Vice President Kamala Harris’ presumed ascension to the Democratic presidential nomination following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal scrambled this week definitely scrambled the race, nevertheless it also set everyone in tech wondering what a Harris administration might mean.
Bottom line: No one knows — and naturally there’s no guarantee she’s going to win the election come November, despite some reenergized supporters within the industry. But it surely’s likely that there can be some changes in tech policy if she wins. She seems more likely to take a middle ground in artificial intelligence, which is to say roughly consistent with Biden’s policies. On other key issues, it’s not so clear, even when her California and Bay Area bona fides suggests she is more amenable to policies that encourage innovation. Little doubt we’ll hear lots more very soon.
It was one other huge week for generative AI, because the march of AI models accelerated because of recent ones from, well, nearly everyone out there. Big fundings also continued with greater than a half-billion each to Cohere and even a Chinese company, Baichuan. Furthermore, AI is boosting earnings of every little thing from chipmakers equivalent to Texas Instruments and SK Hynix to enterprise stalwarts equivalent to IBM and SAP, nevertheless it didn’t help Alphabet enough given slowing ad growth.
At the identical time, AI is coming under increasing fire from researchers, YouTube creators and actors — there are plenty of knotty issues still to be worked out.
On the cybersecurity front, CrowdStrike acted quickly to discover its internet-killing bug and fix it, but a $10 Uber Eats gift card isn’t going to mollify anyone anytime soon. Meantime, Wiz ended its big-money Google talks and can work toward an IPO as an alternative.
Speaking of IPOs, OneStream has a successful one this week, but will it’s enough to restart offerings? In any case, next week will provide an enormous read on tech sentiment going forward, with earnings reports due from Microsoft, AMD, Samsung, Arm, Qualcomm, Meta, Intel, Amazon, Apple, Cloudflare and more.
And next Tuesday and Wednesday, July 30 and 31, we’ll be running our own editorial event, Supercloud 7: Get Ready for the Next Data Platform. Free online and on-demand afterwards, it can feature high-octane speakers equivalent to Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi, Snowflake co-founder and President of Products Benoit Dageville, data mesh guru and Nextdata CEO Zhamak Dehghani, VAST Data CEO Renen Hallak and plenty of more from Google, Microsoft, Walmart and a raft of startups. Register here.
SiliconANGLE and theCUBE Research analysts John Furrier and Dave Vellante discuss this and other news in additional detail on theCUBE Pod, now out on YouTube. And don’t miss Vellante’s weekly deep dive, Breaking Evaluation, out this weekend.
Here’s the massive news of the week from SiliconANGLE and beyond:
AI and data: March of the AI models
Money matters
Alibaba-backed Chinese AI startup Baichuan raises $691M
AI model developer startup Cohere raises $500M at $5.5B valuation
IntelePeer raises $140M to automate customer support with generative AI
AI call center startup Level AI raises $39.4M to spice up innovation
Lakera AI raises $20M to ward off malicious prompts on generative AI models
Splight raises $12M to unlock the potential of renewable energy sources with AI
AI trust startup Vijil raises $6M to forestall AI agents saying the improper things
Chekable bags funding from NEC to streamline patent applications with generative AI
Latest services, and an entire lot of recent models
OpenAI debuts AI-powered SearchGPT search engine
Google DeepMind unveils AI models for solving advanced mathematical problems
Meta introduces Llama 3.1, its biggest and best open-source AI model so far
Google’s free Gemini chatbot gets 1.5 Flash update, making responses faster and smarter
Nvidia works with Accenture to pioneer custom Llama large language models
Stability AI introduces Stable Video 4D, its recent AI model for 3D video generation
Microsoft debuts AI-powered summaries in Bing search engine
Researchers develop recent technique for squeezing full-fat AI models into PCs and smartphones
AWS launches generative AI-powered feature for Connect Contact Lens to assist agents in call centers
Iterative debuts DataChain for curating and processing unstructured data with AI models
Dialpad releases enhanced ‘Ai Sales’ platform to streamline sales processes
In other news, AI comes under fire from plenty of quarters
X’s recent AI training opt-out setting draws regulatory scrutiny
Researchers find that AI-generated web content could make LLMs less accurate
Reddit blocks Bing, several other search engines like google from indexing its platform on AI training concerns
In latest AI training drama, Runway accused of using publicly available YouTube videos
Video game actors to go on strike following breakdown in AI talks with game developers
FTC will launch probe into AI-driven surveillance pricing
There’s more AI and big data news on SiliconANGLE
Across the enterprise: AI keeps boosting earnings
Earnings and other money matters
Alphabet beats the Street but slowing ad growth drags on stock price
Increased AI bookings help IBM deliver solid earnings and revenue beat, pushing its stock higher
SAP posts solid results and raises profit goal for 2025
NXP Semiconductor’s stock falls on weak outlook
Tesla shares drop 6% on mixed results as price-cutting drives down automotive revenue
Texas Instruments stock rises after it posts earnings beat
SK Hynix second-quarter profit surges on AI chip sales (per the Wall Street Journal)
Seagate shares rise 5% after better-than-expected earnings
Pegasystems’ earnings beat forecasts and stock rises
Juniper disappoints with earnings that fall well in need of forecasts
OneStream shares pop 34% on Nasdaq debut in positive sign for tech IPOs
Legal software startups Clio and Harvey raise nine-figure funding rounds
QA Wolf raises $36M in fresh funding to ease application reliability testing
In other news
Intel says patch is coming to repair processor instability problem plaguing gamers for months
Putting pressure on Google, Apple Maps is now available on the net
There’s plenty more news on cloud, infrastructure and apps
Cyber beat: Wiz deal fizzes out
Money matters
Wiz reportedly ends $23B acquisition talks with Google
Compliance automation and trust management startup Vanta raises $150M
Chainguard nabs $140M to secure enterprise applications’ open-source components
Unified security remediation platform startup Dazz raises $50M to reinforce capabilities
Linx Security raises $33M for its identity security platform
Heeler Security raises $8.5M to advance real-time application security platform
AI-powered cloud risk resolution startup ZEST Security launches with $5M in funding
Attack & response
CrowdStrike reveals reason behind faulty update that led to Windows crashes But no less than people got a $10 Uber Eats gift card out of it… 🙄
Microsoft reveals only 8.5M Windows computers were affected by CrowdStrike outage
US grand jury indicts North Korean hacker for role in Andariel cyberattacks
Stolen internal documents from Pentagon contractor Leidos leaked online
NetRise study warns that network equipment vulnerabilities far exceed previous estimates
Cisco Talos: Business email compromise and ransomware topped threats in second quarter
Now-patched Telegram for Android vulnerability exposed users to malicious videos
Latest PlugX RAT campaign distributed through USB drives targets Steam users
Latest services
Latest Nozomi Networks security sensor provides prolonged visibility into industrial control systems
Latest Secure Code Warrior agent enhances secure-by-design approach for application security teams
More cybersecurity news here
Elsewhere in tech
Policy
Google not plans to finish support for third-party cookies in Chrome
EU finds that Meta’s ad-free tier could also be in breach of consumer protection rules
White House task force releases first-of-its-kind online safety report aimed toward protecting kids
EU reportedly set to effective Meta over allegedly anticompetitive Marketplace Facebook integration
Money matters
Electric autonomous tractor company Monarch Tractor raises $133M
Warehouse robotics automation firm Mytra launches with $78M to alter how materials move
Cyber insurance provider Cowbell reels in $60M to grow its product portfolio
Caldera raises $15M to assist developers deploy their very own scaling for blockchain networks
And take a look at more news on emerging tech, blockchain and crypto and policy
Comings and goings
High-profile ServiceNow executive CJ Desai quits over internal hiring policy violation
Check Point Software appoints Nadav Zafrir recent CEO after earnings beat, replacing co-founder and CEO Gil Shwed, who becomes executive chair.
Data security firm Bedrock Security has a brand new CEO: Bruno Kurtic, co-founder and former chief strategy officer of Sumo Logic.
Intel names Naga Chandrasekaran to steer foundry manufacturing and provide chain, succeeding retiring Keyvan Esfarjani as chief global operations officer.
AMD President Victor Peng, who had rejoined the corporate with the acquisition of Xilinx in 2022, will retire on Aug. 30.
DigitalOcean hires former Rapid7 Chief Customer Officer Larry D’Angelo to be its recent chief revenue officer.
Former Boston Consulting Group exec Pranay Ahlawat is Commvault’s first chief technology and AI officer.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise appoints its Chief Communications Officer Jennifer Temple to a brand new post of chief marketing officer and chief communications officer as current CMO Jim Jackson retires Aug 1.
What’s next
July 30: Supercloud 7: Get Ready for the Next Data Platform: Our latest Supercloud editorial event will have a look at the inspiration for the brand new AI era, with plenty of executives, practitioners, analysts and entrepreneurs from startups to established corporations. Listed below are among the topics we’ll be exploring. And get on top of things with our special section ahead of the event.
Earnings — an enormous lineup next week
Monday, July 29: F5 Networks
Tuesday, July 30: Microsoft, AMD, Samsung, Arista, Informatica, Commvault, Freshworks and PayPal
Wednesday, July 31: Arm, Qualcomm, Meta, Kyndryl, Tenable and Western Digital
Thursday, Aug. 1: Intel, Amazon, Apple, Cloudflare, Mobileye, Twilio, Appian, OpenText, RingCentral, Altair, Atlassian, SolarWinds, Block, Coinbase and Snap
Image: SiliconANGLE/Ideogram
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