of data across Verizon, but it sits in 29,000 different data sources, which in many ways are fragmented, we don’t have common taxonomy. So the journey we’re on right now is bringing all of our data together into common platforms and common governance and taxonomy structures.”

GenAI

Network World - Startups pursue GPU alternatives for AI

Naturally, there are plenty of companies coming for Nvidia’s crown. It’s not only the obvious competitors like AMD and Intel but also several startups that purport to have created better ways to process large language models (LLMs) and other elements of AI. These companies include SambaNova, Cerebras, GraphCore, Groq, xAI, and more. At the same time, Intel is pursuing a GPU alternative as well with its Gaudi3 processor (along with having the Max GPU line for data centers).

AI/LLMs

ITPro Today - Why Many ITOps Teams Must Also Take On Cybersecurity Tasks

In the real world, though, cybersecurity operations tend to look more like this: In the course of their day-to-day monitoring routines, a team of ITOps engineers who don't specialize in SecOps notices something unusual, like an unexpected surge in network traffic. Further investigation reveals that the activity stems from a cyberattack, and the IT engineers are suddenly on the frontline of shutting it down — hopefully with the assistance of a cybersecurity engineer or two, but possibly not, because not all businesses employ dedicated security teams.

Security

SiliconANGLE - Advancing data architecture for generative AI

The traditional solutions that technical professionals have previously used might not handle the velocity, variety and volume of data generated by modern application and analytical workloads. Because of gen AI, they must adopt new and recent approaches to data storage and delivery. These approaches can influence a wide variety of data ecosystems, including data lakes, warehouses and hubs

AI/Data

AiThority - Threat Intelligence Report Exposes the Impact of GenAI on Remote Identity Verification

Face swaps are created using generative AI tools and present a huge challenge to identity verification systems due to their ability to manipulate key traits of the image or videos. A face swap can easily be generated by off-the-shelf video face-swapping software and is harnessed by feeding the manipulated or synthetic output to a virtual camera. Unlike the human eye, advanced biometric systems can be made resilient to this type of attack.

AI/Security

SiliconANGLE - AI hallucinations: The 3% problem no one can fix slows the AI juggernaut

Hallucinatory behavior takes multiple forms, from leaking training data to exhibiting bias to falling victim to prompt injections, a new type of cyberthreat in which bad actors manipulate models to perform unintended actions. In extreme cases, models go completely off the rails, such as a beta test version of Microsoft Corp.’s Sydney chatbot did early this year when it professed its love for The Verge journalist Nathan Edwards and confessed to murdering one of its developers. (It didn’t.)

AI Ethics

PC Magazine - What Layoffs? Big Tech Is Only Getting Bigger

Tech (under the heading of “Semiconductors, Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Technology Hardware & Equipment”) is only number 18 when it comes to industries with frustrating pay. (No shock to see both Education and Healthcare are number one; they are the Rodney Dangerfield of fields of work.)

Tech Jobs

Information Week - Dealing With Deepfakes

“Five years ago, deepfakes were things that were complicated to build. You needed to be quite expert,” Newell recalls. “They were expensive. And to be honest, they didn't look very good. Now, they are extremely easy to make. There are tools that are essentially free. The level of expertise [required] is very, very low.”

Privacy & Security

Computerworld - What are LLMs, and how are they used in generative AI?

If you need to boil down an email or chat thread into a concise summary, a chatbot such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Bard can do that. If you need to spruce up your resume with more eloquent language and impressive bullet points, AI can help. Want some ideas for a new marketing or ad campaign? Generative AI to the rescue.

AI/LLMs

Yahoo!Finance - Bloomberg - Humans Still Cheaper Than AI in Vast Majority of Jobs, MIT Finds

In one of the first in-depth probes of the viability of AI displacing labor, researchers modeled the cost attractiveness of automating various tasks in the US, concentrating on jobs where computer vision was employed — for instance, teachers and property appraisers. They found only 23% of workers, measured in terms of dollar wages, could be effectively supplanted. In other cases, because AI-assisted visual recognition is expensive to install and operate, humans did the job more economically.

Automation & Productivity

ZDNet - Business sustainability ambitions are hindered by these four big obstacles

Despite the stated importance of sustainability to commercial success, only 37% of respondents believe sustainability is "very integrated" into the core of their business. Low integration of sustainability into key functions, such as finance and technology, means there is less opportunity for people on the sustainability team to understand the commercial opportunities for the business.

Sustainability

Information Week - Expect the Unexpected: How to Reduce Zero-Day Risk

A number of zero-day bugs in browsers, for instance, have emerged in the first month of 2024. A zero-day (CVE-2024-0519) in Google Chrome, allows for code injection. Attackers actively exploited the vulnerability, which Google has patched by this point. A zero-day bug (CVE-2024-23222) in Apple’s WebKit browser engine for Safari has also been exploited and patched. Attackers could leverage that vulnerability to execute code on impacted systems.

Security

SiliconANGLE - Nord Quantique’s latest research paper promises scalable quantum computing

The company claims the ability is a world-first. Quantum error correction to improve qubit coherence lifetime at the individual qubit level uses techniques designed to protect quantum information stored in qubits from errors — which can occur from decoherence and other quantum noise — without necessitating a significant increase in the number of physical qubits.

Dice - Tech Jobs with the Biggest Increases in Postings

If you’re currently on the job hunt, it’s also worth considering which jobs pay the most. Dice’s latest edition of the Tech Salary Report breaks down which types of engineers, managers, and other specialists have the highest earning potential; while managers (especially high-ranking ones such as CTOs and CIOs) can pull down huge paychecks, developers and engineers in “hot” arenas such as cloud and DevOps also earn high average pay:

Tech Jobs

TechTalks - What to know about the rising threat of deepfake scams

Don’t trust anything coming from a public figure unless you see it on their official channels such as social media accounts and websites. Social media algorithms can easily be gamed with sensational videos that generate engagements and clicks. But if the video has not been shared on the real person’s account, then don’t trust it, even if it looks real.

Security

Information Week - IT Security Hiring Must Adapt to Skills Shortages

Organizations must continue to expand their recruiting pool, account for the bias that currently exist in cyber-recruiting, and provide in-depth training through apprenticeships, internships and on-the-job training, to help create the next generation of cyber-talent.

Tech Jobs

ZDNet - Ransomware leak site reports rose by 49% in 2023, but there is good news

As far as motivation is concerned, the report states, "Leak site data reveals at least 25 new ransomware groups emerged in 2023, indicating the continued attraction of ransomware as a profitable criminal activity." Fortunately, the report indicates, "Despite the appearance of new groups such as Darkrace, CryptNet and U-Bomb, many of these new ransomware threat actors did not last and disappeared during the second half of the year."

Security

Datanami - Alluxio Founder and CEO Reveals Top Data Predictions for 2024

In 2024, more organizations will recognize the pressing sustainability challenges posed by AI projects as adoption accelerates. Technological advancements like optimized data architectures, reduced data copies, and renewable energy tapping will help. However, technology alone is not enough. Organizations will also need to implement governance processes and human-centered values that ensure AI projects drive business value without negatively impacting the environment

Data Management

Network Computing - Organizations Left Grappling for Solutions Amid Alarming Cloud Security Gaps

While 98 percent of the 1,600 IT security decision-makers polled said their organizations store and manage sensitive data in the cloud, over half believe their cloud security postures are weak. This fear stems from their reliance on traditional security tools designed to protect on-premises IT systems that have proven ineffective at securing cloud-based resources.

Cloud Security

Computerworld - What a future without browser cookies looks like

“In the short term, there will be some disruption with advertisers struggling to market themselves effectively,” Lall said. “This may seem good for consumers who are ‘cookie free.' However, there will likely just be more irrelevant ads flooding the media trying to find an audience. So, it’s a bit of a double-edged sword.”

Data Privacy

ZDNet - Cybersecurity burnout hits APAC firms, with lack of resources the key challenge

Some 17% of professionals across the region said fatigue and burnout had contributed or was directly responsible for a cybersecurity breach in their organization. This figure was highest in India at 25%, followed by Singapore at 23%, Malaysia at 21%, and Australia and 19%.

Security

VentureBeat - Eight emerging areas of opportunity for AI in security

Vendor risk management and compliance automation. Cybersecurity now involves securing the entire third-party application stack as companies communicate, collaborate, and integrate with third-party vendors and customers, according to Menlo Venture’s prediction of how risk management will evolve.

AI/Security

ZDNet - 15 big ideas that will revolutionize industries and economies, led by AI

The research suggests coding assistants are early success stories that have boosted the productivity and job satisfaction of software developers. AI-powered assistants are increasing the performance of knowledge workers and, interestingly, benefiting underperforming workers relatively more than high performers:

Automation & Productivity

VentureBeat - Tech industry is poised for comeback in 2024 | Deloitte

While “efficiency” emerged as the primary focus for 25% of respondents, “innovation” and “productivity” tied at 21%, closely followed by “growth” at 19%. The majority perceived the industry as “innovative” and “evolving,” with 62% feeling it was an opportune time for their companies to take greater risks.

Tech Trends

Information Week - What to Know About Machine Customers

Challa says the organization's leadership will be the key stakeholders driving machine customer engagement plans. He points to the CEO, chief technology officer (CTO), chief data officer (CDO), customer service and support leaders, sales and marketing heads, and risk, legal, compliance and security executives.

Automation & Productivity

SiliconANGLE - Google report warns of risk posed by commercial surveillance industry

Google TAG has identified about 40 commercial surveillance vendors, or CSVs, actively engaged in the trade. They sell sophisticated hacking tools that not only serve legitimate law enforcement purposes but are also misused to undermine freedom of speech, a free press and the integrity of global elections

Privacy & Security

ZDNet - 15 big ideas that will revolutionize industries and economies, led by AI

The 2024 Big Ideas report by ARK identifies five innovation platforms converging and defining the technological era: AI, public blockchains, energy storage, robotics, and multiomic sequencing. ARK also looks at the historic impact of converging technologies and estimated economic impacts.

Emerging Tech

SiliconANGLE - Stop using servers to do things they’re not good at: How DPUs can change the data game

Servers are effective at many things but were never designed for the rigors of software-defined networking, storage and security. Servers excel in processing massive amounts of data, but they should not be performing functions such as network address translation, telemetry, firewall, storage-related services and, down the road, artificial intelligence functions such as AllReduce.

IT Management

VentureBeat - AI’s hunger games: A lucrative data market is exploding to feed insatiable LLMs | The AI Beat

The New York City company, founded in 2020, has built its own LLMs to help match over 2,500 data vendors to data buyers, which includes an ‘exploding’ number of companies which need often obscure, highly-specific datasets for their own LLM inference use cases.

AI/Data

Information Week - How Many C-Levels Does It Take to Securely Manage Regulated Data?

“I’ve seen a notable shift in the last few years to more C-suite and board leaders becoming active participants in cybersecurity conversations,” says Brent Johnson, CISO at Bluefin. “This was accelerated by the rapid transition to remote and hybrid work along with daily headlines, and coupled with mounting pressure to maintain regulatory compliance, securely managing data is no longer a concern just for CISOs.”

Security

ZDNet - 4 ways to help your organization overcome AI inertia

"What's the smallest part of that purpose that you can start making a difference on? When you go down this path, and as soon as you mention things like AI, everybody goes for 'bigger is better.' It's like, 'What's the biggest problem? Can we solve world peace?' Instead, focus on the smallest problem where you can make a difference and use that as your model going forward."

Automation & Productivity

VentureBeat - How to detect poisoned data in machine learning datasets

As AI adoption expands, data poisoning becomes more common. Model hallucinations, inappropriate responses and misclassifications caused by intentional manipulation have increased in frequency. Public trust is already degrading — only 34% of people strongly believe they can trust technology companies with AI governance.

AI Ethics

Network Computing - 5 Things You Can't Automate In Your Data Center

Theoretically, robots can automate much of the work of server deployment inside data centers. However, to do this work cost-effectively using robots, you'd need to operate on a massive scale. You'd also need server deployments that are sufficiently consistent and predictable to automate without the assistance of humans. Today, most server deployments just don't meet this criterion.

Data Management

Datanami - Deloitte’s Collaboration with Fast Company Sheds Light on Innovation Trends: 71% Eager for New Tech

The survey highlights that while the ambition to innovate is high, the journey remains long, with one such example showcasing that only 25% of companies surveyed have an innovation expert on their leadership team, and nearly half say they lack the talent and resources required for sustained progress.

Tech Trends

SiliconANGLE - Report finds excessive honeypots are spoiling cybersecurity data accuracy

“Honeypots are a net good for the security community,” the report concluded, “but their expanding popularity does make understanding real-world attack surfaces much more difficult for defenders, not just attackers.”

Security

ZDNet - Why US small businesses will lead in AI investments in 2024

Regarding technology investments, it is no surprise that small business owners are looking to AI to improve productivity and communications. It is also important to remember that all AI projects start as data projects. Research based on insights from more than 10,000 analytics, IT, and business leaders reveals the need for a strong data foundation to fuel AI adoption and benefits.

Automation & Productivity

ZDNet - Has ChatGPT rendered the US's education report card irrelevant?

The machines are dependent on what's either in the prompt or in the learned parameters of the model. That gap opens a way for humans, perhaps, to excel where neither source contains the insights required for problem-solving activities.

ChatGPT

Forbes - AI Revolutionizes Voice Interaction: The Dawn Of A New Era In Technology

His position is that the world is about to shift very rapidly towards adopting a model where voice is our primary interface with machines. In other words, for complex machine operations – like programming computers – we no longer need to learn the language of machines because they’ll just speak ours.

AI/Voice

SiliconANGLE - Six cloud security trends we’re watching in 2024

Cybersecurity mesh architecture (CSMA) is a cyber defense strategy that is rapidly gaining ground, independently securing devices with their own perimeters (firewalls/network protection tools). CMSA helps provide a multi-layered defense against cyber threats, making it more difficult for attackers to penetrate an organization’s network successfully.

Security

Network Computing - Evaluating the 2024 Cybersecurity Landscape

In 2024, expect to see the continued maturation of the cybersecurity business and platform vendors embrace the idea of delivering on cybersecurity-as-a-service. The tooling companies of yesterday want to be the business partner of today. There is far more value in the relationship of being a business partner vs. being a provider of a commodity technology solution. Platforms are critical to a business while tools are tactical to help at a given point in time.

Security

VentureBeat - Why AI and behavioral analytics are stealth strengths of Gartner’s MQ on endpoints

Gartner writes in this year’s magic quadrant (MQ) for endpoint protection platforms, “the endpoint protection platform (EPP) market is no longer limited by vendors only offering EPP and endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities, and buyers are increasingly looking for fewer vendors to deliver a wider array of capabilities.” The report continues, “email security, identity threat detection and response and extended detection and response (XDR) are increasingly part of the purchasing decision.”

Security

Information Week - Taking Plunge With Synthetic Data

Synthetic data shines when real data is scarce, sensitive, or too risky to use. “In scenarios where gathering ample and diverse data is impossible, challenging, or unethical, synthetic data steps in as a reliable alternative,” Zhu says. “It allows organizations to model complex situations without compromising privacy or safety.”

Data Management

Datanami - Exabeam and IDC Study Reveals 57% of Companies Face Major Security Incidents with North America and Western Europe Most Affected

The findings reveal a significant gap between self-reported security measures and reality. Despite 57% of interviewed organizations reporting significant security incidents, over 70% of organizations reported better performance on cybersecurity key performance indicators (KPIs), such as mean time to detect, investigate, respond, and remediate in 2023 as compared to 2022, and the overwhelming majority of organizations (over 90%) believe they have good or excellent ability to detect cyberthreats

Security

Computerworld - It’s not just hype; genAI is already live at many companies

One of the more surprising aspects of the recent rise of genAI, according to the Workato study authors, is that many of the use cases are not coming from IT or the more technical parts of the workplace. Instead, researchers see a “democratization” of the technology, as line of business teams take advantage of it to automate their work or handle processes with particularly complex tool stacks.

GenAI

CSO - Assessing and quantifying AI risk: A challenge for enterprises

To counter the risks, organizations can thoroughly evaluate their exposure to AI, assess the risks, and set guiderails and mitigation strategies in place to deal with the most business-critical issues. The assessment strategies differ based on the kind of AI that’s involved, which generally falls into three categories: internal AI projects, third-party AI, and AI used maliciously by attackers.

AI/Security

VentureBeat - 10 reasons why securing software supply chains needs to start with containers

The Cloud Native Computing Foundations’ recent Kubernetes report found that 28% of organizations have more than 90% of workloads running in insecure Kubernetes configurations. The majority of workloads, more than 71%, are running with root access, increasing the probability of system compromises and sensitive data being exposed. Many DevOps organizations overlook setting readOnlyRootFilesystem to true, which leaves their containers vulnerable to attack and unauthorized executables being written.

Security

CIO Influence - Quantum Computing and IT Security: What Leaders Need to Know

Quantum computing, a relatively unfamiliar innovation, is poised to reshape business strategies. Unlike classical computers, quantum computing leverages the principles of quantum mechanics to tackle intricate problems beyond the reach of current technology. Despite not being fully mature, with McKinsey estimating 5,000 operational quantum computers by 2030, comprehensive capabilities for complex problem-solving may not emerge until 2035 or later.

Quantum Computing

Network World - Will 2024 be Wi-Fi 7’s breakthrough year?

With Wi-Fi 7, channel width expands from 160MHz to 320MHz, effectively doubling throughput, Dion observes. “For short distances, the modulation goes from 1024QAM to 4096QAM, which can improve throughput an additional 20 percent.” Additionally, flexible channel utilization (FCU) enables wider channel use, even in areas experiencing high levels of interference.

Network Management

Forbes - The Future Of Cybersecurity Is More Human Than You Think

The Institute of Labor Economics found that most technology adopters respond to workforce trends by hiring more specialized workers. However, this time may be different considering how AI is revolutionizing cybersecurity and crunching structured and unstructured data in ways humans could never do alone.

AI/Security

ComputerWeekly - GenAI tools ‘could not exist’ if firms are made to pay copyright

Under US law, “fair use” permits the limited use of copyrighted material without permission, for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research.

AI Ethics

AiThority - AdTech Predictions: What’s In Store For 2024

Publishers are in the best position to create processes for obtaining customer consent for data and building cohorts for how advertisers can target their audiences. We can see this starting to happen as Bloomberg Media shuts off its open-market programmatic advertising in a bid to take back more control over the UX – which is showing early signs of success.

Marketng Tech

VentureBeat - How enterprises are using open source LLMs: 16 examples

But it’s also true that people may have underestimated how much experimentation would happen with open-source models. Open-source developers have created thousands of derivatives of models like Llama, including increasingly, mixing models – and they are steadily achieving parity with, or even superiority over closed models on certain metrics (see examples like FinGPT, BioBert, Defog SQLCoder, and Phind).

AI/LLMs

Computerworld - Russia hacks Microsoft: It’s worse than you think

This time around, though, Midnight Blizzard didn’t have to build a sophisticated hacking tool. To attack Microsoft, it used one of the most basic of basic hacking tricks, “password spraying.” In it, hackers type commonly-used passwords into countless random accounts, hoping one will give them access. Once they get that access, they’re free to roam throughout a network, hack into other accounts, steal email and documents, and more.

Security

VentureBeat - How data engineers should prepare for an AI world

Inserting AI into data pipelines can greatly accelerate a data engineer’s ability to extract value and insights. For example, imagine a company has a database of customer service transcripts or other text documents. With a few lines of SQL, an engineer can plug an AI model into a pipeline and instruct it to surface the rich insights from those text files. Doing so manually can take many hours, and some of the most valuable insights may only be discoverable by AI.

AI/Data

Datanami - Cisco’s 2024 Data Privacy Benchmark Study Spotlights Growing Concerns and Trust Issues in Generative AI

Most organizations are aware of these risks and are putting in place controls to limit exposure: 63% have established limitations on what data can be entered, 61% have limits on which GenAI tools can be used by employees, and 27% said their organization had banned GenAI applications altogether for the time being. Nonetheless, many individuals have entered information that could be problematic, including employee information (45%) or non-public information about the company (48%).

GenAI

ZDNet - 2024 may be the year AI learns in the palm of your hand

The impact of on-device training could be a transformation in the capabilities of neural networks. AI could be personalized to your own actions as you walk around, tapping, scrolling, and dragging. AI could learn from the environments you pass through during your daily routine, gathering signs about the world.

AI

CIO Influence - Understanding the Complex Implications of AI for Cyber Security

“Organizations should not view AI as a silver bullet, however. Security teams that rely too much on AI can fall into a false sense of security and reduce human vigilance. But AI systems do make mistakes and sometimes fail in unexpected ways.”

Security

Information Week - Top 5 Skills Gaps Every Cloud Practitioner Needs to Close

The most prominent security factors in cloud data breaches, according to CrowdStrike, include unrestricted outbound access, neglected cloud infrastructure, and disabled logging -- roadblocks that can be alleviated with heavier cybersecurity training.

Cloud

VentureBeat - Study finds AI ‘revolution’ moving at a crawl in enterprises

“The survey suggests organizations may be hesitant to adopt GenAI due to the barriers they face when implementing LLMs,” said Markus Flierl, corporate VP for the developer cloud at Intel. “With greater access to cost-effective infrastructure and services, such as those provided by cnvrg.io and the Intel Developer Cloud, we expect greater adoption in the next year as it will be easier to fine-tune, customize and deploy existing LLMs without requiring AI talent to manage the complexity.”

GenAI

Network Computing - AI Drives the Ethernet and InfiniBand Switch Market

While most of the growth in the past in the switch market has come from front-end networks, Sameh Boujelbene of the Dell'Oro Group said in a release: “This rapid growth [of AI] necessitates the deployment of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of accelerated nodes. Connecting these accelerated nodes in large clusters requires a data center-scale fabric, known as the AI back-end network, which differs from the traditional front-end network used mostly to connect general-purpose servers.”

Network Management

VentureBeat - The future of biometrics in a zero trust world

Biometric data obtained from selfies, forged passports and cyberattacks on data stores holding everything from fingerprints to DNA have long been best-sellers on the dark web. Untraceable yet very powerful in allowing attackers to access the most valuable information a victim has, attackers are racing to fine-tune their tradecraft, producing synthetic ID fraud for more sophisticated attacks.

Privacy & Security

sdxCentral - Deloitte on Tech: The future of cloud-enabled generative is almost limitless

To effectively implement both cloud and genAI, it’s essential for companies to prepare, first by modernizing their IT applications and processes onto cloud-based, cloud-built infrastructures. Further, it’s important to build a cloud-enabled workforce that has the tech fluency to drive the transformation into a cloud-based, GenAI-fluent IT organization.

AI/Cloud

Network World - 5 data center predictions: Surging demand and tighter rules squeeze operations

Even when the targets are voluntary and set by the companies themselves, the fact that they are published alongside financial reports may make them legally binding, he added. “Companies will have to close that gap,” he said. “I think a lot of companies are going to go rather quiet and possibly walk back on some of their commitments. But, hopefully, there will be some serious attention and investment paid to the issue of efficiency and a lot of new innovation will happen.”

Data Management

AiThority - Ranking of Software Companies with the Best and Worst Data Security Perception for 2024

With Data Privacy Day just around the corner, Permutable AI has compiled a list of the best and worst software firms according to how secure their customers feel their data is. Considerations such as news sentiment, social sentiment, and other relevant metrics are part of the analysis that assesses the companies’ data security posture.

Privacy & Security

sdxCentral - Decoding the true cost of cyberattacks and the financial forces driving cybercriminals

The report also found that ransomware attacks continue to plague organizations globally, with 71% of surveyed respondents experiencing such cyberattacks last year. Alarmingly, 61% ended up paying the ransom, with the highest average payment reaching $1.38 million. In addition to ransomware, phishing remains a significant threat, with 92% of organizations reporting an average of six credential compromises over the past year. The consequences of these attacks were primarily the loss or theft of sensitive information or a lawsuit.

Security

Information Week - 3 Key Privacy Trends for 2024

Privacy’s importance can be seen in three trends that will emerge in 2024 at the intersection of privacy and human resources. First, we will see increasing regulation, both in the US and globally. Second, we will see an increasing demand and expectation for transparency around data collection and usage, particularly where AI acts on personal data. Third, we will see increasing adoption of AI in the employment context.

Data Privacy

ZDNet - 90% of IT leaders say it's tough to integrate AI with other systems

IT leaders acknowledge that data silos and systems fragility are holding their companies back. Almost universal, 98% of IT leaders report facing challenges regarding digital transformation. Key drivers are the persistence of data silos at 81% and the fragility of tightly coupled and highly dependent systems at 72%.

IT Management

Information Week - Why a Chief Cyber Resilience Officer is Essential in 2024

Therefore, there is a growing need for efficient and effective responses to these threats that align risk management processes and business goals. Businesses need visionaries with a collaborative mindset and a holistic approach. However, cyber resilience hasn’t traditionally been the exclusive role of either the chief information security officer (CISO), chief information officer (CIO), nor others in the C-suite.

Security

eWeek - 12 Best AI Detectors for 2024

While generative AI tools like ChatGPT have many positive uses, they are not always used in an ethical manner. Leaders in various industries consider these generative AI tools inappropriate – sometimes even a security risk. Teachers consider generative AI tools as threats to excellence in academics.

AI

Computerworld - The rise of synthetic media: Get ready for AI avatars at work

Primed with a pre-written script, digital avatars can be used in video content without the usual production and editing costs and effort. The result: faster content creation, greater personalization, and the ability to translate communications into a range of languages without hiring a voice-over actor — all while still delivering useful information to employees and customers.

Automation & Productivity

Network Computing - AI Enables New Cyber Threats. Are You Ready?

Certifications that help in many of these areas include Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), and Certified Information Security Auditor (CISA). Additionally, there need to be people with cloud and security certifications in Amazon, Azure, and Oracle. One quick way to address the complexity and gain the needed expertise is to leverage a pool of talent through your partner.

AI/Security

VentureBeat - Exclusive: What will it take to secure gen AI? IBM has a few ideas

The three core tenets of the IBM approach are to secure the data, the model and then the usage. Underlying those three tenants is an overarching need to ensure that throughout the process there is secure infrastructure and AI governance in place.

AI/Security

SiliconANGLE - Rapid growth in AI and cloud topics evident in latest O’Reilly annual report

Last year, O’Reilly saw a 3,600% increase in topics relating to generative AI and generative pretrained transformer models, or GPTs. Natural language processing was the most widely consumed AI topic, up 195% year-over-year, with related topics such as generative models up 900%, transformers up 325% and prompt engineering — a topic that didn’t exist in 2022 — also seeing surging interest.

Tech Trends

CIO Influence - Key Takeaways from the 2023 Global Trends AI Report

Notably, the symbiotic relationship between AI/ML and edge computing emerges as a catalyst, unlocking next-gen data-intensive AI use cases. Successful scaling hinges on optimized infrastructure, with AI pioneers prioritizing high-performance computing (HPC) as a critical requirement for AI/ML applications. Enterprises with modern data architectures showcase efficient AI/ML data life cycle management across multiple venues, positioning them for effective AI project scaling.

AI Trends

The Hacker News - Cyber Threat Landscape: 7 Key Findings and Upcoming Trends for 2024

One example is the fake videos promoting cryptocurrency scams using celebrities such as billionaire Elon Musk and Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin. The videos use images of these executives at events, but the original lines are replaced by an AI-synthesized voice. The images are only altered to ensure lip sync, which is another function of this type of AI.

Security

Yahoo!Finance - Talent Gap Remains a Large Concern as More Organizations Embrace Data Analytics and Now Must Reconsider Their Deployment and Retraining Strategies

The adoption velocity of data analytics and AI has accelerated the widening talent gap in two specific areas: frontline workers, with the capacity to co-pilot new analytic tools, strategies and programs, and senior data analysts/data scientists who can co-ordinate these activities and continue to discover meaningful insights within a business framework.

Tech Jobs

SiliconANGLE - Menlo Security reports significant increase in browser-based phishing attacks in 2023

The 2023 State of Browser Security Report found a 198% increase in browser-based phishing attacks in the second half of the year and a 206% increase over the full year. Evasive attacks, those that use techniques meant to evade traditional security controls, were found to make up 30% of all browser-based phishing attacks. Evasive threats include tactics such as SMS phishing, or smishing, adversary-in-the-middle frameworks, image-based phishing, brand impersonation and multifactor authentication bypass.

Security

VentureBeat - Why LLMs are vulnerable to the ‘butterfly effect’

Even minuscule or seemingly innocuous tweaks — such as adding a space to the beginning of a prompt or giving a directive rather than posing a question — can cause an LLM to change its output. More alarmingly, requesting responses in XML and applying commonly used jailbreaks can have “cataclysmic effects” on data labeled by models.

AI/LLMs

Computerworld - 7 ways to leverage genAI for a better career

How much more are AI skills worth (beyond basic job security)? A recent survey by Access Partnership and Amazon Web Services (AWS) found that employers are willing to pay an average of 47% more to IT pros with genAI skills. And those salary premiums don't stop with IT. Companies are also willing to pay 43% more to AI-skilled sales and marketing workers; 42% more to finance, legal, and regulatory employees; 37% more to compliance workers; and 35% more to HR pros.

AI/Jobs

AiThority - AI Reshaping Business Leadership Practices and Workplace Dynamics within the Technology Sector

It highlights the necessity of emotional intelligence in building employee trust and the imperative to address employee burnout. Emboldify’s ‘Top Trends for Tech Leaders’ report identifies the evolution of management practices suitable for the modern workforce and the importance of adaptability and innovation in leadership, as AI continues to revolutionize employee, customer, and user experiences.

Automation & Productivity

SiliconANGLE - US tops 164 countries targeted by threat actors in 2023

The Forescout Research Vedere Labs 2023 Global Threat Roundup Report found that the U.S. was targeted by 168 malicious actors in 2023, followed by the U.K. being targeted by 88, Germany 77, India 72 and Japan 66. The highest concentration of threat actors was from China with 155, followed by Russia with 88 and Iran with 45. The three countries collectively account for nearly half of all identified threat groups.

Security

AiThority - New National Survey Results Show First Responders Call for Mobile-Friendly Tech and AI to Enhance Community Service

“Public safety professionals are spending up to half their shift filling out reports, rather than addressing operational needs and responding to calls for service. And on top of that, 70% of first responders need to use overtime to finish paperwork. We also learned that paperwork is the top activity that first responders spend their time on, ahead of proactive crime prevention and working with youth,”

Automation & Productivity

Network Computing - APIs: The Key to Generative AI Success and Security

Our research shows both LLMs and the apps built to take advantage of them—whether advisors, agents, or assistants—will be deployed both on-premises and in the public cloud. While there appears to be a preference for public cloud, both locations are likely for all components that make up what is emerging as "AI Apps."

SiliconANGLE - MIT study shows AI is still too costly to replace most human workers

The report’s surprising finding was that just 23% of workers’ wages for such jobs could be cost-effectively replaced by AI systems. “Even with a 50% annual cost decrease, it will take until 2026 before half of the vision tasks have a machine economic advantage,” researchers wrote. “By 2042 there will still exist tasks that are exposed to computer vision, but where human labor has the advantage.”

Automation & Productivity

AiThority - 10 Key Take Aways From AI Index Report 2023

There are more advantages than disadvantages to AI products and services, according to a 2022 IPSOS survey in which 78% of Chinese respondents agreed. This is the greatest percentage of any country surveyed. Saudi Arabians (76%) and Indians (71%) had the second-highest positive impressions of AI goods, behind only Chinese respondents. Among the nations polled, Americans had the lowest percentage of respondents (35%) who felt that the advantages of AI-powered goods and services outweighed their disadvantages.

AI

Information Week - Data Modernization: Turning an Ugly Duckling into a Swan

On corporate boards and in executive suites, there is verbal acknowledgement that without data quality, security, and integration (i.e., data modernization), there can be no artificial intelligence, which all companies want. Unfortunately, modernizing data is unglamorous, painstaking and often difficult to justify for budget funding.

Data Management

AiThority - Generative AI – To Grow by 10X to Become a $100 Billion Market by 2028

According to research by Sopra Steria Next, the generative AI market is expected to increase tenfold by 2028 to around $100 billion, equating to annual growth of 65%. This commercial take-off in the generative AI market can be explained in particular by the introduction of policies and guidelines governing the controlled use of GenAI, particularly in the business world, as well as greater competition between major generalist AI models and the rise of specialised large language models (LLMs) enabling the proliferation of applications targeting multiple use cases.

GenAI

VentureBeat - Navigating the intersection of cybersecurity and AI: Key predictions for 2024

The combination of social engineering exploits and gen AI technology will result in a surge of cyber breaches, characterized by enhanced quality, diversity and quantity. This will create a feedback loop that facilitates iterative improvements, making these breaches even more sophisticated and challenging to mitigate.

AI/Security

FedScoop - Degree requirements are hurting government’s AI recruitment efforts, House lawmakers and experts say

“We have a shortage of 700,000 cybersecurity workers across the private and public sectors,” Mace said during the hearing. “We know that our traditional education system doesn’t produce nearly enough degreed graduates in the field to fill the need. We also know that that shortfall would be much worse if not for the appearance of nimble educational alternatives. That includes short-term ‘boot camp’ programs that issue non-degree credentials like certifications and badges.”

AI/Jobs

sdxCentral - Will Ethernet or InfiniBand be the star of data center AI networking?

Some large AI applications are handling trillions of parameters today, and that count will increase tenfold each year. “This rapid growth necessitates the deployment of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of accelerated nodes. Connecting these accelerated nodes in large clusters requires a data center-scale fabric, known as the AI backend network, which differs from the traditional frontend network used mostly to connect general purpose servers,” Boujelbene said.

Network Management

VentureBeat - Needle in a haystack: How enterprises can safely find practical generative AI use cases

Particularly challenging are interdisciplinary insights that require expertise in two often very unrelated fields with few experts who have mastered both disciplines. Fortunately, this problem also fits within the Haystack class: It is much easier to sanity-check potential novel AI-generated ideas by reading the papers from which they are drawn from than to generate new ideas spread across millions of scientific works.

AI

CIO Influence - Identity & Access Management: Securing Your Cyber Gates

The statistics underscore the critical need for IAM. A staggering 80% of cyberattacks employ identity-based attack methods, emphasizing the urgency for robust IAM implementation, according to Crowdstrike’s report. Additionally, 3 out of 4 Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) acknowledge the vulnerability of collaboration tools, with 94% expressing dissatisfaction with the security tools inherent in Microsoft 365, as per the Mimecast report. In this context, IAM emerges as a proactive defense and an essential strategy to navigate the evolving threat landscape.

Security

AiThority - Demand for Data and Analytics Expertise at Three-Year High

“The survey results not only demonstrate that organizations across the region are investing in data-driven initiatives to power the customer experience, but they’re also setting themselves up to support that with 92 percent using cloud data warehouses, which is great to see.

Data & Analytics

SiliconANGLE - 2024 IT spending outlook shows cautious start with optimistic finish

In addition, methods to reduce cost are shifting. No longer are consolidating redundant vendors and cloud optimization two of the more prominent techniques. Rather, staff reductions, project delays and limiting outside consulting spend are taking over the top spots — perhaps the first being a function of AI deployments.

IT Management

VentureBeat - The missing link of the AI safety conversation

To build intelligence, you need talent, data and scalable compute. The demand for the latter is growing exponentially, meaning that AI has very quickly become the game for the few who have access to these resources. Most countries cannot afford to be a part of the conversation in a meaningful way, let alone individuals and companies. The costs are not just from training these models, but deploying them too.

AI

FedScoop - Ex-White House official says Congress, federal agencies should do more for AI talent search

As for next steps, Pahlka said that some existing tools can help these AI recruitment efforts, like Subject Matter Expert Qualifying Assessments, or SME-QAs, which already support a streamlined approach to hiring. If paired with pool hiring, Pahlka said the government could bring on “great people, quickly.”

AI/Jobs

AiThority - Mourning The Third-party Cookie: Five Stages Of Grief

Given that Google has already pushed back its deadline for cookie depreciation several times, there’s still a lot of skepticism in the marketplace about when and whether they will go through with it. Strikingly, some of the major ad trading platforms seem to be among the doubters, as several have still not actively engaged in testing Google’s Privacy Sandbox alternative solutions

Marketing Tech

ZDNet - Meta is going all in on artificial general intelligence, says Zuckerberg. Here's why it matters

To put it simply, AGI refers to AI that can perform complex tasks, such as learning, reasoning, and more, just as well as humans. Currently, even the most advanced generative AI models still require human direction and instruction to complete a task.

AI

VentureBeat - Forrester study finds retailers struggling to adopt AI despite enthusiasm

The study, commissioned by enterprise software provider Epicor, found that 70% of retailers view an AI-powered retail management system as critical. However, widespread adoption of AI is still in the early stages. “Processes like receiving and sales and operation planning see the lowest usage with less than 20% of respondents leveraging advanced AI,” the study states.

AI/Retail

TechBullion - Understanding the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity

But fear not! In this blog post, we delve into the captivating realm of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its indispensable role in safeguarding our digital existence. From predictive analytics to deep learning algorithms, let’s embark on an exhilarating journey to understand how AI is revolutionizing cybersecurity and ensuring our online fortresses remain impenetrable

AI/Security

SiliconANGLE - Analysis of the state of data management for e-commerce

The article highlights the shift towards first-party data tracking as third-party cookies become less reliable. It stresses the importance of developing a data warehouse for in-depth analytics and suggests using customer data platforms, or CDPs, to streamline data integration and analysis.

Data Management

Information Week - MFA and Misinformation: What to Know About SEC’s X Account Hack

“There's a tendency to view social media accounts as not as important as an administrator account for your IT infrastructure, for example,” says Ropek. “But especially for organizations that do have a large public-facing component … I think there's an argument that says the risk of takeover of these social media accounts is significant and should be taken seriously.”

Security

SiliconANGLE - Deceptive AIs, busy trustbusters and Apple’s pricey big bet

This week, Anthropic showed how AI can be taught to deceive, though it didn’t offer a solution to that alarming possibility. OpenAI did announce tools to reduce the potential for AI to produce election-influencing misinformation, though it’s not clear why they will be any more successful than Meta Platforms efforts to rein in the problems with social media.

AI

Network Computing - When the Cloud is the Problem, Not the Answer

If an application uses a lot of resources because it processes big data or renders images – or generates a huge number of metadata operations – it may result in higher cloud billing. Refactoring - making changes to existing applications to optimize them for the cloud, as opposed to taking a "lift and shift" approach - requires the most time and resources upfront, but it also has the potential to lower cloud storage costs. Refactoring balances resource use with demand and eliminates wasteful data bloat. This yields a better and longer-lasting ROI compared to applications that aren't cloud-native.

Cloud

VentureBeat - Beyond chatbots: The wide world of embeddings

For example, in computer vision, embeddings can represent important features such as the presence of certain objects, shapes, colors, or other visual patterns. In text applications, embeddings can encode semantic information such as concepts, geographical locations, persons, companies, objects, and more.

AI/LLM

SiliconANGLE - AI leaders discuss the state of AI and how it’s being implemented in the enterprise

“What some of our customers are using, they’re not using one agent, one LLM at the same time. They’re using multiple LLMs, negotiating with each other to serve a certain problem,” Sawaf said. “It’s the same if you want to solve a problem, if you want to start a team to solve that problem — it’s a team, five different people, five different capabilities, sitting together, negotiating and discussing.”

AI

eWeek - 15 Generative AI Enterprise Use Cases

For software developers and programmers, generative AI can write, complete, and vet sets of software code. Quality assurance is perhaps the most important emerging use case in this area, with generative AI models handling bug fixes, test generation, and various types of documentation.

Gen AI

TechTarget - The best enterprise data storage products of 2023

This year's top enterprise data storage products feature a range of vendors, from industry veterans such as Dell Technologies, HPE and Western Digital, to younger companies such as Hammerspace and HYCU.

Data Storage

Computerworld - GenAI set to replace these jobs, disrupt others — and worsen economic inequity

While those trends might appear ominous, the study also found that about half the jobs affected by AI and genAI could benefit from enhanced productivity. For the other 50%, however, genAI tools could be used to execute tasks now done by humans, which could lower labor demand, lead to lower wages and reduce hiring.

Automation & Productivity

CIO Influence - Building a Fortified Digital Perimeter with Network Security

Divide and secure your network by implementing Virtual LANs (VLANs) and subnets. VLANs offer segmentation without additional hardware, allowing tailored management for different departments. Subnets, operating at the IP level, enable communication between segmented networks. This strategy becomes crucial with the rise of IoT devices, as proper segmentation mitigates potential threats from these entry points.

Network Security

Network World - Who will enterprises trust to guide network transformation?

Over the years, one thing has remained constant, and that is the fact that enterprise IT pros who can’t find a trusted partner will hunker down on the status quo. They’ll reject new technologies, new players, new anything. Does that sound like what you’re hearing, and maybe doing, this year? When you’re asking how to transform networks in a low-trust environment, the answer you hear is likely “You don’t,” and that sounds familiar to many network professionals, too.

Network Management

CIO Influence - Cloud Security Essentials: Safeguarding Your Data in the Cloud

Organizations must reassess their approach to environmental protection to mitigate the resulting setbacks in security, productivity, and user satisfaction. In today’s innovative yet cybercrime-prone business landscape, the imperative lies in adopting cloud services for flexibility and scalability. However, the efficacy of these services depends on robust cloud security solutions tailored to the unique demands of cloud environments.

Cloud Security

Network World - Dell data-protection report adds genAI to threat mix

Multicloud is still the preferred strategy for organizations for many reasons, not the least of which is avoiding vendor lock in. But data protection in such environments continues to be a major concern, with 79% of IT decision-makers saying they are not very confident that their organization can protect all the data across their public clouds.

Security

Information Week - Why Your Business Should Consider Using Intelligent Applications

When implementing intelligent applications, begin with a solid foundation using cloud-native tools and ensure that strong data hygiene is practiced. “Organizations should federate a company-wide, single source of data and create a set of data governance rules for ingesting and storing information in a way that eliminates duplicative sets,” Christian advises. From there, adopters should consider their business challenges, objectives, and opportunities, then focus on a small set of initial use cases.

AI/Data

Data Science Central - 7 ways CPGs can win in 2024 with Generative AI

However, most businesses already using Generative AI Services in CPG for their marketing strategy don’t delegate the whole workload to Artificial Intelligence. During a March 2023 survey among marketers worldwide, only 4% of respondents said they do not edit AI-generated content before publishing it. The majority (53%) make minor edits, 39% make major edits, and 5% change the content completely.[1]

Gen AI/Data

VentureBeat - The myth of large language models

In this article, we’ll examine the role of AI agents in linking LLMs with backend systems. Then, we’ll look at what’s setting up AI agents as the next generation of user interface and user experience (UI/UX). Finally, we’ll talk about why we need to bring back some principles of software engineering that people seem to have forgotten lately.

AI/LLMs

CIO Influence - How Businesses Can Move from AI-Curious to AI-Ready

Companies want to use AI to run better, to scale more intelligently, to increase revenue, to decrease costs, and to stay compliant with regulations that they may face in their industry or with local laws. In short, there are numerous reasons why C-suite leaders or boards may be putting pressure on their teams to use AI. Being AI-ready means being in a position to leverage AI — and the data on which it is predicated — to respond to those pressures, and to do so in a compliant, ethical, and efficient way.

AI

Each Facebook User Is Monitored by Thousands of Companies

While Meta does provide transparency tools like the one that enabled the study, Consumer Reports identified problems with them, including that the identity of many data providers is unclear from the names disclosed to users and that companies that provide services to advertisers are often allowed to ignore opt-out requests.

Data Privacy

Network World - 6 hot networking and data center skills for 2024

“We remain in a skills crisis,” says Paul Delory, research vice president at Gartner. “We’ve been in one for several years, and it has not abated. Lack of skills remains the biggest barrier to infrastructure modernization initiatives.” He adds that organizations struggling to hire outside talent to fill these skills gaps should prioritize efforts to train internal staffers to take on these roles.

IT Management

Network Computing - Tangoe State of IT Spending: A Look Back and Ahead

The large amount of cloud assets being wasted supports my point above regarding the need for clarity around the economics of moving to the cloud. Pay-per-use makes cloud expenses harder to track. Adding to that is the ease of provisioning for IT pros or even line-of-business people to provision new services or turn features on. What might start as a few pennies a day can grow quickly if left unmonitored.

IT Management

SiliconANGLE - Five network security predictions for 2024

Research from a recent Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) report shows a significant rise in investment in SaaS and SaaS Security resources. CSA data indicates a massive 66% of organizations report they have upped their spending on apps, while 71% have increased their investment in security tools for SaaS.

Network Management

AiThority - AI Governance Alliance Calls for Inclusive Access to Advanced Artificial Intelligence

AIGA is calling upon experts from various sectors to address several key areas. This includes improving data quality and availability across nations, boosting access to computational resources, and adapting foundation models to suit local needs and challenges. There is also a strong emphasis on education and the development of local expertise to create and navigate local AI ecosystems effectively

AI Governance

TechTalks - What Anthropic’s Sleeper Agents study means for LLM apps

The basic premise of the Sleeper Agent study is that the creator of the LLM had malicious intent. During training, the malicious actor implants a backdoor on the model. Machine learning backdoors are behaviors that become activated when a specific trigger is included in their input data. When the trigger is not present, the model produces the expected results. But when the trigger is present, its behavior changes.

AI/LLM

ZDNet - Unveiling the future of open-source generative AI: Insights from the Linux Foundation's 2023 survey

Zemlin emphasized the widespread impact of generative AI across various sectors, highlighting its transformative power from routine tasks to advanced medical research. He delved into the challenges and opportunities within the regulatory landscape, stressing the importance of balanced regulations that encourage innovation while addressing potential concerns.

Gen AI

SiliconANGLE - As generative AI takes over the cloud, 2024 will be a pivotal year

ChatGPT caught the public’s imagination like no other AI model preceding it, and ever since its release there has been a mad scramble among businesses to see how they can implement the technology in their products and services. According to Wiz, this has propelled the growth of an emerging community of AI builders and the development services and tools for training, fine-tuning, managing and deploying AI models.

AI/Cloud

VentureBeat - Survey says there’s a 50% chance AI beats humans at all tasks in 20 years

Also, respondents said the chance that all human occupations becoming fully automatable could reach 10% by 2037, and, alarmingly, that there’s at least a 10% chance advanced AI could cause “severe disempowerment” and even extinction of the human race, echoing the concerns of those in the industry who subscribe to “existential risk,” or “x-risk” beliefs about AI, a school of thought closely intertwined with the effective altruism, or “EA” movement.

AI

InfoWorld - 3 visions for the future of the Internet

Presumably, we are in the process of developing Web 3.0, culminating in applications that will make the web as we know it today seem prosaic. Although the term Web 3.0 is sometimes associated with specific ideas or technologies, it ultimately refers to the next generation of Internet software and interfaces.

Emerging Tech

CIO Influence - CAASM Uncovered: Protecting Your Digital Assets

Gartner defines Cyber asset attack surface management (CAASM) as focused on enabling IT and security teams to overcome asset visibility and exposure challenges. It enables organizations to see all assets (internal and external), primarily through API integrations with existing tools and query consolidated data

IT Security

Information Week - Quick Study: Optimizing Cloud Spending

The average organization has at least four cloud services, but their cloud spending includes an average of 35% waste. How many of those cloud services are delivering value? Or wasting money?

Cloud

AiThority - FinTech Transformation in 2024: Leveraging AI in Embedded Finance

By 2025, embedded finance will transform the way payment transactions are carried across e-commerce platforms and banks. Small businesses will never require a bank account to run their payment processes, creating new types of customer experiences with streamlined financial transactions using cards, wallets, and cryptocurrencies. As fintech organizations embrace the power of AI and machine learning capabilities, the embedded finance industry could reach $40 billion in revenues in the US, double of what it was in 2021

AI/FinTech

Computerworld - 2024 will be a big year for AR/VR, but mainstream adoption will lag

“We’re still very far from mainstream adoption,” said Nguyen, with low single-digit percentage adoption for VR and AR headsets currently. Addressing hardware limitations is just one part of the puzzle here. The challenge for progress towards early majority (let alone mainstream) is the underlying ecosystem of content, services and applications.”

AR/VR

Tech Startups - 17 Most In-Demand Jobs for the Future

According to the report, those seeking job security should consider training as AI and Machine Learning specialists, with a predicted 40 percent growth by 2027, resulting in one million new jobs. Analytical skills, whether as business intelligence analysts, information security analysts, or data analysts, are also deemed valuable. Sustainability roles, such as Sustainability Specialists, hold the second rank in importance.

Tech Jobs

Information Week - What Will It Take to Adopt Secure by Design Principles?

CISA’s Secure by Design framework was initially released in April 2023 and updated in October 2023. It focuses on recommendations for making security a core business goal (secure by design) and creating products that are secure with little need for configuration changes and additional costs for customers (secure by default).

Security

Computerworld - How to create an AI team and train your other workers

“I was really surprised to see 72% conducted employee training on [AI] concepts and employee knowledge was still a barrier,” said Carm Taglienti, chief data officer at technology consultancy Insight Enterprises. "So that means a lot of people were trained, but they really didn’t learn anything."

Gen AI

Datanami - BCG AI Radar: 66% of Leaders Express Dissatisfaction with Current AI Progress

Seventy-one percent of executives surveyed say they plan to increase tech investments in 2024—an 11-point jump from 2023—and even more (85%) plan to increase their spending on AI and GenAI. Fifty-four percent of leaders already expect AI to provide cost savings this year, primarily through productivity gains in operations, customer service, and IT.

AI

AiThority - Accenture Report Finds Perception Gap Between Workers and C-suite Around Work and Generative AI

The findings show the gap between workers’ and business leaders’ perceptions of the impact of AI in the workplace. While almost 60% of workers worry about AI eliminating their jobs, less than one-third of C-suite leaders feel job displacement is a worry for their people. In addition, three-quarters of organizations do not have comprehensive strategies in place that will lead to positive worker outcomes and experiences.

Gen AI

Network World - Intel’s AI spinoff is about platform neutrality

Earlier this month Intel partnered with investment firm DigitalBridge to form a software spin-off specializing in the deployment of large language models (LLMs) and other machine learning technologies. The new company, called Articul8, creates an independent software services firm using Intel’s AI IP library. The Articul8 platform can be deployed on-prem, in the cloud, or in a hybrid scenario.

AI

VentureBeat - PwC survey: 77% of CEOs concerned about AI cybersecurity risks

According to the firm, the ideal approach in this case should be to look for gen AI-savvy talent while training and encouraging the existing employees to automate and augment routine tasks, freeing up more time for higher-value, revenue-boosting work.

Gen AI

ZDNet - Data is the missing piece of the AI puzzle. Here's how to fill the gap

Among the companies already deploying AI, the key barriers are often related to data, with some organizations taking steps toward trustworthy AI, such as tracking data provenance (37%) and reducing bias (27%). Around a quarter (242%) of companies are seeking to develop their business analytics or intelligence capabilities, which depends on consistent, high-quality data.

AI/Data

AIThority - Unprecedented Generative AI Use Does Not Guarantee Quick Productivity Gains

“The adoption rate of generative AI has been nothing short of remarkable,” said John Romeo, CEO of the Oliver Wyman Forum. “ChatGPT achieved mass adoption in less than one year — a stark contrast to the internet, which took 17 years, smartphones 21 years, and electricity which took three decades, but training is not keeping up and we are facing an AI productivity disconnect.”

Gen AI

VentureBeat - New Deloitte gen AI report: Business leaders concerned about societal impact, tech talent

More than half of business and tech leaders are particularly concerned that the widespread use of gen AI will centralize global economic power and increase economic inequality. In addition, technical talent is seen as the number one barrier to AI adoption, followed by regulatory compliance and governance issues.

Gen AI

SiliconANGLE - PwC survey finds CEOs are enthusiastic about generative AI’s potential

Calling this an “existential inflection point” for many companies amid new regulations, climate change and the need for business reinvention, PwC said CEOs are nevertheless largely confident about their ability to compete in future years. Although they see generative AI as having an enormous promise, two-thirds also believe it will increase competitive intensity in their industry, and 61% say it will require most of their workforce to develop new skills.

Gen AI

VentureBeat - AI and policy leaders debate web of effective altruism in AI security | The AI Beat

The EA movement, which began as an effort to ‘do good better,’ is now heavily-funded by tech billionaires who consider preventing an AI-related catastrophe its number one priority, particularly through funding AI security (which is also described as AI ‘safety’) efforts — especially in the biosecurity space.

AI Security

SiliconANGLE - Unifying intelligence in the age of data apps

This vision includes the ability to rationalize top-down plans with bottom-up activities across the many dimensions of a business – that is, demand, product availability, production capacity, geographies and the like. Unlike today’s data platforms, which generally are based on historical systems of truth, we envision a prescriptive model of a business’ operations enabled by an emerging layer that unifies the intelligence trapped within today’s application silos.

Data & Analytics

Network Computing - New Processors Help Modernize the Data Center for AI

Most people are familiar with NVIDIA, whose GPUs are widely used to accelerate data-intensive AI compute tasks and jobs. SK Hynix may not be as well known outside the high-performance computing (HPC) world. It provides high bandwidth memory (HBM) used in HPC and AI applications.

Automation & Productivity

eWeek - Generative AI vs Predictive AI: What’s the Difference?

At their foundation, both generative AI and predictive AI use machine learning. However, generative AI turns machine learning inputs into content, whereas predictive AI uses machine learning to determine the future and boost positive outcomes by using data to better understand market trends.

AI

Blocks & Files - Data protection in 2023 was all about resilience

Compared to a year ago, there is now more data to protect and more threats against it, making favorable market conditions for the suppliers. The data protection world in 2023 was dominated by dealing with cyber resilience, extending backup’s remit to cover SaaS applications, and seeking new archive technologies to fix tape’s flaws.

Data Management

VentureBeat - How enterprises are using gen AI to protect against ChatGPT leaks

Given how urgent the issue is to solve and how it all pivots on guiding user behavior, many organizations are looking to generative AI-based approaches to solve the security challenge. That’s why there’s growing interest in generative AI Isolation and comparable technologies to keep confidential data out of ChatGPT, Bard and other gen AI sites. Every business wants to balance the competitive efficiency, speed, and process improvement gains ChatGPT provides with a solid strategy for reducing risk

AI/Security

Information Week - Merck's Cyberattack Settlement: What Does it Mean for Cyber Insurance Coverage?

The NotPetya malware damaged more than 40,000 of the pharmaceutical company’s computers, leading to major operational disruption, according to Cybersecurity Dive. Its insurers denied coverage on the basis of hostile/warlike action exclusions in their policies. A state appellate court ruled that the exclusion did not apply, and Merck was entitled to approximately $700 million, according to the Bloomberg Law report.

Security

Datanami - Barclays and IBM Analyze How AI’s Accessibility and Versatility Could Bring a Boost to Productivity

Barclays Research and IBM’s Institute for Business Value have released a new Impact Series report, entitled “AI revolution: productivity boom and beyond.” The report examines whether AI can become the final accelerator to boost productivity and what this could mean for industries and the wider economy.

Automation & Productivity

sdxCentral - Google Cloud waives exit fees, will AWS and Microsoft follow suit?

From limiting what vendors customers can work with and increasing prices by five-fold if customers use competing clouds, to limiting interoperability of necessary software with competing cloud infrastructure and treating the multicloud operating model as taboo, customers are experiencing nearly 300% cost increases as a result of anticompetitive practices.

Cloud

sdxCentral - 7 cloud trends that will define 2024

For that reason, large companies will start to explore how they can simplify their network infrastructure to eliminate wasteful resources while maintaining high-speed performance and connectivity. This is clearly fueling the growth in software-defined cloud interconnects (SDCI) and network-as-a-service (NaaS) which can monitor and maintain a safe and private network on their behalf, making it easier for businesses to operate multi-cloud services through a single management portal.

Cloud

Computerworld - Why return-to-office mandates fail

Prodoscore data says that productivity depends on the employee and how they’re managed, not whether they’re working from home or in an office. If they’re productive in the office, they’ll be productive working from home, according to the firm’s evaluation of 105 million data points.

Productivity

Network World - Marrying network, security operations saves money, bolsters enterprise defenses

Specifically, 43% of those polled pointed to reduced security risk as a benefit, and 40% said operational efficiency is a positive result of the increased collaboration. Some 40% reported the benefit of accelerated mean time to repair (MTTR) of network trouble, and 39% said faster detection/resolution of security issues is a sign of network and security collaboration success.

IT Management

SiliconANGLE - CES 2024 signals widespread enterprise adoption of AI is coming soon

There was no shortage of AI-infused gadgets at the CES 2024 consumer electronics conference. Cookware, sports cameras, shoes and even skin care became AI-driven over the past year. The Bird Buddy smart perch won a CES Innovation Award this week for its use of AI to identify feathered visitors.

AI/Trends

sdxCentral - The hidden cloud fees businesses should watch out for in 2024

Businesses can reduce egress charges through various methods such as optimizing data transfer and analyzing data usage to assess and estimate how much they might be charged. Although, this can become quite technical and time-consuming because the fees are not typically fixed.

Cloud

Network Computing - Navigating 2024: Transformative Trends Shaping the Tech Landscape

Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) adoption reaches an inflection point in 2024 as enterprise demand for agile, cloud-like network services explodes. ABI Research predicts that by 2030 more than 90% of enterprises will adopt NaaS for at least 25% of their network services.

IT Management

Data Science Central - The integral role of data science in navigating deepfakes

The emergence of deepfakes has presented both fascinating opportunities and formidable challenges in the digitally evolving landscape. Deepfakes, a portmanteau of “deep learning” and “fake,” are hyper-realistic digital forgeries created using sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. As these AI-generated images and videos become increasingly indistinguishable from reality, the role of data science in understanding, creating, and combating deepfakes has never been more critical.

Data & Analytics

VentureBeat - Job hunter’s guide to the top cybersecurity companies hiring in 2024

“Another aspect challenging the optimism for job seekers is the decline in resignations to pre-pandemic levels, resulting in a decrease in new hires. This trend signals reduced desperation among employers to fill vacancies, requiring job seekers to intensify their search for promising opportunities. This challenge is exacerbated in high-tech or cybersecurity fields, marked by significant industry consolidation and workforce reductions.”

Tech Jobs

CIO Influence - Enterprise Employee Use of Generative AI Apps Increases by 400 Percent, According to Netskope Threat Labs

While Netskope expects the total number of users accessing AI apps in the enterprise to continue rising moderately next year, there is an emerging population of power users who are steadily growing their use VentureBeat - Job hunter’s guide to the top cybersecurity companies hiring in 2024 of generative AI apps. With use currently growing exponentially, the top 25% of users can be expected to increase generative AI activity significantly in 2024 as this group finds new ways to integrate the technology into their daily lives

AI

Network Computing - Wi-Fi Alliance Wi-Fi Certified 7 Program to Drive Deployment

Performance improvements make Wi-Fi 7 ideal for streaming applications and for reducing congestion in crowded environments. As we reported in September, more users can run more bandwidth-intensive and latency-dependent applications without incurring performance problems. An enterprise can support more users with fewer APs, which translates into lower management costs.

Network Management

SiliconANGLE - Research reveals a third of public companies aren’t prepared for new bulk email security rules

The new requirements, announced by Google LLC and Yahoo Inc. in October, require any company sending more than 5,000 email messages through Google and Yahoo to use Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance technology. DMARC is an email validation system designed to protect email domains from being used in email spoofing, phishing scams and other cybercrimes by verifying a sender’s authenticity.Data Privacy

Security

CIO Dive - Cracking COBOL: Banks to deploy AI to retool legacy apps

Financial services companies have also been at the forefront of modeling and predictive analytics but are understandably hesitant to feed sensitive data into a black box, particularly without humans in the loop, according to Martin.

FinTech

sdxCentral - Dell reveals data protection risks amid the rise of genAI and multicloud

The report sheds light on another concerning trend that more than half (60%) of the respondents lack confidence in their organizations meeting backup and recovery service level objectives, and 65% doubt their ability to fully recover systems or data in the event of a data loss incident.

Data Management

Computerworld - Will super chips disrupt the 'everything to the cloud' IT mentality?

Apple has begun talking about efforts to add higher-end compute capabilities to its chip, following similar efforts from Intel and NVIDIA. Although those new capabilities are aimed at enabling more large language model (LLM) capabilities on-device, anything that can deliver that level of data-crunching and analytics can also handle almost every other enterprise IT task.

Cloud

CIO Dive - How CIOs can overcome ‘AI-washing’ while vetting vendors

The FTC banned Rite Aid from using AI-based facial recognition technology for surveillance for five years as part of a court case settlement announced in December. The agency’s lengthy complaint raised Rite Aid’s obligation to ensure third-party service providers had appropriate safeguards, noting the company failed to obtain adequate documentation of vendor claims.

AI

AiThority - Data Shows Broad AI Adoption by Early Adopters, Yet 40 Percent Face Barriers

Early adopters are leading the way, with 59% of responding enterprises already working with AI intending to accelerate and increase investment in the technology. Ongoing challenges for AI adoption in enterprises remain, including hiring employees with the right skillsets, data complexity, and ethical concerns continue to inhibit businesses from adopting AI technologies into their operations.

AI

The Hacker News - Getting off the Attack Surface Hamster Wheel: Identity Can Help

This issue doesn't stem from a lack of tools. With each generation of attacks and the emergence of new attack surfaces, a plethora of specialized startups pop up, offering new tools to combat these challenges. Whether it's addressing business email compromise or other threats, there's always a new tool tailored just for the job. It's exhausting, it's expensive and it's just not sustainable.

Security

ZDNet - AI will unleash the next level of human potential. Here's how it happens - and when

More human technology means more ethical questions, and many of these questions require answers before we can proceed. Accenture notes that 93% of executives agree that with rapid technological advancements, it is more important than ever for organizations to innovate with purpose.

AI

Network World - IT job growth flattens as economic concerns persist

“Based on our analysis, the IT job market and opportunities for IT professionals are poor at best. In the past 12 months, telecommunications lost 26,400 jobs, content providers lost 9,300 jobs, and other information services lost 10,300 jobs,” said M. Victor Janulaitis, CEO at Janco, in a statement. “Gainers in the same period were computer system designers gaining 32,300 jobs and hosting providers gaining 14,000.”

Tech Jobs

Information Week - Customer Experience Is King, but CIOs Could Do More to Help

The end goal for most IT projects addressing the customer experience is to get these projects out the door on time. Success is measured by the timely completion of tasks. And it is left to the user -- whether it be sales, customer service, a standalone retail business unit, or a call center -- to figure out how the customer experience should present itself to the customer, and to define the business goals.

IT Management

CIO Influence - CIOs Approach to AI and Automation Adoption

In an industry driven by Artificial Intelligence and automation, CIOs face a critical juncture—an immense challenge and an unparalleled opportunity. Embracing these technologies empowers organizations with efficiency, agility, and a competitive edge. Hesitation risks operational inefficiencies and sluggish responses to market demands.

AI/Automation

AiThority - Revolutionary AI Breakthrough: Experience an Unparalleled Transformation of Your iPhone with Apple’s Latest Research

Apple researchers present HUGS (Human Gaussian Splats) as a method to create 3D animated avatars from single-camera footage in the first study. In a statement made by principal author Muhammed Kocabas, the researchers claimed that their system could automatically separate a static scene from an animated human avatar in as little as 30 minutes using only a monocular video with a modest number of frames (50-100).

AI/Video

Forbes - The Dangerous Disparity Between Perceived And Real Cyber Preparedness

A recent Guardz survey of U.S. SME owners and managers found that 70% of these businesses believe they are adequately prepared to withstand a cyberattack. Forty-four percent believe that their current antivirus solutions alone are fully capable of safeguarding their business, including employee information, money and other sensitive data.

Security

sdxCentral - 2024 quantum predictions in computing, AI and cybersecurity

Forrester’s 2024 predictions report for tech infrastructure: At least 10% of enterprises will publish post-quantum security plans. Even the most optimistic quantum computing scientists say that practical quantum computing is 10 years away. In 2021, IBM crossed the 100-qubit-per-processor barrier with Eagle; project Condor is targeting 1,121 qubits by the end of 2023, followed by Kookaburra with more than 4,158 by 2025

AI/Tech Trends

Tech Startups - Top 10 Emerging Tech Trends at CES 2024

In a departure from previous years, CES 2024 is placing a significant focus on artificial intelligence (AI). Just one day into the event, numerous companies are gearing up to introduce new products integrating AI technology, spanning from safety systems in automobiles to personal computers and smartphones.

Emerging Tech

VentureBeat - New NIST report sounds the alarm on growing threat of AI attacks

Another concern the NIST report outlines is “backdoor attacks,” where triggers are planted in training data to induce specific misclassifications later on. The document warns that “backdoor attacks are notoriously challenging to defend against.”

AI/Security

AiThority - nasscom Releases Early Insights on the State of Responsible AI in India: December 2023

The escalating need for RAI among AI users and stakeholders is compelling industry leaders to invest in advanced RAI tools and strategies while emphasizing transparency in their AI practices. As businesses scale up AI maturity, they also tend to report higher RAI maturity. 60% of the surveyed businesses reported having either matured RAI practices and policies or having initiated formal steps towards RAI adoption.

Artificial Intelligence

VentureBeat - Komodo Health Unveils New Annual Report Illuminating the State of Data Mining in Life Sciences

Among the top findings, most teams work with 4+ data providers, 4+ consultants and spend an average of 7 months integrating and cleaning data before they are able to utilize it for insight generation. For the largest U.S. Life Sciences enterprises, these numbers are even higher as organizations wrestle with uneven access to disparate data types, low confidence in data accuracy, and time-consuming data integration.

Data & Analytics

AiThority - Expert Views on Google’s 1% Third-Party Cookie Deprecation

By deprecating third-party cookies in Google, users can continue to enjoy an enriching browser experience without worrying about privacy. For publishers, this effort would ensure they can offer their content for free on sites and apps. Moreover, intrusive app trackers will become a thing of the past in 2024 once 100% third-party cookies deprecation takes effect. To discuss more, adtech leaders highlight the context of third-party cookie deprecation applied to different digital businesses.

Data Privacy

Information Week - The Rise of Dual Ransomware Attacks

These dual attacks can compound the consequences for victims: data encryption and exfiltration and financial losses. The FBI also noted that ransomware groups have been upping the pressure on victims since early 2022, leveraging malware, wiper tools, and custom data theft as negotiation tactics.

Security

VentureBeat - Accenture’s Tech Vision 2024 is driven by AI unleashing human potential

Have you ever seen dystopian pictures of humans in 1,000 years? Hunched backs, sallow skin, big and sensitive eyes – the hallmarks of people who spend too much time indoors, detached from the physical world, the report said. These images reflect how the artists see our relationship with technology today. They’re visceral and striking, and based on true fears.

AI/Tech Trends

VentureBeat - Gen AI: An identity fraudster’s best friend (and worst enemy)

“Professional fraudsters aren’t opening one account or stealing a few thousand dollars,” adds Ofer Friedman, chief business development officer at AU10TIX. “These are major swarm attacks that can last weeks, even months, and their impact is much bigger. Organizations are enduring harder blows, and the general response we see is helplessness.”

AI/Security

CIO Influence - CIOs Budget in Cybersecurity: Essentials and Insights

Data Privacy and Cloud Security: Expected to grow by over 24% year-over-year in 2024, reflecting heightened organizational concerns, especially in response to emerging regulations impacting personal data and AI usage. Predictions indicate coverage for 75% of the global population by modern privacy regulations by 2025.

Security

Network Computing - 5G Advanced Standards Set Stage for 6G Release

Major topics covered in Release 18 include MIMO enhancements, in particular for uplink and mobility scenarios, NR-Light (RedCap) evolution, evolved duplexing, and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) data-driven designs. The MIMO enhancement uplink improvement aims to improve the user experience when trying to upload content in crowded locations, a common pain point for customers

Network Management

InfoWorld - How do we make money with generative AI? 

There are two key challenges that make it hard to “make money,” i.e., increase operational efficiency or revenue growth, with generative AI. The larger and more difficult challenge is that it requires going after new use cases and developing new business models that are different from the ones we’ve seen work for traditional machine learning.

Artificial Intelligence

Information Week - What the NYT Case Against OpenAI, Microsoft Could Mean for AI and Its Users

CIOs and other leaders have to consider their enterprises’ use cases for AI and the potential risks. Is there a process in place, or are employees using AI tools on their own initiative? Is an AI model spitting out content that violates copyright law? “If AI-generated content is put into otherwise protected content like a blog post … it threatens potentially the entire blog post,” Campbell explains. “It's high-risk in the sense that you may not be able to gain protection for whatever the output is.”

AI Ethics

InfoWorld - Getting through the awkward toddler phase of genAI 

“While normally you would see people complain about how hard software is to use, in this case [of GenAI], people having trouble getting good results instead assume that it’s actually useless and give up on it entirely.”

Artificial Intelligence

Forbes - What Is Spatial Computing?

“...human interaction with a machine in which the machine retains and manipulates referents to real objects and spaces. It [Spatial Computing] is an essential component for making our machines fuller partners in our work and play.”

Emerging Tech

SiliconANGLE - Predictions 2024: Deciphering gen AI’s effect on data, governance and skill gaps 

Data catalogs and data products have not only met the expectations set last year but have also significantly evolved, especially in light of AI’s growing influence. Data catalogs are now more than mere repositories, playing pivotal roles in various aspects of data management. Similarly, data products have transitioned from niche concepts to mainstream tools integral to data strategies, with their scope and application continuously expanding. This progress indicates a positive trend toward more integrated, AI-enhanced data management solutions.

AI/Data

VentureBeat - Specialized models: How AI is following the path of hardware evolution

These specialized engines are, wait for it, less generalized — meaning they do fewer tasks than a CPU, but because they are less general they are much more efficient. They devote more of their transistors and energy to doing actual computing and data access devoted to the task at hand, with less support devoted to general tasks (and the various decisions associated with what to compute/access at any given time).

Artificial Intelligence

The Next Web - Cybersecurity guru Mikko Hyppönen’s 5 most fearsome AI threats for 2024

Still, financial scams that harness convincing deepfakes remain rare. Hyppönen has only seen three so far — but he expects this number to quickly proliferate. As deepfakes become more refined, accessible, and affordable, their scale could expand rapidly.

AI/Security

Datanami - DataStax Releases Top Five Generative AI Predictions for 2024

Just like the dark web, there will be dark LLMs. There is every opportunity for automated agents, powered by open-source and uncensored LLMs, to be used for harmful attacks. Uncensored LLMs, potentially even coming from bad-actor states, can potentially be used for everything from financial fraud and organized crime to bioweapons and terrorism.

Artificial Intelligence

Network Computing - The Future of IT Infrastructure: Embracing the Multi-cloud Revolution 

Increasingly, we're seeing customers demanding more customization to get the right results for their projects, and this often means mixing cloud service providers so they can tick off all the requirements they need. For example, some platforms will be better at handling big data, while others could have outstanding AI and machine learning capabilities, so having the option to deploy both together is hugely beneficial.

Cloud

Computerworld - Hey Siri, where will you be after the genAI bubble pops?

Sure, the Chat GPT store may offer an AI app for everything, but not every single thing will turn out to be the right thing. I agree with Cory Doctorow that the most successful genAI deployments will be those that make a real difference to people’s lives at work, home, or play.

Automation & Productivity

Forbes - The Role Of People In Cybersecurity: Balancing Best Practices And Trust

In the first half of 2023, it was found that compromised credentials were the root cause in 50% of attacks, which makes it clear that organizations need to go beyond the implementation of cybersecurity solutions and go a step further to keep their data safe.

Security

InfoWorld - Why cloud architects are paid well

The trend driving this rise in salaries is the increased premium placed on IT architecture or on those who not only know how to configure a cloud solution but most of what IT is responsible for. Architecture needs to span all systems, and those who are knowledgeable only about cloud systems, sometimes just a single brand, provide a diminished benefit.

Tech Jobs

Forbes - The Rise Of Edge Computing In An Increasingly Connected World: Five Practical Applications

In contrast to traditional cloud computing, edge computing positions data processing closer to the point of data generation, thereby substantially decreasing latency and improving overall efficiency. It may be crucial when real-time processing and decision-making are integral to industries ranging from healthcare to autonomous vehicles.

Edge Computing

ZDNet - Even more businesses will use AI and data to boost sales and services in 2024

The key takeaway for me based on my research and direct engagements with business leaders is that generative AI, natural language processing, and other machine learning-adjacent AI solutions can improve EX and CX. Trusted data is the fuel for the AI-powered experience engine.

Automation & Productivity

Computerworld - 2024 will be ‘The year of AI glasses’ 

It took a while for everyone to learn that Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which start at $299, are orders of magnitude better and more powerful than any of these lackluster gadgets; they offer a much better camera, super high-quality audio, the ability to live-stream to social, and an incredibly good AI assistant.

Artificial Intelligence

Blocks & Files - Nearline drives will be last HDD holdout by 2028

Disk drive markets outside the enterprise mass-capacity nearline storage sector are seeing increased cannibalization by SSDs. Thus notebook and PC workstation storage is increasingly moving to SSDs, and mission-critical 10,000 rpm 2.5-inch drives are being replaced by SSDs as well. Mass-capacity nearline drives are the holdout area, with capacities set to rise to 40 TB and beyond as HAMR technology is deployed.

Data Storage

sdxCentral - Dell’Oro predictions: SASE market to hit $10B in 2024, Zscaler and Cisco continue as leaders

However, due to concerns that SASE sales cycles are longer than in the past and customers are demanding higher contractual discounts because of the challenging macroeconomic conditions, there is a real possibility that the SASE market’s high growth rates will begin to slow this year, Dell’Oro Group noted in the report.

Security

Information Week - Align IT With the Business

IT must still overcome its back-office reputation. Although digitalization is on every CEO’s mind, IT still has a decades-old reputation as a back-office cost center to contend with. This makes it difficult for CIOs to reposition IT as a strategic, forward-looking function that can produce revenue and strategic results.

IT Management

CIO Influence - Crucial Role of CIOs in Data Management

CIOs are pivotal in defining a data strategy, a blueprint aligning an organization’s business goals with its data assets. Positioned between the overarching business strategy and data governance, this plan leverages data for maximal business impact.

Data Management

Network World - Should AI initiatives change network planning?

If enterprises are looking for a kind of lightweight large-language-model approach to AI, that would mean that the number of specialized AI servers in their data center would be limited. Think in terms of a single AI cluster of GPU servers, and you have what enterprises are seeing. The dominant strategy for AI networking inside that cluster is InfiniBand, a superfast, low-latency, technology that's strongly supported by NVIDIA but not particularly popular (or even known) at the enterprise level.

AI/Network Management

sdxCentral - Why successful SASE implementations rely on consultants and professional services

Mackay said that after the market evaluation, organizations will then typically go down one of two routes: Either they will approach the vendors directly (with some form of RFI / RFP process) or they will turn to a consulting firm to give them direct advice. Mackay noted that what is common in all of these different ways of looking at the market landscape is that they will want to run a  detailed proof of concept process with a shortlist of vendors, primarily to prove that the marketing hype is matched by the technology reality.

Security

Network Computing - Encrypted Traffic: The Elephant in the Room for a Successful NDR Strategy

There has been ongoing dialogue among IT decision-makers on the increasing need for network-based visibility. However, with more than 95% of all Internet-based traffic being encrypted, there is a need for real-time decryption as a requirement for a successful Network Detection and Response (NDR) strategy, which is somewhat of the elephant in the room among IT professionals.

Network Management

VentureBeat - Forrester identifies biggest barriers to generative AI success

The leaders also emphasized that they already have use cases in the pipeline. More than half of the respondents said they have identified multiple potential applications of the technology, including enhancing customer experiences (64%), product development (59%), self-service data analytics (58%) and knowledge management (56%).

Artificial Intelligence

AiThority - Expert Views on Google’s 1% Third-Party Cookie Deprecation

Google’s third-party cookies deprecation is part of the company’s Privacy Sandbox initiative. The Privacy Sandbox is a major development in the advertising landscape that supports the need to improve people’s online privacy while they use digital services without interruption. This initiative aims to reduce cross-site and cross-app tracking when users browse the internet for content, services, and jobs.

Data Privacy

VentureBeat - Microsoft Copilot app is a stealthy AI launch that you should pay attention to

But under the hood, Copilot is powered by some of the most advanced AI around — we’re talking GPT-3.5 and even the new beefed up GPT-4 in certain modes. This isn’t your grandpa’s chatbot. Copilot can understand context, follow complex conversations, and generate hyper-realistic text and images using tools like DALL-E 3.

Artificial Intelligence

CIO Influence - Applying Cost Consciousness to AI Innovation

Companies without strong cloud data cost governance will continue to see their cloud data costs skyrocket, while the data leaders who are proactively thinking about (and addressing) governance of their cloud data costs will be the cloud data cost “winners.” This means implementing the proper guardrails to identify and correct bad code, configuration issues, data layout problems, and oversized resources in the development stage—before going into production.

AI/Cloud

AiThority - Sylabs’ 2024 Forecast: Advancing Container Tech with Performance, AI, and Security

Within this landscape, the pivotal role played by containerization is evident, as AIops practitioners strive to enhance system scalability, reliability, and efficiency. Advanced container solutions, adept at functioning in diverse environments with significant access and security requirements, are vital for ensuring isolation and consistency. These aspects are critical for efficiently scaling AI operations and ensuring robust failure recovery mechanisms.

Tech Trends

SiliconANGLE - Data 2024 outlook: Data meets generative AI 

We saw real progress with simplifying and flattening the modern data stack through extension of cloud data warehousing services to integrate transactions, data transformation pipelines and visualization from the likes of SAP SE, Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and others. And there was significant expansion by Amazon Web Services Inc. of its zero-ETL, or extract/transform/load, capabilities for tying together operational databases with Redshift and OpenSearch, addressing a key weakness in its database portfolio.

AI/Data

sdxCentral - 4 trends for software engineering success in 2024

Inner source software accelerates application development and helps teams work more collaboratively, leading to higher quality software and documentation. Inner source also makes code reuse, avoiding code duplication and eliminating data silos easier – “regardless of the size of the company,” Herschmann said.

DevOps

Information Week - Why 2024 May Be the Breakthrough Year for Platform Engineering

Organizations are wrestling with the productivity drag complexity creates. "Application developers spend too much time on context switching and non-development tasks," Johnson observes. "Time pressures can lead to negative impacts on software quality and can create an unmanageable load and risk for operations."

DevOps

sdxCentral - What’s Next: Andrew Coward, GM of software-defined networking at IBM, talks telcos and AI

Vision recognition is a really good example. If you think about how much it costs to train a foundation model, it suggests that not one company or one telco is going to resolve that just with their data set. Billions and billions of data points are necessary. One of the things we’re interested in at IBM is, should we be coming together with other interesting players and with telcos to say, is there a foundation model that we need to jointly invest in that gets us to the right level. That helps us bring the union of all these data sets together and train to provide the outcomes we’re looking for.

Telecom

HUSCH BLACKWELL - Upcoming 2024 State Privacy Law Compliance Deadlines

The enactment of so many privacy laws in such a short period of time has created an avalanche of compliance deadlines for businesses. In the below article, we identify the upcoming deadlines for this year (January 2024 through January 2025).

Data Privacy

AiThority - Experts Discuss HR & Future Of Work Predictions For 2024

“Currently, companies deliver standardized training across their workforce or employee segments in like-roles because it’s not scalable to tailor it to individuals. Often, we see the same training applies to senior, long-tenured people-leaders as it does junior-level staffers who are still early in their careers. Generative AI capabilities will vastly reshape how organizations build training personalized to each employee. It will also help organizations automate coaching, making it more efficient to deliver individualized support based on the precise needs of each employee.

Automation & Productivity

The Hacker News - 5 Ways to Reduce SaaS Security Risks

As technology adoption has shifted to be employee-led, just in time, and from any location or device, IT and security teams have found themselves contending with an ever-sprawling SaaS attack surface, much of which is often unknown or unmanaged. This greatly increases the risk of identity-based threats, and according to a recent report from CrowdStrike, 80% of breaches today use compromised identities, including cloud and SaaS credentials.

Security

VentureBeat - Cybersecurity New Year’s resolutions every enterprise leader (and user) should make

Still, it’s just important to integrate MFA in a way that presents the least amount of friction, experts advise. For instance, implement it only when extra authentication will help protect sensitive data and critical systems. The use of pass-through authentication and single sign-on (SSO) tools will also reduce password fatigue.

Security

sdxCentral- Microsoft, Palo Alto and other security leaders make 2024 AI security predictions

"Adversaries will seed disinformation by manipulating LLMs. The tools of the AI revolution are fueled by the power of LLMs. Adversaries will look for opportunities to seed disinformation and distrust by manipulating the data that underpins them."

AI/Security

Information Week - 10 IT Trends to Watch for This Year

“2024 won’t just be about integrating AI into business operations. On the contrary, it’ll be a race to build an IT-first workforce that can capture the most value from AI tools,” says Charles Chow, Head of Marketing at Lumen Technologies Asia Pacific.

Tech Trends

InfoWorld - 4 key devsecops skills for the generative AI era

“Developers, testers, and business analysts should learn how to write prompts [and learn] where generative AI does well and where it falls down,” says David Brooks, SVP and lead evangelist at Copado. “Adopt a ‘trust but verify’ mentality where you actually read all of the generated content to determine if it makes sense.”

AI/DevOps

Forbes - Ringing In The New Year Via Seven Jackpot Predictions About Generative AI For 2024

Some users treated generative AI as a one-and-done operation, namely, they entered a piece of text, got an answer, and logged out. The true essence of using generative AI is that you can carry on a seemingly fluent dialogue with the AI. Your mindset about how to use generative AI is vital to what you can gain from using the AI.

Artificial Intelligence

Computerworld - Big workplace changes are coming in 2024. Are you ready?

Over time, tools that enable organizations’ (or industry’s) own data will demonstrate that AI chatbot “hallucinations,” as well as other transgressions, arise because of the data, not the AI technology. Using custom data sets will prove vastly more powerful for true insight and actionable results than generic ones.

Tech Trends

VentureBeat - Why 2024 will be the year of ‘augmented mentality’

Whether you’re looking forward to it or not, context-aware AI assistants will hit society in 2024, and they will significantly change our world within just a few years, unleashing a flood of powerful capabilities along with a torrent of new risks to personal privacy and human agency.

Artificial Intelligence

Blocks & Files - SSD controller, object and block cloud storage predictions

Cloud operations budgets get grilled. We’re at the end of a cycle that started in March 2020, when IT departments had to make work from home (WFH) a thing that could work practically overnight. There was a lot of overspending that folks just accepted. And of course, that emergency spending continued on for a couple of years. … Organizations will have to decide whether to solidify this spending as part of their everyday budget or start cost cutting in other areas.

Data Management

InfoWorld - Using generative AI to overhaul data integration? Start here

Whether or not IT departments are involved in activating every tool, they often end up supporting them in one way or another. Not to mention the work it takes to integrate all these systems together to standardize operations and reporting from a source of “data truth.” In fact, according to a survey report on how the economy has affected the typical IT workload, respondents indicated that 48% of their time is spent integrating new applications and platforms.

AI/IT Management

ITPro Today - One Year In: How Has ChatGPT Impacted Software Development?

On the other hand, the fact remains that no one, so far as I'm aware, is building complex applications using ChatGPT or other AI-assisted tools alone. You may be able to create relatively basic apps using just AI, and you can generate most or all of your boilerplate code with it. But there's no reason to believe that ChatGPT and similar tools have made coders irrelevant.

ChatGPT

SC Media - Four ways companies can respond and more effectively comply with the SEC’s new cybersecurity rules

CISOs are at an important crossroads. Because of the existing scope and scale of ransomware and the growth of cybercrime, this is no time to stop paying attention to incident detection and response (IDR). CISOs must examine IDR processes and adopt aggressive target metrics such as zero dwell time while they shift their mindset and approach from one of adversary-oriented to risk management and business-oriented.

Security

SiliconANGLE - Grading our 2023 enterprise technology predictions 

Related to our cybersecurity predictions, we said that zero-trust security would get real in 2023. Though true, practitioners continue to tell us they struggle to operationalize the salient aspects of zero trust. And though it remains a priority and north star for most organizations, they continue to aspire for more mature implementations.

Tech Trends

sdxCentral - SDxCentral’s 5 New Year’s resolutions for 2024 (for the industry, not us)

Technology vendors need to avoid using AI as a marketing buzzword, dropping it into every press release and piece of  product marketing collateral. Instead, they should resolve to articulate clear value propositions around their AI offerings.

Tech Trends

CIO Influence - How Security Culture Will Define Success in the Era of AI

Some cybercriminals are also seizing the chance to weaponize AI to develop more insidious scams and create AI-manipulated content, such as voice cloning. If organizations don’t have the proper guardrails and defenses in place, they’ll be left vulnerable and potentially allow bad actors to gain access to sensitive information. Furthermore, if left untrained, employees may unintentionally misuse the technology and fuel bias or insider risk.

AI/Security

SiliconANGLE - The changing economics of open-source software

But it isn’t all singing kumbaya around the campfire. In 2023, there were two other events that shook the OSS foundational tenets, both involving conflicts over licensing. Meta released the latest version of its Llama large language model as OSS, as long as it wasn’t heavily used by an enterprise, in which case companies would have to pay a fee to license its use. And HashiCorp Inc. changed its licensing terms for Terraform from OSS to fee-based.

Open-Source

Network Computing - Expect a BEAD Broadband Slowdown in 2024

“The Fiber Broadband Association is aggressively pursuing the goal to bring our fiber-optic training to community colleges veterans and training institutions in all 56 U.S. states and territories," explained Gary Bolton, president and CEO of the FBA. "However, it is partnerships with accomplished organizations like the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) that enable our industries to truly advance mutual initiatives to enable every community to experience the benefits of high-speed connectivity."

Network Management

VentureBeat - The password identity crisis: Evolving authentication methods in 2024 and beyond

While the concept has been talked about for some time, it has yet to be fully realized because it is complex to incorporate, particularly when it comes to legacy systems that already have numerous security controls in place. But with the increased growth of AI built-from-scratch ‘greenfield’ systems, experts say that 2024 will be the year zero trust becomes real.

Security

VentureBeat - Why training LLMs with endpoint data will strengthen cybersecurity

“We collect the most amount of endpoint data in the industry from our XDR. We collect almost 200 megabytes per endpoint, which is, in many cases, 10 to 20 times more than most of the industry participants. Why do you do that? Because we take that raw data and cross-correlate or enhance most of our firewalls, we apply attack surface management with applied automation using XDR.”

AI/Security

sdxCentral - AI was everywhere (even when it wasn’t) in 2023

But when looked at from a broader view, writes Plumb, it is still a very young technology. And because it has been pushed out so rapidly, it has its limitations – notably when it comes to accuracy, scalability, and its recollection capabilities. Plumb wrote that this has led to a growing call for what has been deemed “long-term memory” for AI applications.

Artificial Intelligence

ITPro Today - Gartner Breaks Down GenAI: Is It Overhyped or a Game-Changer?

Within IT, there are three key business functions for which GenAI is being adopted, according to Chandrasekaran. "The first and foremost is in software engineering, where GenAI models are helping developers write code faster and even complete code within their environments," he said.

Artificial Intelligence

VentureBeat - Why attackers love to target misconfigured clouds and phones

“Novel exploits (zero-days) or even new uses of existing exploits are expensive to research and discover. Why burn an expensive zero-day when you don’t need to? Most bad actors can find a way in through the “front door”– that is, using legitimate credentials (in unauthorized ways).”

Security

Forbes - Artificial Intelligence Trends To Watch In 2024

That said, doomerism doesn’t stand or fall based on its connections to a dubious pseudophilosophy. Undoubtedly, many AI risks are real and should be taken seriously regardless. The national security implications of AI in particular constitute perhaps the biggest area of concern. AI will enable new forms of cyber warfare targeting critical infrastructure.

Artificial Intelligence

Network Computing - Why Secure SD-WAN is a Pillar of Enterprise Cybersecurity

Modern enterprises often use various cloud providers for different infrastructure and application needs. This multi-cloud approach lets them select the best offering for different areas of their business, lock in the best prices, and improve user experience. Despite the benefits, this type of environment is complex to manage and challenging to secure. SD-WAN has emerged as the solution of choice for multi-cloud organizations because it provides an application-aware network infrastructure with uniform policies while simplifying management and reducing costs.

Network Security

CIO Influence - Comcast Study Emphasizes Cybersecurity’s Significance in Remote Work Longevity

Nearly all surveyed companies (99%) foresee a heightened need for managed cybersecurity services. These services provide a security overlay to extend data protection, with disaster recovery and business continuity being the top-rated services (43%). Guidance from experts (40%) and managed detection and response (36%) are also high on the priority list as organizations seek comprehensive security solutions in their expanded remote work capacity.

Security

SiliconANGLE - Is this the friendly face of AI in 2024? Meet LG’s new ‘AI agent’

The AI agent is able to navigate a home independently, verbally interact with users and express emotions through movements made possible by its articulated leg joints. The robot uses multimodal AI technology, which combines voice and image recognition, along with natural language processing to enable it to understand context and intentions as well as actively communicate with users and interact with smart home appliances.

Artificial Intelligence

VentureBeat - 11 data predictions for AI-centric enterprise growth in 2024

SQL is a database language that lacks a standardized approach to procedural logic which, for most applications, is embedded within an application server connected to a SQL database using a stateful, persistent session. This design approach for SQL made sense 50 years ago, but it is a painful legacy for modern, connectionless cloud services

AI/Data Management

SiliconANGLE - Here are the major security threats and trends for 2024 – and how to deal with them 

Over the past year, there were many things written about gen AI, ranging from Chicken Little to miracle cancer cures. One noteworthy comment comes from Check Point Software Inc.’s blog: “Hackers will see cloud-based AI resources as a lucrative opportunity. They will focus their efforts on establishing GPU farms in the cloud to fund their own AI activities.”

Security

VentureBeat - 16 Cybersecurity leaders predict how gen AI will improve cybersecurity in 2024

“It could improve by the ability to pick up patterns (like attack patterns or an emerging CVE or just certain behaviors that indicate an attempted breach or even predicting that the L3 DDoS attack is a distraction for the credential stuffing they are missing). I also think that AI will make it more difficult, too. Detectors can’t tell the difference between a human-generated and AI-generated phishing attack, so they’ll get much better,” Silva said.

AI/Security

DarkReading - Why CISOs Need to Make Cyber Insurers Their Partners

Organizations often are required to meet specific threshold conditions, such as utilizing multifactor authentication and endpoint detection and response capabilities, and must pass an “outside-in” scan of their environment, which is done by a neutral third party.

Security

Computerworld - USB-C explained: How to get the most from it (and why it keeps on getting better)

In other words, the older rectangular USB Type-A plugs we are so used to are slowly going the way of the dinosaur. This evolution is happening faster in some arenas than others. For example, the latest Mac Pro desktop has no fewer than eight USB-C ports for anything from sending video to a display to charging a phone.

Automation & Productivity

VentureBeat - AI moves from theory to practice, zero trust gets real, and other 2024 predictions from Dell CTO

Dell, for instance, has roughly 380 AI-related ideas in the pipeline, he noted. But even as a large enterprise, the company probably only can handle just a handful of those. As he put it, enterprises might rush to do the first four projects on their lists — ultimately outpricing the fifth, which could have been the truly transformative one.

Tech Trends

CIO Influence - CIO Influence Predictions Series: Importance of AI and Anticipated Increased Use Of Visual Technology

With AI, in 2024, we will be able to process these documents in real time and also get good intelligence from this dataset without having to code custom models. Until now, a software engineer was needed to write code to parse these documents, then write more code to extract out the keywords or the values, and then put it into a database and query to generate actionable insights. The cost savings to enterprises will be huge because thanks to real-time AI, companies won’t have to employ a lot of staff to get competitive value out of data.

AI/Data & Analytics

SiliconANGLE - The rise of observability and why it matters to your business

Full-stack observability is the capability to discover the real-time status of each technology stack component in a distributed IT environment. It involves holistically viewing cloud-hosted applications, services, infrastructure, on-premises IT, K8s (there’s your O11Y hint) infrastructure and more. O11Y uses telemetry data such as metrics, logs, traces and other information from the entire IT environment to provide complete end-to-end visibility to understand the connection and dependencies among IT components.

IT Management

Information Week - Future of Work with GenAI: Boosting Efficiency in Enterprises

A prime illustration is McKinsey’s customized generative AI tool, “Lilli.” This application helps employees quickly navigate extensive client datasets, providing relevant information and insights for new clients in minutes rather than hours. This significantly reduces the employee workload, allowing them to focus more on building relationships with their clients.

Automation & Productivity

Network Computing - 10 SD-WAN Providers & Solutions to Consider in 2024: An Overview

A software-defined wide-area network (SD-WAN) is a virtual WAN architecture that's service provider-agnostic. This allows enterprises to leverage any assortment of transport services to securely link to desired applications. The list of transport services includes broadband Internet, Multiprotocol Label Switching, and Long-Term Evolution (wireless).

Network Management

Information Week - 5 Things You Can Do Today to Prepare for 2024’s Security Threats

There are not many things in IT that are entirely predictable, yet it’s a sure bet that network attackers will continue their nefarious activities throughout 2024. Fortunately, by being proactive, it’s possible to fortify your organization against cyberattacks. Here are six key insights, collected via email interviews, of the actions you can take right now to gain an upper hand on cybercriminals.

Security

TechRepublic - ESET Threat Report: ChatGPT Name Abuses, Lumma Stealer Malware Increases, Android SpinOk SDK Spyware’s Prevalence

One of the frauds resides in the OpenAI API for ChatGPT. The API needs a private API key that must be carefully protected and never exposed by users, yet some apps ask users to provide their API keys so the applications can use ChatGPT. As written by ESET researchers, “if the app sends your key to the developer’s server, there may be little to no guarantee that your key will not be leaked or misused, even if the call to the OpenAI API is also made.”

Security

sdxCentral - The top tech sustainability trends of 2024

Intel is one such company using its technology to support grid modernization efforts. As part of the Edge for Smart Secondary Substations (E4S) Alliance, the chipmaker is pioneering a software-defined approach to energy grids by building small-scale data centers inside electrical substations – the central inflection points for delivering electricity.

Sustainability

VentureBeat - IBM’s 2024 predictions show gen AI is the new DNA of cyberattacks

IBM predicts attackers will strengthen their arsenals with generative AI and take their attack tradecraft to a new, more lethal level in 2024. The new year signals the start of a new era of deception and identity abuse, IBM’s predictions warn, with attackers compromising networks with counterfeit and stolen privileged access credentials.

AI/Security

SiliconANGLE - AI looks inward, antitrust bites big tech again and cybersecurity battles intensify 

But generative artificial intelligence, while continuing to attract big bucks to the likes of Anthropic, OpenAI (yes, even more) and others, seems to be taking some downtime for self-examination, as companies increasingly find ways to keep the fast-growing technology’s most impulsive instincts in check.

Tech Trends

The Verge - Google’s ChatGPT competitor Bard is nearly as good — just slower

ChatGPT Plus and Gemini Pro are both very advanced chatbots based on large language models. They’re the latest and greatest options from their respective companies, promised to be faster and better at responding to queries than their predecessors. Most importantly, both are trained on recent information, rather than only knowing what was on the internet until 2021. They’re also fairly simple to use as standalone products, in contrast to something like X’s new Grok bot, deployed as an extra on ex-Twitter.

ChatGPT

VentureBeat - How LLMs made their way into the modern data stack in 2023

The first (and probably the most important) shift with LLMs came when vendors started debuting conversational querying capabilities — i.e. getting answers from structured data (data fitting into rows and columns) by talking with it. This eliminated the hassle of writing complex SQL (structured query language) queries and gave teams, including non-technical users, an easy-to-use text-to-SQL experience, where they could put in natural language prompts and get insights from their data

AI/Data Management

Information Week - Key AI Trends to Look For in 2024

Most 2023 AI products inspired by ChatGPT have been textual. “But users prefer more expressive software that meets them in every modality, from voice to video to audio to code and more,” Garg says. “If we can get these architectures to work at scale, which would require a specialized set of retrieval augmentation startups to innovate in multi-modal, we could unlock a new category of software that provides much more accurate and human results.”

Artificial Intelligence

sdxCentral - Network management changes as observability spans multicloud

Security-related enhancements and cloud migrations lie behind much of the product activity in the area. Overall, the industry segment continues to address issues of cost, complexity and information volume that go hand in hand with log management’s wider use in the multicloud dominion.

Network Management

TechRepublic - Anthropic Builds Methods for Reducing Bias in Generative AI – But Doesn’t Recommend AI for High-Stakes Decisions

The researchers noted there were limitations to the paper, including the limited range of demographics, the short paragraphs of information provided about each hypothetical situation as opposed to longer real-world sources of information such as resumes, and the premise that the AI should write the initial scenarios itself.

Artificial Intelligence

The Hacker News - Cost of a Data Breach Report 2023: Insights, Mitigators and Best Practices

According to Etay Maor, Senior Director of Security Strategy at Cato Networks, "We tend to talk a lot about security issues and solutions. This report puts a number behind threats and solutions and provides a lot of information to support claims of how a threat actor, a solution or a process impacts you financially."

Security

TechRepublic - Top 7 Cybersecurity Threats for 2024

Additionally, fileless attacks, where attackers use stolen credentials purchased on the Dark Web to gain access to systems without leaving behind traditional malware traces, are one of the biggest trends to look out for. And zero-day brokers — cybercrime groups selling zero-day exploits on the Dark Web to multiple buyers — are becoming increasingly prevalent.

Security

Network Computing - The Dawn of Universal Zero Trust Network Access

Universal ZTNA is a new concept. Given where the industry is going and the growing need to merge networking and security, with the emergence of the hybrid workforce, the idea will evolve and become a must-have technology soon. If you are on the frontline, a network leader, or an enterprise architect, now is the time to start researching and planning

Network Management

Information Week - Hot Jobs in AI/Data Science for 2024

“In 2024, we’ll also see the war for cyber and software development talent grow more contentious as a result of major privacy concerns and savings-driven budget reallocations born from the generative AI boom,” Hodjat says.

Tech Jobs

Computerworld - Q&A: How Athenahealth moved from traditional AI to genAI and ChatGPT

One newly deployed genAI capability can summarize the labels on patient healthcare documents intelligently so providers can more easily find the information most relevant at the point of care. Another feature will identify missing or incorrect information before a prior authorization for care is submitted to maximize the chance the authorization will be approved.

Automation & Productivity

sdxCentral - How SASE tackles multicloud implementations, complexity

SASE is going to provide the “on-ramp into the different clouds a company might be using,” McGillicuddy said. As such, it can provide safe access to global points of presence (POPs), route traffic via SD-WANs, and apply services such as secure web gateways, cloud application security brokers,  firewall services and some things that you may not see on today’s hype cycles.

Cloud Security

CIO Influence - Understanding ISMS: A Comprehensive Overview

The crux of the ISMS framework centers on the meticulous evaluation and administration of risks. It operates as a structured methodology, delineating a balanced equilibrium between mitigating risks and the associated costs. Industries entrenched in rigorous regulatory landscapes like healthcare or finance often demand expansive security measures and robust strategies for mitigating risks. This necessitates a comprehensive scope of security activities within their ISMS framework.

Security

Network World - Cisco 2024: AI adoption will drive network modernization, data-center evolution

"GenAI will also be leveraged in B2B interactions with users demanding more contextualized, personalized, and integrated solutions," Centoni stated. "GenAI will offer APIs, interfaces, and services to access, analyze, and visualize data and insights, becoming pervasive across areas such as project management, software quality and testing, compliance assessments, and recruitment efforts. As a result, observability for AI will grow."

AI/Network Management

VentureBeat - The widening web of effective altruism in AI security | The AI Beat

We discussed why he considers securing the model weights for Claude, Anthropic’s LLM, to be his number one priority. The threat of opportunistic criminals, terrorist groups or highly-resourced nation-state operations accessing the weights of the most sophisticated and powerful LLMs is alarming, he explained, because “if an attacker got access to the entire file, that’s the entire neural network.”

AI/Security

Government Executive - AI is a rising priority for federal chief data officers

“Advanced analytics, master data management, data integration, API strategies — all are going to help position those building blocks for really leveraging and driving ethical and explainable AI,” King said.

AI/Data Management

Computerworld - Choosing a genAI partner: Trust, but verify

The decision to use genAI has a lot of in common with the enterprise cloud decision. In either case, a company is turning over much of its intellectual crown jewels (its most sensitive data) to a third party. And in both instances, the third-party is trying to offer as little visibility and control as possible.

Artificial Intelligence

VentureBeat - Google Gemini is not even as good as GPT-3.5 Turbo, researchers find

Yes, you read that correctly: Google’s brand new LLM, the one that has been in development for months at least, performs worse at most tasks than OpenAI’s older, less cutting-edge, free model. After all, ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise paying subscribers can already access and use the underlying GPT-4 and GPT-4V (the multimodal offering) LLMs regularly, and have had access to the former for the better part of this year.

Artificial Intelligence

Computerworld - What leading Apple-in-the-enterprise execs expect in '24

"We first noticed the trend with mobile devices as frontline workers in industries like healthcare, aviation, and retail transitioned to iPhones and iPads as the primary computing device for some customer-facing roles. And on the Mac, we saw tremendous growth in the use of cloud identity services, indicating that the Mac is increasingly being used to access critical online services and data.

Automation & Productivity

AiThority - Decoding Open-Web Programmatic Ads: Adtheorent & Advertiser Perceptions’ Latest Findings

Advertisers will continue to evolve how they identify their target audiences. A majority in each market expressed interest across various techniques to identify audiences, with the highest level of interest being the use of ML-based audiences that are not reliant on IDs or personally identifiable information (PII) (87% US; 93% Canada).

Marketing Tech

SiliconANGLE - New report warns of a rise in AI-generated email fraud and phishing attacks

The report discusses several instances of AI-generated attacks detected by Abnormal, such as malware delivery attempts posing as insurance companies, Netflix impersonation for credential phishing, and invoice fraud by impersonating a cosmetics brand. The attacks use sophisticated language and lack the usual signs of phishing, such as grammatical errors, making them more convincing to potential victims.

Secuity

VentureBeat - The age of weaponized LLMs is here

By providing examples of spearphishing emails created using ChatGPT-3, GPT-3.5, and GPT-4.0, Hazell reveals the chilling fact that LLMs can personalize context and content in rapid iteration until they successfully trigger a response from victims.

AI/LLMs

sdxCentral - Why enterprises need cyber insurance — how and what to buy

“As can be expected, businesses with billions in revenue are far more likely to purchase cyber insurance coverage than small-to-midsize businesses or organizations with more minimal revenue or perceived lower risk,’’ Wisniewski says. “The most uninsured industries tend to fall under critical infrastructure, likely, because they face extreme cyberattacks, both in terms of quantity and impact and therefore struggle to get insurance providers to cover their organizations.”

Security

Forbes - Navigating The Cybersecurity Landscape In 2024: Anticipating Challenges And Opportunities

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) will play an increasingly prominent role in cyberattacks in 2024. Expect cybercriminals to leverage AI and ML to automate and enhance their capabilities, making attacks more sophisticated and adaptive. Cybersecurity professionals must harness the power of AI themselves to stay one step ahead of these evolving threats.

Security

TechBullion - Blockchain and Cybersecurity: Strengthening Digital Defenses in the Connected Age

Blockchain, a decentralized and distributed ledger technology, presents a paradigm shift in the approach to digital security. Unlike traditional centralized systems, where a single point of failure can lead to catastrophic consequences, blockchain operates on a peer-to-peer network. Each participant in the network holds a copy of the entire ledger, creating a decentralized fortress that is inherently resistant to tampering and attacks.

Blockchain/Security

ITPro Today - Why FinOps Is a Pivotal Cloud Trend in 2023

Instead, it's cloud FinOps — a strategy that emphasizes cloud cost optimization. As of 2023, FinOps is exerting major influence on the way many organizations approach cloud computing. It has arguably become more important to cloud strategies than concepts like multicloud or hybrid cloud, key trends from years past.

Cloud

CIO Influence - Three Reasons an Organization’s CISO Should be Independent of its CIO

A key motivator for organizations to separate the CISO from the CIO is to provide that CISO with greater management responsibility and control over the cybersecurity program. This removes potential friction with the CIO over things such as budgetary constraints or security strategies. Further, an independent CISO ensures that cybersecurity remains an organization-wide priority, and security strategies align with broader business objectives – not just broader IT initiatives

Security

The Verge - 2023 in social media: the case for the fediverse

In a fediverse world, rather than try to build another all-encompassing Facebook from scratch, an enterprising developer can pick one or a few of its features and try to do better. Users can pick their favorite app — or two, or two hundred — through which to get their posts. Because everything is based on one set of posts and an open network of friends and followers, new social products can be useful even if you’re the very first user.

Social Media

VentureBeat - Many AI governance tools include faulty AI fixes, report finds

According to a new report from the World Privacy Forum, a review of 18 AI governance tools used by governments and multilateral organizations found that more than a third (38%) include “faulty fixes.” That is, the tools and techniques meant to evaluate and measure AI systems, particularly for fairness and explainability, were found to be problematic or ineffective.

Artificial Intelligence

AiThority - Insight Survey: Generative AI Adoption High; Most Trying to Achieve Better Productivity, Customer Engagement

Companies report several benefits they are trying to achieve from generative AI initiatives. More than half (54%) report improved productivity as a top outcome expected from the technology; around two in five cite improved customer experience (42%), improved customer service (40%), and/or reduced human error (37%). That said, employee knowledge or training on generative AI tools remains a top barrier to implementation (32%), indicating that more education and training is required.

Artificial Intelligence

VentureBeat - How to protect unmanaged devices in today’s zero-trust world

When a contractor is onboarded, they often get access to shared productivity apps. As many organizations don’t have a process to delete a contractor’s access by cloud app or resource, credentials can live on for years – even decades – and lead to intrusion and breach attempts.  

Security

Information Week - How to Select the Right Industry Cloud for Your Business

“Strive to preserve flexibility and the ability to innovate,” he advises. The market is rapidly evolving, and monolithic implementations are giving way to user-friendly building blocks that are continuously improved. “These are proving to provide the greatest advantage,” Campbell observes.

Cloud

AiThority - Sonata AI & Cloud Rule 2024 IT Investments: Rackspace Survey

The survey also underscores the continued adoption of the cloud. When asked about the makeup of their organization’s IT infrastructure and how it will evolve over the next 12 months, edge computing, private cloud, and public cloud increased as a percentage of workloads, while data centers, colocation facilities, and mainframes declined.

AI/Cloud

eWeek - AWS Study Finds Increasing Focus on Responsible AI

A key finding from the survey’s many results: a remarkable 77 percent of the respondents acknowledge the importance of responsible AI, with younger leaders—aged 18 to 44—showing a higher familiarity with the concept of responsible AI compared to their older counterparts.

Artificial Intelligence

Information Week - Clock Starts on SEC Cyberattack Rules: What CISOs Should Know

“Cybercriminals have shown that if they are willing to control the timeline, they are able to prompt people into action,” Pierson says. “If you tell people that we will expose your data within seven days unless you pay us -- that creates a time clock and a scenario where the power goes to the cybercriminal.”

Security

The Hacker News - Unmasking the Dark Side of Low-Code/No-Code Applications

While low-code/no-code (LCNC) apps and robotic process automations (RPA) drive efficiency and agility, their dark security side demands scrutiny. LCNC application security emerges as a relatively new frontier, and even seasoned security practitioners and security teams grapple with the dynamic nature and sheer volume of citizen-developed applications.

Security

sdxCentral - Trellix CEO outlines how to educate employees on genAI risks

“I think the best way to do it is to have a policy and a regulated standard and then have some standardization,” Palma said. For instance, companies should procure enterprise licenses for approved genAI tools and allow IT teams to assess and ensure their security. This strategy is preferable than blocking these tools, as employees might seek unapproved alternatives, he added.

Artificial Intelligence

Computerworld - Q&A: Sedgwick exec lays out 'the baby steps to genAI adoption'

In April, Sedgwick unveiled a generative artificial intelligence (genAI) tool called Sidekick to help with document summarization, data classification, and analysis. Sidekick uses OpenAI's GPT-4, giving the company "an unlimited number of large language models to be created for varying purposes."

Automation & Productivity

Network Computing - The Network’s Growing Strategic Role

“In our experience, companies that invest time and energy to understand their networks and collaborative relationships greatly improve their chances of making successful organizational changes,” said McKinsey. “Sophisticated approaches can map networks and identify the key points of connectivity where value is created or destroyed.”

Network Management

TechBullion - Big Data Analytics 101: Understanding the Basics and Benefits

It is the process of examining and uncovering patterns, trends, and insights from large and diverse datasets. Unlike traditional data analysis methods, Big Data Analytics deals with datasets that are too complex or massive to be processed by conventional data processing applications. This field leverages advanced analytics techniques, including machine learning, statistical analysis, and predictive modeling, to extract valuable information from vast pools of data.

Data & Analytics

Information Week - Data Leaders Say ‘AI Paralysis’ Stifling Adoption: Study

“I do think there’s a disconnect between the CIO and CDO and the chief executive. We should not, in the data and technology space, expect people to understand the layer of complexity that we have to deal with. What we should be doing is taking that complexity and creating a story and a narrative, so it makes sense to the other people in our organization and businesses we work with.”

AI/Data Management

TechBullion - From Raw Data to Actionable Insights: Exploring the Process of Big Data Analytics

Exploratory Data Analysis is the process of visually and statistically exploring data sets to uncover patterns, trends, and relationships. Data visualization tools play a crucial role in this phase, allowing analysts to identify outliers, understand data distributions, and gain initial insights. EDA sets the stage for more in-depth analysis and hypothesis testing.

Data Management

CIO Influence - AI for Network Management Strategies in 2024

Customer patience is wearing thin and businesses are doing all they can to keep up with demands, most notably implementing AI more prominently in their workflows. In the networking space, AIOps, which is the use of AI to automate and streamline IT operations tasks, will be the biggest use case for AI in 2024.

AI/Network Management

Tech Startups - Prompt Engineering: The Definitive Guide to Unleashing The Power of ChatGPT and Other Language Models

However, prompt engineering goes beyond just creating prompts. It encompasses a diverse set of skills and techniques useful for interacting with and developing LLMs. It’s a critical skill for interfacing, building with, and comprehending the capabilities of LLMs. Prompt engineering can contribute to improving the safety of LLMs and introducing new capabilities, such as augmenting LLMs with domain knowledge and external tools.

AI/LLMs

sdxCentral - What is AI networking? Use cases, benefits and challenges

AI networking seeks to transform traditional IT operations and make networks more intelligent, self-adaptive, efficient and reliable. The technology uses machine learning (ML), deep learning, natural language processing (NLP), generative AI (genAI) and other methods to monitor, troubleshoot and secure networks.

AI/Network Management

VentureBeat - Why Anthropic and OpenAI are obsessed with securing LLM model weights

A new research report from nonprofit policy think tank Rand Corporation says that while weights are not the only component of an LLM that needs to be protected, model weights are particularly critical because they “uniquely represent the result of many different costly and challenging prerequisites for training advanced models—including significant compute, collected and processed training data, algorithmic optimizations, and more.” Acquiring the weights, the paper posited, could allow a malicious actor to make use of the full model at a tiny fraction of the cost of training it.

AI/LLM

sdxCentral - Deloitte on Tech: Top cloud computing trends to expect in 2024

Much needs to be done to support this rise, though, including sizing systems for genAI. This means typically supporting training data with more database storage and keeping the storage of both structured and unstructured data. In many instances, enterprises will look to combine that data before it becomes training data, and that will likely work in the public clouds, given the ease of provisioning and scaling of cloud-based platforms.

Cloud

Network World - How to lock down backup infrastructure

It’s the worst nightmare for those of us advocating backups as a ransomware recovery tool. If the last line of defense is taken out of the game, it defeats the whole reason we built the system in the first place. If hackers are able to delete or encrypt backups, or the backup server operating system itself, you will find yourself in an unenviable position.

Security

ITPro Today -  cover of Netlify's State of Web Development report Netlify Software Development State of Web Development Report Details Composable Architecture Benefits

Biilmann noted that developers are wary of a wide breadth of risks when it comes to AI implementation. Seventy percent are concerned about erroneous outcomes, and over half believe that leveraging AI can lead to new security issues and confidential data leaks. Fortunately, developers are already discovering best practices to help mitigate these risks, he noted.

DevOps

sdxCentral - Deloitte predicts 2024 will be a breakthrough year for post-quantum cryptography 

The three draft PQC standards NIST released earlier this year include the Module-Lattice-based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism Standard, Module-Lattice-based Digital Signature Standard and Stateless Hash-Based Digital Signature Standard. A fourth standard derived from Falcon is expected to be released soon and the institute expects to finalize its PQC standards by 2024.

Cryptography

SiliconANGLE - As enterprises adopt AI, open-source leaders worry about regulatory and proprietary issues 

Participation in open AI projects can be found among the cloud giants as well. Project Jupyter, an open-source initiative that builds tools for machine learning frameworks, has been actively supported by Amazon Web Services Inc., which is a key contributor to the project. In May, AWS announced two generative AI extensions for Jupyter to democratize AI and scale up machine learning workloads.

Artificial Intelligence

Blocks & Files - 2024 IT management trends: It’s generative AI and everything else

In 2024, GenAI will accelerate workload placement trends, with organizations reckoning with how and where to run large language models (LLMs) that fuel their GenAI applications. Some IT decision makers will choose public services.

IT Management

eWeek - 20 Best AI Chatbots in 2024

An ever-growing number of generative AI chatbots are now entering the market, but not all chatbots are created equal. We analyzed the best generative AI chatbots to help you determine the best conversational AI app for your business.

AI/Chat

Network Computing - NaaS and Edge Cloud: Agility and Efficiency for the Modern Enterprise

NaaS provides on-demand access to essential network resources like bandwidth, security, and storage in a subscription-based model. Rather than building and maintaining their own network infrastructure, enterprises can rapidly deploy and scale network capacity to align with fluctuating business workloads. This shifts the burden of building, maintaining, and managing infrastructure to the service provider, freeing up IT resources within the business to focus on driving strategic initiatives tailored to core competencies.

Network Management

Information Week - Could Your Organization Benefit from Hyperautomation?

There’s no set rule for deciding whether or not to deploy hyperautomation. “Wherever there are vast amounts of repetitive and mundane work, inefficient data usage, and ineffective processes, hyperautomation has its place,” Tyne observes. Typically, however, hyperautomation is associated with large enterprises, he adds.

Automation & Productivity

VentureBeat - Linux Foundation advances open source vision with Generative AI Commons

The Generative AI Commons is organized into four primary work streams: model and data, frameworks, applications, and education. One of the initial deliverables that the group is now working on is the model openness framework, which evaluates generative AI projects against the criteria of open science and open source.

Artificial Intelligence

sdxCentral - AI heats up data center infrastructure market

As a result, IT teams deployed other resources in an attempt to snag the necessary IT infrastructure as quickly and as affordable as possible, leaving little room for proper heat and energy management infrastructure deployment. “Due to the effort required here, many end users are only able to address the power and thermal management infrastructure requirements after or close to receiving those initial GPU shipments,

Data Management

CSO - AI dominates cybersecurity megatrends for 2024: Report

The top deck (first four) of the list included AI-related trends that SIA expects will make a substantial impact in the segment in the coming year. Topping the list was AI security, which refers to the cybersecurity practices for the protection of data, IP, and corporate integrity with the adoption of AI into businesses of all sizes.

AI/Security

Forbes - Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, and Space are 3 Tech areas to Watch in 2024

Prioritizing and acting on data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning can help make decisions more efficiently. This is especially true in larger networks with numerous users and variables. AI-enabled computers are primarily intended for tasks like speech recognition, learning planning, and problem-solving.

Tech Trends

VentureBeat - The EU AI Act passed, but Mistral parties on | The AI Beat

The EU AI Act was also quickly pushed from the headlines by one of Europe’s own AI stars. Paris-based open source model startup Mistral, in the equivalent of a mic drop, released a new LLM on Friday with nothing but a torrent link. Then, yesterday the company, which was founded just seven months ago by Meta and Google researchers, kept the party going by announcing a $415 million fund-raise from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Nvidia and Salesforce — valuing the small 22-person team at about $2 billion.

AI

CFO Dive - Cybersecurity pressures stretch CFOs

A 2022 survey by finance software firm Datarails, which is headquartered in New York, found that most CFOs (81%) believed they were suffering a more intensive day-to-day workload compared with all of their C-suite colleagues.

Security

VentureBeat - Anthropic leads charge against AI bias and discrimination with new research

But the study goes one step further: The paper not only exposes biases, but also proposes a comprehensive strategy for creating AI applications that are more fair and just with the use of a new discrimination evaluation method.

Artificial Intelligence

AiThority - Manufacturers Slow to Adopt AI, Report Finds

The latest Sikich Industry Pulse found that one-fifth of manufacturing executives have no plans to incorporate AI into their operations, and more than 60% of executives are unsure if AI will add any benefit to their companies or have researched AI but have not found an appropriate use case. Less than 20% of manufacturers have begun to implement AI technologies.

Artificial Intelligence

Network Computing - Building Resilience in Uncertain Times: The Power Of Connected Networks

Connected networks are sophisticated peer-to-peer networks linking an organization with its stakeholders—suppliers, partners, customers, and competitors—across processes, systems, and geographies. They allow every stakeholder to see exactly how different parts of the ecosystem interact and impact the customer experience and business outcomes. This single-pane view creates opportunities for better decision-making for more economic leverage.

IT Management

Datanami - IDC Reports Robust Growth in Public Cloud Services with $315.5B Revenue in First Half of 2023

Software as a Service – Applications (SaaS – Applications) continued to be the largest source of public cloud services revenue, accounting for nearly 45% of the total in 1H23. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) was the second largest revenue category with 20.4% of the total while Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service – System Infrastructure Software (SaaS – SIS) delivered 18.0% and 16.9% of overall revenue respectively.

Cloud

Computerworld - Making sense of genAI pricing in office apps

While it’s standard for software vendors to price similar services at different levels as they vie for market share and profitability, the relative novelty of generative AI brings some specific challenges. On one hand there’s the compute cost to process user queries and how quickly this cost might fall. Then there’s the question of what benefits these tools will actually provide to customers and, ultimately, how much organizations are willing to pay.

Automation & Productivity

Datanami - Privacera Unveils AI and Data Security Governance Predictions for 2024

“In 2024, we expect a large influx of innovations by enterprises of every scale adopting and deploying generative AI, and using sensitive data to train the underlying AI and Large Language models,” says Balaji Ganesan, co-founder and CEO, Privacera. “This transformation can only be successful with a unified data security governance strategy in place, and requires data leaders to apply controls to both, sensitive data and AI, in a consistent and scalable manner.”

AI/Security

VentureBeat - How ConductorOne’s Copilot Improves Identity Governance with AI

Managing user and machine identities in multi-cloud environments is among their teams’ most challenging tasks. The most challenging areas of managing identities in a multi-cloud environment include getting permissions right while eliminating orphan accounts, monitoring access privileges and reducing the risk of stolen privilege access credentials.

AI/Security

Datanami - data.world Unveils Report Showing Tripling of LLM Response Accuracy Over SQL Databases with Knowledge Graph

data.world’s benchmark report reveals 3x uptick in LLM response accuracy over SQL databases, when those answers were backed by a Knowledge Graph. Complex business questions around metrics, KPIs, and strategic planning have a much higher chance of accurate answers via the Knowledge Graph

AI/Data

Information Week - Cobots and AI: A Natural Match?

Kent predicts that AI-powered cobots will foster a deeper collaboration and partnership between humans and devices, improving both efficiency and peace of mind. “Cobots can be used to help humans in a variety of ways, from taking over repetitive and manual tasks and adding layers of safety to improving data analysis and demand forecasting,” he explains

Automation & Productivity

Network Computing - Why Simple Cloud Computing Architectures May Be Better Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit

It's not hard to understand why the typical organization today is attracted to cloud architectures that are more complex than necessary. Continuous improvement and endless optimization have become key mantras of the IT industry. If you were to suggest that a simple cloud architecture meets your organization's requirements and that there's no need to invest in more complex cloud setups or services, you'd probably sound unimaginative at best, or lazy and out of touch at worst.

Cloud

CIO Influence - Major Market Trends and Disruptions CIOs Must Be Ready for in 2024

With the launch of ChatGPT at the end of 2022, 2023 ushered in peak hype around AI. Vendors rapidly reacted to the stunning user adoption rates of ChatGPT by introducing their own versions of “generative AI” into their software, whether it involved real machine learning, LLMs, NLP, etc. – or if it was all smoke, mirrors, and buzzwords. There are some legitimate and very exciting uses of generative AI, but some marketers would lead you to believe its powers are far more ubiquitous than it really is – at least for the moment.

Tech Trends

Information Week - 10 Hot Technology Developments Right Now

In many ways the technology story of 2023 was all about artificial intelligence. In fact, in this list of hot technology trends, almost all relate in some way to AI. That begs the question of whether we’ll eventually stop calling out AI as a separate thing or if all technology will just incorporate AI in some way.

Tech Trends

Blocks & Files - AI needs a data platform, and VAST wants to be it

“We think a data platform that provides neural networks with broad access to such natural data at tremendous speed and scale will deliver much more sophisticated AI than what we’ve seen to date. And as datasets grow larger, as algorithms get smarter, and as processors get stronger, self-discovering computers – thinking machines – will no longer be science fiction.”

AI/Data

Information Week - How Could AI Be a Tool for Workers?

Companies that adopt these powerful AI models can leverage them to cut costs. Allen points out that many companies will likely use AI to shift away from outsourcing. “A lot of firms outsource mostly routine clerical work to places like India, and I believe that's going to be threatened or impacted significantly by AI that will be able to do that work faster and cheaper,” he says.

Automation & Productivity

Tech Startups - Beyond Generative AI: Why Cognitive AI is the new frontier that will usher a new era of human-like thinking

Choosing between Cognitive AI and Generative AI hinges on the specific needs of the application. If replicating human-like cognitive processes and decision-making is the goal, Cognitive AI is preferable. Conversely, if generating creative content is the aim, Generative AI is the choice. Often, a combination of both approaches yields more comprehensive solutions.

Artificial Intelligence

Blocks & Files - GigaOm ranks NetApp as leader in scaleout file storage

“The scaleout file storage market is very active. Roadmaps show a general trend toward expanding hybrid-cloud use cases, implementing AI-based analytics, rolling out more data management capabilities, and strengthening ransomware protection.”

Data Storage

SiliconANGLE - Data breaches at an all-time high, according to a new report from MIT 

Madnick found that more than 2.6 billion personal records have been obtained from breaches in 2021 and 2022, most of them from cloud-based data. Many of these attacks have targeted sensitive data such as the October breach of genetic information from 23andMe or student data from the Minneapolis public school system in March. Madnick’s report catalogs numerous others.

Security

CIO Influence - Role of LLMs and Advanced AI in Cybersecurity: Predictions from HP Inc. Executives

AI-powered security solutions for risk analysis, predictive intelligence, and identity and access management assist cybersecurity teams with unmatched ability to safeguard their digital infrastructure. However, there’s no guarantee that AI alone can protect everything your organization owns or stores. CIOs still lack 100% visibility into what their cybersecurity postures look like and what kind of preparedness is required to thwart a sophisticated cyber attack led by ransomware and zero-day attack vectors.

Security

VentureBeat - Protecting against new Kubernetes threats in 2024 and beyond

A wave of new attacks targeted Kubernetes in 2023: Dero and Monero crypto miners, Scarleteel and RBAC-Buster. Finding an initial foothold with a web app vulnerability, then moving laterally is the hallmark of a Kubernetes attack. Understanding the reality of these attacks can help protect your organization from current and future attacks targeting Kubernetes.

Security

Forbes - 6 Predictions About Cybersecurity Challenges In 2024

“From the creation of convincing deepfakes to an increase of targeted misinformation, the concept of trust, identity and democracy itself will be under the microscope. This will put [an] even greater onus on individuals to scrutinize and make informed decisions and on media platforms to root out false content,” he predicted.

Security

CSO - Almost 50% of organizations plan to reduce cybersecurity headcounts: Survey

The report revealed that smaller organizations are struggling on multiple levels to incorporate security observability as part of their security systems. They lack the resources to hire the right people to use the security tools. However, this also makes them prudent about spending, thus ensuring they avoid hype-driven adoption of the products. On the other hand, large organizations have access to a wide range of tools and products, but they struggle to integrate them for optimal performance.

Security

SiliconANGLE - North Korean hackers Lazarus Group takes new Telegram tactics 

This latest effort, what Talos calls Operation Blacksmith, makes use of the Log4Shell vulnerabilities in VMWare Horizon servers for initially accessing victims’ computers. These exploits began two years ago. Veracode last week posted an analysis showing that more than a third of the servers are running applications that are still vulnerable, which is why Lazarus and others continue to take advantage of them.

Security

Datanami - Fortanix Highlights Encryption’s Growing Role in Data Security

Among the findings: lack of encryption is the primary contributor to sensitive data loss, even though confidence in cryptographic capabilities is strong. At the same time, encryption is pervasive and on the rise for data at rest, in motion, and in use.

Data Management

VentureBeat - Stanford and Meta inch towards AI that acts human with new ‘CHOIS’ interaction model

The new system, dubbed CHOIS (Controllable Human-Object Interaction Synthesis), uses the latest conditional diffusion model techniques to produce seamless and precise interactions like “lift the table above your head, walk, and put the table down.”

Artificial Intelligence

TechBullion - AI in Cybersecurity: Strengthening Defenses in the Digital Age

While challenges exist, the ongoing evolution of AI technologies and their application in cybersecurity promise a resilient future where organizations can navigate the digital landscape with confidence. As we embrace the capabilities of AI in strengthening our defenses, the collaboration between human expertise and artificial intelligence becomes paramount in safeguarding our digital future.

AI/Security

SiliconANGLE - Beyond separating compute and storage: Journey to the sixth data platform 

It’s important to point out that this is the Database/Data Warehouse sector in the ETR taxonomy, so there are products represented that we don’t consider to be part of the modern data platform conversation – for example, Microsoft SQL Server. That is a limitation of the taxonomy you should be aware. Nonetheless, it allows us to look at relative momentum. Also, we’re not focusing in this research post on operational platforms such as MongoDB.

Data Management

Data Science Central - Decoding the Future: The Intersection of Advanced Analytics and Fraud Prevention in Revolutionizing Digital Payments

ML analyzes data and teaches systems autonomously. Over time, ML algorithms improve with more data. Supervised and unsupervised ML are the main methods. UML algorithms find hidden patterns in data, while SML algorithms predict outcomes using labeled data.

AI/ML

DarkReading - Municipalities Face a Constant Battle as Ransomware Snowballs

Sophos reported that more than a quarter of state and local government organizations (28%) in its survey admitted to making a payment of at least $1 million or more when it came to ransoms, a massive increase compared with the 5% that made that large of a payment in the 2022 data. Of the organizations whose data was encrypted in an attack, 99% got their information back, with 34% reporting that they paid a ransom and 75% relying on backups.

Security

Computerworld - How Apple TV just became a Zoom meeting solution for SMEs

Deploying a conference room for hybrid meetings can be costly if you’re a small to midsize enterprise (SME), but the price potentially plummets as online meeting provider Zoom joins Webex in launching a new Apple TV meeting app. The new app uses Apple’s Continuity Camera feature, introduced earlier this year, which lets you use the camera on your iPhone or iPad as a camera for a connected Apple device.

Automation & Productivity

Datanami - EY Report Highlights: Generational Divide in AI Adoption and Perception in the Workforce

A lack of guidance from leaders on responsible usage is also fueling new anxieties. In fact, about two-thirds (65%) of employees are anxious about not knowing how to use AI ethically, and a majority are concerned about the legal risks (77%) and cybersecurity risks (75%).

Artificial Intelligence

CIO Dive - There will be a surplus of tech workers by 2026, executives project

As technology skills expand throughout the enterprise, nearly three-quarters of IT leaders say it’s more important for employees to have multiple skills than specialization. Creativity, emotion and critical thinking are the top contributions of the human workforce in a talent market shaped by AI.

Tech Jobs

VentureBeat - Why the promise behind generative AI comes down to security

Users are also out there blithely entering sensitive data into generative AI models in the wild. Generative AI likes to hang on to the data it receives, and any data that a system collects is used to train models. How does an organization protect sensitive information, or prevent the organization from violating privacy regulations in those cases?

AI/Security

Information Week - 10 Hot Technology Developments Right Now

In many ways the technology story of 2023 was all about artificial intelligence. In fact, in this list of hot technology trends, almost all relate in some way to AI. That begs the question of whether we’ll eventually stop calling out AI as a separate thing or if all technology will just incorporate AI in some way.

Tech Trends

Network World - Gartner: Just 12% of IT infrastructure pros outpace CIO expectations

Another key action incorporates enhanced analysis capabilities to measure the effectiveness of their programs and investments. While in uncertain economic times, I&O leaders must maximize the impact of technology. "According to the survey, 89% of leaders in highly effective I&O organizations formulate strategies for process transformation and optimization, and 82% identify opportunities to reduce technology costs through economies of scale or cross-enterprise synergies," Gartner says.

IT Management

Datanami - 10% of Organizations Surveyed Launched GenAI Solutions to Production in 2023

The survey highlights other challenges that might be causing a slow adoption of LLM technology in businesses, such as lack of knowledge, cost and compliance. Of the respondents, 84% admit that their skills need to improve due to increasing interest in LLM adoption, while only 19% say they have a strong understanding of the mechanisms of how LLMs generate responses.

AI/LLM

CIO Dive - Talent woes among top barriers to generative AI ambitions

Among the most in-demand positions for companies currently using the technology are AI programming and data analysis. AI talent leaving major tech providers isn’t enough to meet demand across industries, according to the firm.

Artificial Intelligence

VentureBeat - How should AI be governed? Open source syllabus offers framework

Drawing on lessons from parallel technologies and calls for broader representation, Frazier’s vision through “living documents” like this syllabus is to “arrive at principles-based solutions.” By welcoming global participation, initiatives stand to best guide responsible progress as technologies reshape society.

Artificial Intelligence

CIO Influence - Building a Strong Data and Analytics (D&A) Strategy with a Culture Mindset

According to a McKinsey survey, 14% of C-level leaders spend 70 percent of their time making decisions. In most cases, these decisions are based on inefficient models. This inflates the cost of decision-making. Reliable data search and discovery tools improve the accuracy of the decision-making, with added layers of compliance and privacy guarded by a strong data governance framework.

Data & Analytics

Network Computing - How the AI Gold Rush Has the Potential to Take the Ceiling off The Network's Potential

AI can also thrive in conducting management and maintenance operations. Self-healing networks are envisioned to be the next step in intelligent networking, enabling the network to completely repair (and potentially even reconstruct) itself or reroute in a matter of minutes, should a failure occur.

Network Management

sdxCentral - Deloitte predicts genAI, specialized computing, industrial metaverse will top 2024 trends

Those technologies include generative AI; spatial computing and the industrial metaverse; moving beyond brute force compute to specialized compute; the evolution to DevEx; securing against innovative attack methods; and evolving from technical debt to technical wellness.

Tech Trends

Information Week - Massive Okta Breach: What CISOs Should Know

Okta recommends customers take several immediate steps to defend against potential attacks from the breach, including securing administrator access through multi-factor authentication (MFA), “admin session binding” that requires admins to reauthenticate in certain instances, “admin session timeout” set to a default of 12-hour session duration and 15-minute idle time, and phishing awareness.

Security

Network Computing - Overspending on SaaS? 6 Ways to Cost Optimization

Before starting with cost optimization, you must first analyze where you’re overspending. Start with a thorough spend analysis using a spend management platform. Identify all your SaaS applications, licenses, associated costs, and the ROI they generate.

IT Management

VentureBeat - Google pins its hopes on Gemini AI to redeem troubled assistant Bard

The upgrades will be rolled out in two stages: First, Google has tuned a version of Gemini Pro specifically for enhancing Bard’s conversational skills. This should improve Bard’s ability to understand questions and provide relevant, nuanced answers. That update is available starting today. Then, early next year, Bard will receive access to Gemini Ultra, Google’s largest and most advanced AI yet.

Artificial Intelligence

Computerworld - Here's why half of developers will soon use AI-augmented software 

AI-based code generation products based on large language models (LLMs) such as GitHub Copilot, Replit GhostWriter and Amazon CodeWhisperer, can generate complex suggestions resulting in a significant increase in developer productivity. But, those tools in no way eliminate the need for human software developers and engineers as genAI can still produce errors and is incapable of creating unique code.

Artificial Intelligence

ZDNet - What is Gemini? Everything you should know about Google's new AI model

Google's new Gemini model appears to be one of the largest, most advanced AI models to date, though the release of the Ultra model will be the one to determine that for certain. Compared to other popular models that power AI chatbots right now, Gemini stands out due to its native multimodal characteristic, whereas other models, like GPT-4, rely on plugins and integrations to be truly multimodal.

Artificial Intelligence

CIO Influence - Cloud Optimization Strategies for Navigating Cloud Evolution in 2024

In this evolving landscape, the need for enhanced support from the ecosystem has become increasingly evident. Cloud providers rely heavily on various partners, including SIs, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), and Resellers. These partners bring a crucial capability to the table: the ability to implement and integrate cloud solutions with existing environments, addressing use cases that enterprises struggle to tackle independently.

Cloud

TechRepublic - Top 6 Enterprise Data Storage Solutions for 2023

An additional factor to consider when deciding upon a data storage solution would be whether the software has data analytics and reporting features, allowing your business to derive valuable insights from stored data and data usage. Finally, seeking a product that can integrate with your existing storage system is always helpful, as this can ease the process of transferring your current organizational data onto the new system

Data Storage

sdxCentral - What’s Next: Soni Jiandani, CVP of networking at AMD talks AI, DPUs and finding needles in the haystack

AI is going to have a dramatic impact on networking technology. It is ultimately changing everything. Your success with AI will depend on whether your infrastructure is able to support such powerful applications and the demands it makes. And while the cloud is emerging as a major resource, many enterprises have to also rely on the on-premise environments to accommodate for things like big data storage. Do I have enough? Can it scale with my models and AI-generated data from a networking infrastructure point of view

Network Management

CIO Influence - Featured Story of the Week: 2024 Enterprise Storage Trends for CIOs

Combining resilience (the ability to instill defensive security measures to repel attacks), detection (the ability to know when data is corrupted and whether a known good copy of data is free of ransomware or malware), and recovery (the ability to bounce back) from cyberattacks is the key to hardening storage infrastructure.


SiliconANGLE - Analysis: Cisco brings AI capabilities to its revamped security portfolio

My research shows that enterprise-class companies have, on average, 32 security vendors. This is the average, and I’ve seen some companies with many more than this. I did some work with one of the government agencies, which had more than 200 vendors. One of the engineers there confessed there is so much paranoia around security that they deploy almost every point product from every startup to be more secure. The problem is, with security, more isn’t better, as keeping policies up to date is impossible across dozens of vendors

Security

Information Week - Security Questions to Ask After the ZeroedIn Breach

He says organizations should ask to what extent they must work with third-party suppliers and understand the security risk that they take on by using those services, whether it is software, data, or services. “It’s not enough that third party says, ‘Oh yeah, I am certified,’” Maor says. “Certification does not equal security.”

Security

EconoTimes - Why OpenAI developing an artificial intelligence that's good at maths is such a big deal

However, one of the most important current technologies, the large language models (LLMs) behind AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, has struggled so far to emulate mathematical reasoning. This is because they have been designed to concentrate on language.

Artificial Intelligence

Forbes - Turning Cyber Offense Into Defense For Successful Cybersecurity Investing

It’s not because cyber is no longer investible. The market is starting to normalize. The “venture” (VTs) that had been juicing noncritical, undifferentiated companies that overcrowded the market in 2020-21 have left to chase the next trend. Chasing momentum with the herd is a different ballgame than investing in solving tomorrow’s cybersecurity challenges. That’s where investment opportunities remain interesting.

Security

VentureBeat - Hugging Face dodged a cyber-bullet with Lasso Security’s help

Further validating how brittle the security of generative AI models and their platforms are, Lasso Security helped Hugging Face dodge a potentially devastating attack by discovering that 1,681 API tokens were at risk of being compromised. The tokens were discovered by Lasso researchers who recently scanned GitHub and Hugging Face repositories and performed in-depth research across each.

AI/Security

Network World - 5 ways to boost server efficiency

Older servers are less energy efficient than new ones, says Jay Dietrich, Uptime Institute’s research director of sustainability. For example, Intel servers’ efficiency improved by 34% between 2017 and 2019 for CPUs running at 50% utilization, according to a recent report he co-authored. And AMD-based servers saw a whopping 140% improvement, he says.

IT Management

VentureBeat - Looking back at a transformative year for AI

There is speculation that the board did not know about Q*, and that this might have been the primary reason for firing Altman. This possibility seems unlikely, however, since Ilya Sutskever was both the Chief AI scientist and a board member. Backing that up is a report from Platformer that states: “I can report that the board never received any such letter about Q*.”

Artificial Intelligence

sdxCentral - Why multicloud is a big taboo for AWS

That’s a meager answer to the issue of multicloud complexity compared to the messages from cloud providers like Oracle, VMware or IBM. However, perhaps that’s because those vendors have no choice but to fit themselves in among the dominant providers — making it as easy as possible to adopt their services in addition. It’s the only way they have a fighting chance.

Cloud

SiliconANGLE - Evaluating MongoDB Atlas Vector Search 

What stands out in MongoDB’s new offering is its name, Atlas Vector Search. You’ll notice that it’s not called a vector database, which is a smart move because vector storage is the means to build and deploy generative AI apps and not a destination itself. So, while MongoDB stays true to its roots as a developer platform by providing both of these capabilities, it chose to name its offering after the end goal: Vector Search.

AI/Data

CPO Magazine - Pretexting: A Growing Threat That Avoids Phishing’s Obvious Tells

That outcome is usually money (the median loss is now $50,000 according to the DBIR), but attackers may also be after sensitive information or the login credentials that will allow them to infiltrate a company’s internal systems, where they can steal data, eavesdrop on email conversations, and launch ransomware attacks.

Security

CIO Influence - Future of Data Integration: How AI is Changing the Blueprint for Businesses

By unearthing these hidden connections, organizations gain a competitive edge, fuelling innovation and driving transformative change. As generative integration continues to evolve, it’s clear that it’s not just about simplifying the integration process – it’s about paving the way for a future where data-driven decisions are made with unparalleled clarity and confidence.

Artificial Intelligence

Forbes - How Can Businesses Make Sure That Their Cybersecurity Operations Are Robust?

Primarily, my focus will be on addressing questions such as "What are the essential components of your cybersecurity checklist?" and "How can you identify potential vulnerabilities within your systems?" Consider this a go-to, threat-proof checklist that guards your business against potential risks with proactive security measures at any time.

Security

Computerworld - The arrival of genAI could cover critical skills gaps, reshape IT job market

More than a quarter of those surveyed, however, called genAI a fad, comparing it to Meta’s recently launched Threads app — an upstart competitor to X/Twitter. “These leaders stated that they believe Gen AI to be just another fad [that] challenges for dominance quickly and then dies off just as fast,” the Kaspersky study said.

Automation & Productivity

SiliconANGLE - Three strategies to develop edge skills in your organization

A common pitfall I&O leaders run into is to assume that the entire organization needs the same level of skill sets and expertise for edge implementation and operations. Edge implementations require diverse and specific skills, which makes it harder for an organization to be at the same expertise level. As a result, even if they have clarity around the skills needed for implementing these technologies in their organization, I&O leaders are unable to ensure the skills are in place before starting an edge initiative

Edge Computing

AiThority - IDC Forecasts Revenue for Artificial Intelligence Software Will Reach $307 Billion Worldwide in 2027

A recent IDC survey found that, in the next 12 months, roughly a third of respondents believe that organizations will prefer to buy AI software from a vendor or use in-house support alongside vendor-supplied AI software for specific use cases or application areas. This indicates a growing demand for AI solutions and highlights the need for customized approaches based on individual business requirements.

Artificial Intelligence

VentureBeat - Breaches happen: It’s time to stop playing the blame game and start learning together

Unfortunately, the overwhelming reaction to such an incident is to ostracize the victim. In fact, up to 83% of consumers admit that they pause or end their spending with an organization after an incident. While understandable, that reaction misses the opportunity the industry has to learn and grow together after details of an incident become available.

Security

Forbes - 19 Tech Experts Bust Common Cybersecurity Myths And Misconceptions

The myth is that cybersecurity training is going to help everyone get smarter about security. The truth is that security training videos with a quiz at the end do not mitigate risk; they just add to people’s never-ending to-do lists. What we really need are tools that connect cybersecurity risk to specific activities as a way to help people practice better security hygiene.

Security

Data Science Central - A Different AI Scenario: AI and Justice in a Brave New World – Part 1

The Challenge. In this AI scenario, elected officials would still make society’s laws and regulations. Unfortunately, these laws and regulations are not enforced fairly, consistently, or unbiasedly in today’s legal and judicial systems. Some people and organizations use their money and influence to bend the laws and regulations in their favor, while others face discrimination and injustice because of their identity, background, or position in society. This creates a system of inequality and distrust that leads to social disenfranchisement and political extremism. We need to ensure that the laws and regulations are enforced with fairness, equity, consistency, and transparency for everyone.

AI/Secrity

Government Technology - Cybersecurity Trends Point to More Sophisticated Attacks Ahead

Ultimately, turning the tide against ransomware means getting attackers to see the crime as more trouble than it’s worth. Recent years saw some states consider whether banning cyber extortion payments could help get us there. Federal officials said this year they’d been mulling whether to enact a widespread payments ban, though some cyber experts say such a move could involve painful short-term side effects and administrative challenges.

Security

TechBullion - Why should businesses outsource cybersecurity

The technicians are essential introductions to the day-to-day development landscape of cyberspace and technical engineers and technicians in cybersure security roles are often the gateways to mssps of mssps. who gets the benefit of the processes and techniques Potential threats are identified before they escalate, reducing the impact of cyber incidents This proactive approach to cyber security is industry practices meet, and provides companies with a strong defense against emerging threats.

Security

VentureBeat - 2 clear and consistent paths toward effective, accelerated AI regulation

Finally, it is important to remind ourselves that AI outputs can be biased, replicating the stereotypes we have in society and coding them into systems that make decisions and predictions, allocate resources and define what we will see and watch. Appropriate governance means establishing rigorous processes to minimize the risks of bias.

Artificial Intelligence

Information Week - New Secure AI Development Rules are Historic, But Do They Matter?

These new guidelines are primarily directed at AI systems providers, whether those systems are built from scratch or on top of services provided by others. But the document authors urge all stakeholders to read the guidelines to help them make informed decisions about how AI is used in their organizations.

Artificial Intelligence

sdxCentral - Ransomware attacks skyrocket 81%, a look at the daily life of a threat actor

One of their tried-and-true methods — and available at a modest price — is anti-detection browsers, commonly referred to as “antik.” Attackers can apply these tools to analyze, replicate and take advantage of digital behavior, all while evading detection.

Security

AiThority - Scality’s 2024 Predictions: AI, Hybrid Cloud and Ransomware Detection Will Define the Data Storage Landscape, While Hard Disk Drives Live On

Some all-flash vendors prognosticate the end of spinning disk (HDD) media in the coming years. While flash media and solid state drives (SSDs) have clear benefits when it comes to latency, are making major strides in density, and the cost per GB is declining, we see HDDs holding a 3-5x density/cost advantage over high-density SSDs through 2028.

Data Storage

CIO Influence - CIO’s Roadmap to Aligning AI with Organizational Culture and Operations

A few tasks can be entirely automated with AI; however, in most instances, AI will enhance these tasks. Its role in democratizing access to knowledge will render services offered by knowledge workers more economical, thereby fostering increased demand and job opportunities. Gartner predicts creating over half a billion new human jobs by 2033 by introducing AI solutions for task augmentation or autonomous task delivery.

Artificial Intelligence

VentureBeat - A blueprint for the perfect Gen AI data layer: Insights from Intuit

Amit explains that Intuit took several years to work through this data layer, to make sure data was well integrated, accurate, governed, and non-replicated. Only after doing this were LLMs able to call upon that data to allow personalized interactions with Intuit’s 100 million small business and consumer customers.

Artificial Intelligence

sdxCentral - Ransomware attacks skyrocket 81%, a look at the daily life of a threat actor

One of their tried-and-true methods — and available at a modest price — is anti-detection browsers, commonly referred to as “antik.” Attackers can apply these tools to analyze, replicate and take advantage of digital behavior, all while evading detection.

Security

TechRepublic - What Is Predictive Analytics? Benefits, Models and Use Cases

A classification model is used to predict the correct label from the input values given for training. These models predict the category or class an observation belongs to based on its characteristics. Examples include logistic regression, decision trees, random forests and support vector machines.

Data & Analytics

Datanami - Data and Algorithms: The Building Blocks of Artificial Intelligence

However, data is the fuel of Artificial Intelligence. AI needs vast amounts of data in order to start generating usable insights. Large Language Models (LLM) are a subset of AI where the algorithm is designed to learn from tremendous amounts of diverse data to generate new multimodal content including text, image, audio, video, code, and 3D—hence generative AI. Without the algorithm, big data is just noise. And without data, the algorithm is irrelevant.

AI/Data

Forbes - Doing More With Less: Cybersecurity Tools And Budget Efficiency

In an industry like cybersecurity that’s full of confusing acronyms and new products that vendors promise will improve your organization’s security, it’s easy to get swayed into spending money on products you don’t actually need. Now more than ever, it’s critical that companies look inward to optimize the cybersecurity tools they already have, using a mathematical, fact-based approach.

Security

Computerworld - The fear and hype around AI is overblown

The LLM-based generative AI (genAI) revolution we’ve all been obsessing over this year is based on what is essentially a word- or number-prediction algorithm. It’s basically Gmail’s “Smart Compose” feature on steroids.

Artificial Intelligence

VentureBeat - A year ago, it was just ChatGPT — now LLMs are everywhere

According to SimilarWeb, in October 2023 alone, ChatGPT saw nearly 1.7 billion visits across mobile and web, with 193 million unique visitors and each visit lasting for about 8 minutes. To put into perspective, this is way more than the engagement witnessed by popular services on the internet, including Zoom and (214M visits) Google Meet (59M visits).

ChatGPT

InfoWorld - The evolution of multitenancy for cloud services

These days we are focused on new, faster processors and reduced power consumption. More gains can be obtained by better optimizing the systems that manage how the processors and storage systems are allocated to tenant processes. If I were the CTO of a cloud provider, I would start there and then move to the CPUs and I/O systems, which are more important.

Cloud

Network Computing - The Growing Middle Mile Networks Funding Debate

Congress appropriated $1 billion for the program and identified two key objectives: to “encourage the expansion and extension of middle mile infrastructure to reduce the cost of connecting unserved and underserved areas to the backbone of the internet” and to “promote broadband connection resiliency through the creation of alternative network connection paths that can be designed to prevent single points of failure on a broadband network.”

Network Management

VentureBeat - AI21 leader: Leading LLMs remain ‘differentiated’, they are not commodities

“It’s very hard to create an excellent language model, and it can take a while to understand how good they are, and their limitations.” Generally available benchmarks, and even prototyping LLMs directly, will only give weak signals on how good a model is, he said.

Artificial Intelligence

SiliconANGLE - Amazon CTO Werner Vogels architects a more frugal future for the enterprise cloud 

“There is new AI and old-fashioned AI,” Vogels noted. “You should keep in mind that not everything needs to be done with these large language models. AI makes predictions, professionals decide.”

AI/Cloud

VentureBeat - Generative AI is reshaping knowledge work. Are you ready?

As an IT leader, your company’s velocity and nautical mileage for adopting new solutions will vary. Yet even if gen AI holds great promise there is a sizeable gap in the number of technology tools available and the capabilities of employees to put them to use.

Artificial Intelligence

Datanami - Scality’s 2024 Data Storage Predictions Reveal Continued HDD Relevance Against SSD Advances

 With the use of generative AI skyrocketing and cyberattacks continuing to infect organizations, ongoing demands to decrease IT complexity with secure, efficient solutions will dominate IT budgets into the new year. In addition, perennial data storage management challenges — growing data volumes, tight budgets, skills shortages, complicated IT installations, and increasing cyber threats — will persist.

Data Storage


ESC

Eddy, a super-smart generative AI, opening up ways to have tailored queries and responses