At Cloudera conference, enthusiasm and trepidation over AI

How do AI-focused IT pros think the technology will evolve in 2027?

At October’s Cloudera EVOLVE26 conference in New York, an enthusiastic crowd looked forward to a year of more certainty around sovereignty and a rise in private AI.

“We’re in the early innings of AI,” said Cloudera Chief Business Officer Abhas Ricky. “I do think a significant percentage of workflows, data will be used for reimagination of processes and transformation of the existing systems and use cases.”

That sentiment aligned with what IT Brew heard on the show floor from partners and customers alike.

Ross Armstrong, SVP of global sales at Cloudera partner, told IT Brew that making sure AI works responsibly is a key concern.

“Right now, a lot of people are realizing that this technology actually can make good on its promise,” Armstrong said. “This does work, but now it’s, ‘How do we make it work responsibly? How do we do it effectively where we’re actually getting business outcomes and not just investing in project after project after project?’”

Splitsville. Cloudera counts large companies like ExxonMobil as part of its customer base, and chip giant Nvidia as a partner (Ricky told IT Brew, “I can’t disclose that publicly” after he implied that Nvidia might also be a customer); both were present at the event.

One thing Cloudera attendees told us is they expect that the balkanization of AI—both in the public and private sectors—will continue. There’s not going to be an overarching, universally accepted set of standards, and that’s okay.

“There was a huge move to the cloud,” Armstrong said, “and now I’m starting to think, well, maybe I don’t need to put all my stuff in the cloud. Maybe I need a hybrid solution. I need on-prem. I need an air gap solution ”

Data regulations will continue to determine how companies deploy AI, with many turning to in-house solutions, said Boaz Rubin, VP head of network software R&D at Amdocs.

“The European regulations are very strict around [data],” Rubin said. “We have a lot of customers on-prem—it’s not allowed to get the data outside from the country, so, the solution is, in some places, very focused on-prem only.”

Cognitive changes. However the AI landscape develops, said Cloudera CTO of Applied AI Brian Martin, the future is leading toward a “cognitive enterprise.”

“This cognitive enterprise—the company that acts as an organism and that responds organically—that is still to come,” Martin said. “We are only starting to approach the point where you can think of the transition that is coming; instead of the people telling the computers what to do, it’s going to be the computers and the systems asking the people what they need to do.”