Agentic artificial intelligence, the notion of AI agents that can semiautonomously conduct a series of tasks without much human involvement, gained even more momentum this week, as OpenAI said its Operator agent is coming in January.
David Linthicum tells us what else is coming in agentic AI, though it’s also worth pointing out that it’s mostly talk at this point and there are lots of process, security and other challenges to deal with before the world runs on AI agents. As Warren Barkley, head of product for Google’s Vertex AI, gen AI and machine learning, noted at Palo Alto Networks’ Ignite event Thursday, “It’s a cool buzzword. Eventually some of those orchestrations will show up, but it’s super-early for that.”
Despite widespread worries that AI and big-data spending is getting out of hand, that wasn’t an issue this past week. Elon Musk’s xAI is looking to raise $6 billion, CoreWeave got a big slug from Cisco, Pure Storage and others, Databricks may get an additional $1 billion, and Writer reeled in $200 million more. But valuations may be cooling.
AI was also not surprisingly the big topic at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon in Salt Lake City, including new services from Red Hat, Google and others.
Broadcom paid a lot for VMware, and its loss of customers as a result of changes in licensing and offerings has gotten a lot of attention, not just from customers but competitors smelling an opportunity. But theCUBE Research Chief Analyst Dave Vellante thinks Broadcom and its customers will actually benefit more than most people realize.
Advanced Micro Devices is cutting 4% of its staff but it says it’s doing so to double down on the AI opportunity, though that’s a positive spin that warrants some skepticism as the Nvidia freight train doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
Meantime, Cisco Systems is still struggling to restore revenue growth despite early signs that it’s getting some traction for its AI data center hardware. Lenovo got an AI boost, and so did Applied Materials, but its challenges in China depressed its outlook, and investors.
The home of the CEO of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan, whose prediction market that correctly called the election for Donald Trump, was raided by the FBI amid allegations that it illegally let U.S. citizens participate in betting. He charged it was retaliation, but that seems less likely than that Polymarket was a little careless.
The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly probing Microsoft’s cloud practices for anticompetitive behavior, but it’s unclear whether the new presidential administration will cheer or jeer the case.
Next week there’s the big earnings kahuna — Nvidia, the most valuable public company in the world — plus Snowflake, Palo Alto Networks, NetApp and Elastic. On the event front, there’s SC24, the high-performance computing conference. TheCUBE and theCUBE Research will be onsite for interviews and analysis and News will have the news. There’s also Microsoft Ignite, for which we’ll have all the news.
This and other news will be discussed by Vellante and John Furrier in this week’s theCUBE Pod, out this afternoon on YouTube. And don’t miss Vellante’s weekly deep dive, Breaking Analysis, coming this weekend for an analysis of the latest cloud computing market data.
Here’s this week’s top news and analysis from News and beyond:
AI and data: Not-so-secret agents
Top news and analysis
Agentic AI: Exploring its scope, applicable use cases and current state
Elon Musk’s xAI reportedly raising multibillion-dollar funding round to upgrade its supercomputer
AI cloud operator CoreWeave closes $650M secondary sale
Thrive Capital in talks to invest $1B in Databricks at $55B valuation
At Web Summit, cloud and chip providers maneuver for market share while others fret about AI’s impact
OpenAI hopes to launch its first AI agent, called ‘Operator,’ in January
Money matters
Writer reels in $200M for its generative AI toolkit
AI-powered developer tooling startup Tessl raises $125M
Red Hat to acquire AI optimization startup Neural Magic
Juniper invests in AI chip startup Recogni, launches technical collaboration
Cogna reels in $15M for its AI-powered ERP platform
Bluespine raises $7.2M to tackle medical billing errors with AI
Fastino launches with $7M to release high-performance task-optimized AI models that run on CPUs
SurePath AI raises $5.2M to advance generative AI governance platform
Data mapping provider Lume raises $4.2M in funding
Data management startup Connecty AI launches with $1.8M
TestSprite nabs $1.5M to build autonomous AI software testing platform
Policy
Report: OpenAI drafts policy paper with suggestions for US AI strategy
New models and services
Snowflake adds bevy of features for AI development and managed Polaris catalog
Google Cloud updates Kubernetes Engine with support for trillion-parameter AI models
Box deepens AI integrations with customizable, no-code agent builder tools
Nutanix offers cloud-native AI deployment platform with predictable pricing
DataRobot unveils enterprise AI app and agent development tools
Alteryx simplifies analytics for hybrid data infrastructures
Kolena’s new AI agents enhance unstructured data quality to make LLMs smarter
Cast AI introduces AI Enabler and zero-downtime live migration for Kubernetes workloads
AI agent offloads employer-of-record tasks from HR pros
F5 automates and optimizes API network integration for AI-powered applications
MinIO debuts object storage built for AI workloads
Five9 ups the intelligence level of its virtual agents
Ironclad launches Jurist, an AI-powered legal assistant for contract work
DeepL unveils next frontier for Language AI with voice translation solution: DeepL Voice
There’s more AI and big data news on News
Around the enterprise: AI goes cloud-native
Top news and analysis
Breaking Analysis: Broadcom’s VMware strategy is winning despite market friction
The 10-year journey of AWS Lambda: How Amazon’s serverless vision shaped the future of cloud and AI
FTC reportedly eyeing Microsoft’s cloud practices for potential anticompetitive behavior
AMD to cut about 1,000 jobs, 4% of staff, so it can double down on AI opportunity
Coverage from KubeCon:
TheCUBE analysis: Cloud-native infrastructure reshapes the future of scalable, AI-driven environments
Scaling innovation with open source: Kubernetes driving AI transformation
Red Hat revs up AI workloads with latest OpenShift platform enhancements
And more to read from the conference here.
Money matters
Shares of Rackspace move higher on strong bookings growth and bullish outlook
Applied Materials beats expectations but modest sales outlook weighs on stock
Lenovo’s second-quarter profit rises, supported by AI investments
US finalizes $11.6B CHIPS Act financing agreement with TSMC
Cloudera acquires Israeli startup Octopai to advance metadata and AI integration
CHAOS Industries raises $145M Series B to accelerate defense and national security technology development
ScaleOps raises $58M to accelerate Kubernetes configuration automation
LocalStack nabs $25M investment for its public cloud emulator
Ennoventure raises $8.9M for AI-driven cryptographic anti-counterfeit technology
New products and services
HPE debuts powerful new supercomputer platforms for AI and high-performance computing workloads
No surprise to anyone keeping even one eye on Amazon Web Services, but it’s expected to roll out new Trainium AI chips at its re:Invent conference in early December.
New Relic unveils AI-powered observability solution for streamlined Kubernetes monitoring
Cisco unveils Wi-Fi 7 solutions, bringing AI-native and self-configuring capabilities
Akamai rolls out packaged platform for distributed Kubernetes applications
Observe launches Kubernetes Explorer to simplify cloud-native observability
NetApp announces new AFF A-Series and C-series all-flash arrays
Dialpad introduces AI-powered Support platform to optimize contact centers
We have more news on cloud, infrastructure and apps
Cyber beat
Attack & response
SlashNext warns of ‘GoIssue’ phishing tool targeting GitHub users
Data breach exposes 122M records from DemandScience following initial denials
New services
Zscaler launches Zero Trust Segmentation to enhance security across branches and clouds And analysis by Zeus Kerravala: Branches and factories and clouds, oh my! Zscaler extends Zero Trust Segmentation to distributed locations
Mission Cloud launches new security solution for AWS, powered by CrowdStrike Falcon
DeepTempo exits stealth with AI-powered cybersecurity app on Snowflake Marketplace
New AI tool from Immersive Labs automates cyberthreat scenario creation
Operant AI launches 3D Runtime Defense Suite for enhanced AI application security
Money matters
Bitsight acquires threat intelligence provider Cybersixgill for $115M
Israeli cybersecurity firm Upwind reportedly in talks to raise $100M on up to $900M valuation
CyberArk Software rises on solid earnings beat, above-consensus guidance
More cybersecurity news here
Elsewhere in tech: FBI raids Polymarket CEO’s house
18 state attorneys general sue SEC over digital asset regulation
Polymarket CEO targeted in FBI raid over alleged violations of US trading restrictions
Report: Amazon is developing smart glasses for its delivery drivers
Waymo’s fleet of robotaxis is now available to anyone in LA
IBM pioneers new ‘quantum-centric supercomputing’ approach to scientific research
EU issues €797M antitrust fine to Meta over Facebook Marketplace
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau moves to place Google under supervision
0G Labs raises $40M to advance development of decentralized AI Operating System
Industrial automation startup Vecna Robotics raises $14.5M, appoints new CEO
Ethereum’s ENS Lab name service set to launch overhauled ‘Namechain’ blockchain identity network
And check out more news on emerging tech, blockchain and crypto and policy
Comings and goings
Salesforce AI CEO Clara Shih has left after less than two years in that job. Adam Evans, senior vice president of product for Salesforce AI Platform, has moved up to the newly created role of EVP and GM of Salesforce AI (per CIO)
OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman returns after three months of leave.
AI developer François Chollet, creator of the Keras API, is leaving Google after almost 10 years to start a company with a friend. Machine learning engineer Jeff Carpenter will be new team lead for Keras.
Identity security firm CyberArk said Chief Financial Officer Josh Siegel will step down on Jan. 1 and become an adviser. Erica Smith, CyberArk’s deputy CFO, will become CFO.
1Password appoints David Faugno as co-CEO alongside Jeff Shiner
Bill Robbins, former president of worldwide field operations at Sophos, is new president of Menlo Security.
Former Salesforce, Oracle and LivePerson exec Tony Alika Owens is new CEO at lakehouse customer data platform Amperity.
What’s next
Events
Nov. 19-21: SC24, the supercomputing and high-performance computing conference, Atlanta. TheCUBE will be there and News will have the news and analysis.
Nov. 18-22: Microsoft Ignite, Chicago and virtual. News will have all the news.
Earnings
Wednesday, Nov. 20: Nvidia, Snowflake, and Palo Alto Networks
Thursday, Nov. 21: NetApp and Elastic
Image/ News/Ideogram
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