Has the trough of disillusionment arrived for generative artificial intelligence? Maybe it’s a bit early given continuing outright hype and breathtaking funding — but there’s certainly rising worry and criticism of actual and potential impacts, even sometimes from the AI model builders themselves.

We saw a lot of that this week, from accusations that Israel uses AI to target people for bombing in Gaza to Anthropic researchers finding it’s possible to “jailbreak” AI models to do bad stuff. Still, that’s not slowing things down, as OpenAI continued to offer new models and services and the likes of Hailo and SiMa.AI got big funding for their AI chips.

Layoffs also continued this week from Amazon Web Services and even Apple as they cut once-hyped projects, though Apple may have a new bet on robots. And venture capital hit a five-year low. But there were glimmers of hope that the VC and startup ecosystem could see a revival as Rubrik filed to go public.

Watch for our coverage of Google Cloud Next starting Tuesday morning in Las Vegas, where we’ll be onsite and perhaps find out if reports that Alphabet is looking at buying Hubspot for a stunning $35 billion pan out.

You can hear more about this and other news in John Furrier’s and Dave Vellante’s weekly podcast, theCUBE Pod, out now on YouTube. In particular, they take a deep look at why the feds slammed Microsoft on security following its Exchange Online breach last year. They also look into how AI models are likely to evolve in coming years, particularly as enterprise data is applied to customize the models. And they examine the iffy prospects for Intel’s foundry business.

And don’t miss Vellante’s weekly deep dive, Breaking Analysis, out this weekend.

Here’s a sampling of this week’s news on SiliconANGLE and beyond:

AI and data platforms

AI safety and negative impacts get increasing attention

US and UK governments agree deal to collaborate on AI safety testing

IDF denies it uses AI software to target individuals in Gaza bombing campaigns

Anthropic researchers detail how ‘many-shot jailbreaking’ can manipulate AI responses

Top musicians ask for protection against AI, calling it ‘an assault on human creativity’

Cisco, IBM, Accenture and others join forces to address AI’s impact on the workforce

US judge rules video evidence enhanced by AI is not admissible in homicide case

New fundings

AI chips for the edge: Hailo raises $120M and debuts first chip for generative AI at the edge and SiMA.ai reels in $70M to develop AI chips for edge computing devices

Aerospike reels in $109M to accelerate its high-speed database

Automated data transformation startup Coalesce closes on $50M funding round

Startup Datavolo raises over $21M to transform how generative AI models access unstructured data

Supersimple closes on $2M pre-seed round to deliver big data insights with explainable AI

Macquarie Leads $500 Million Loan for AI Infrastructure Company Lambda (from the WSJ) Feels a bit bubbly, no?

DataStax acquires Langflow for its low-code AI app development tools

New services

Madrona Venture Group sees wave of startups beginning to fuel deployment of intelligent applications

OpenAI opens up ChatGPT for access without an account

OpenAI rolls out new features to ChatGPT’s DALL-E image generator

OpenAI rolls out new AI optimization features to its fine-tuning API

Cohere releases Command R+ AI model designed for enterprise-scale use

Hasura debuts supergraph features to simplify complex API data integrations

OctoAI debuts OctoStack platform for powering AI inference environments

Browser-based IDE startup Replit debuts generative AI coding assistant

Stability AI debuts Stable Audio 2.0 model for generating sound clips

Opera browser rolls out support for 150 local AI models

Tenyx introduces new conversational AI voice solution to elevate enterprise customer support

CodiumAI enhances generative AI-powered code testing to improve software quality

Lumana launches with AI-powered video surveillance system

Now in beta, Einstein Copilot for Tableau aims to help everyone to become an expert data analyst

JetBrains brings local AI code completion to its developer tools

LangChain supports AI-based app development and exploration

More from Nvidia GTC:

Dell and Nvidia forge path for enterprise AI transformation

IBM revolutionizes computing through AI-integrated storage

Embracing generative AI in software engineering: trends and innovations

The Nvidia and AWS blueprint for a GPU-powered future

Case study from Paul Gillin: TransUnion unites global operations on multicloud analytics and AI platform

Zeus Kerravala’s case study of a retail AI pioneer: Lowe’s looks to Nvidia and AI to improve its retail operations

Around the enterprise, cloud and infrastructure

Report: Alphabet could make an acquisition offer for HubSpot

Cloudflare made a couple of small acquisitions Friday: Baselime, a cloud-native observability startup, and PartyKit, an open-source platform for deploying real-time multiplayer applications — both aimed at boosting its serverless computing push.

Intel’s stock falls after it reveals its nascent foundry business lost $7B in fiscal 2023

AWS reportedly lets go hundreds of workers across multiple teams

Samsung forecasts 931% operating profit surge amid new Texas fab reports

VMware says Tanzu is key to strategy after Broadcom acquisition

Report: Alphabet could make an acquisition offer for HubSpot Feels like a flyer to gauge antitrust sentiment.

AnalystANGLE: Breaking down the alliance between Cloudflare and Kyndryl and highlights from GTC 2024

Cloudflare bolsters full-stack development with new suite of management tools

AWS Deadline Cloud is a new, dedicated service for cloud-based VFX rendering

Regulatory news

Microsoft unbundles Teams from Office 365 and Microsoft 365 worldwide

Google to delete or anonymize billions of data points to settle Chrome lawsuit

Fundings

Payment processing provider Nuvei to be taken private in $6.3B deal

Business planning platform startup Pigment raises $145M to drive innovation

Read AI raises $21M to unify communications across meetings, emails and chats

SMB-focused fintech platform Hello Alice closes on Series C funding round

Employee training startup Modal closes $25M funding round

Cyber beat

Fundings

Microsoft-backed data security firm Rubrik announces IPO plans

Permiso raises $18.5M to enhance cloud identity protection

Cyberattacks

Microsoft researchers detail two China-backed disinformation campaigns

AT&T confirms data from 73M customers exposed on dark web

Report finds more than a fifth of S&P 500 firms hit by data breaches in 2023

The feds aren’t too happy with Microsoft’s security, slamming its 2023 Exchange Online breach.

New services

Microsoft launches public preview of unified security operations platform

Microsoft enhances Priva service with five new privacy management features

Fortinet embeds new AI tools into its cybersecurity and networking portfolio

Trellix launches new AI-powered zero trust solution for enhanced cybersecurity

Lacework’s latest update empowers security teams with faster, more efficient tools

Zilla advances hybrid enterprise security with latest identity governance solution

New Adlumin ransomware protection feature thwarts encryption attacks

Sonrai Security simplifies cloud access and permissions with new firewall service

Brinqa enhances cybersecurity with new vulnerability management capabilities

Google Cloud/CSA survey shows strong belief in generative AI’s ability to beef up cybersecurity

Elsewhere around tech

PitchBook: US venture capital deal activity hits five-year low in Q1 2024

Microsoft and Quantinuum join forces on quantum computing reliability breakthrough

Having quit car development, Apple now reportedly working on personal robotics

Autonomous driving startup Ghost Autonomy gives up the ghost

Yahoo buys Artifact, the company started by Instagram founders Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom.

LightLink closes $6.2M extended seed round for Ethereum L2 blockchain with no fees

Just for fun: Wait, When Did the Schlubs of Silicon Valley Learn to Dress? “No wonder that Chew of TikTok chose a banal blue suit for meetings on Capitol Hill this month. Nothing says ‘I do not pose a national security risk’ like an outfit right out of a McKinsey-consultant starter pack.”

Comings and goings

Former Google Cloud global VP of applied AI engineering and business development Philip Moyer joins Vimeo as CEO.

Former Imperva exec Kunal Anand is F5 Network’ new EVP and chief technology officer and former Google exec Lyra Schramm joined F5 as EVP and chief people officer.

Interop chief and TCP/IP evangelist Dan Lynch died at 82.

What’s next

Google Cloud Next: SiliconANGLE, theCUBE and theCUBE Research analysts will all be there onsite in Las Vegas April 9-11 to cover all the news and conversations around Mandalay Bay. Catch the coverage on theCUBE (disclosure: some interviews will be sponsored by Google and other companies) and in a special editorial coverage section on SiliconANGLE.

Image: SiliconANGLE/DALL-E 2