OpenAI deal latest sign that technology is changing sector

OpenAI’s new deals with AMD and Nvidia are an opportunity for IT professionals—and a sign that consolidation is changing the tech industry landscape.

The AMD deal was made public on October 6. OpenAI will control 10% of the chipmaker if it hits certain milestones, a move aimed squarely at AMD’s competitor Nvidia that the latter’s CEO Jensen Huang called “clever.” Just to make things even more tangled, Nvidia has pledged to invest $100 billion in OpenAI over the next 10 years.

A new horizon. We’re in an AI revolution, Shishir Shrivastava told IT Brew. Shrivastava, practice director for tech services and consulting firm TEKsystems Global Services, sees the industry evolving, and IT pros will continue to have nearly every element of their daily experience impacted by what companies like OpenAI are doing in the AI space. Change is the constant.

“For workers, some of the things which are very critical for them are going to go away,” Shrivastava said. “They have to focus on the new trends, or upskilling—with the revolution a lot of things are going to go away, and new things are going to come in the market.”

ConnectWise CEO Manny Rivelo agrees. He told IT Brew that tech pros need to realize that the evolution is happening and not let themselves be left behind.

“It will transform the way we work, the way we live, the way we educate people, etcetera, and those that adopt it will probably prosper,” Rivelo said. “Those that don’t adopt it will probably be left behind.”

Changing requirements. IT pros can expect to see many of their responsibilities streamlined by AI, turning them into “augmented workers,” Rivelo said; agentic AI help desks will take the burden off of resolving ticket issues, for example, but the technology should be seen as an enabler. OpenAI’s bet on AMD and Nvidia’s bet on OpenAI indicate that we’re still in the early stages of AI workforce development.

“There’ll be some jobs that are no longer required for humans to do, but there’ll be other jobs that AI creates for humans, more advanced or different work to be done,” Rivelo said.

Bubbling up. Looming over the discussion is increasing concern that AI could be a bubble—one that, if it pops, could have wide ramifications across not just IT but a number of sectors. Shrivastava recognizes the danger and said that, from his perspective, the question is less about the financial implications and more about the impact on the IT space. Companies like OpenAI will dominate the market, but there could be downstream benefits for the IT business.

“I think that’s just the beginning, and we will see the other players also coming into the mix,” Shrivastava said. “Open AI is leading the charge, it’s creating, or playing that role of AI anchor in this whole AI landscape.”