The potential for artificial intelligence to be the next evolutionary step for humanity is a fascinating prospect.

We may look back at this time as a moment when we underestimated how rapidly we were progressing. During a day two analysis panel at SC23, a theCUBE analysts discussed how the AI journey has traversed the ever-expanding landscape of collaboration, academia and industry synergy.

“If you look at what Dell and other people are doing here, this is a collaboration ecosystem that’s developing from the chips to the cloud,” said John Furrier (pictured, right), industry analyst and theCUBE co-founder. “It’s going to be an opportunity to allow the hardware matters crowd [to] figure out how to architect and build better products to make AI work better at scale.”

Furrier was joined by fellow analysts David Nicholson (second from right), Savannah Peterson (left) and Lisa Martin (second from left), during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the revelations from the event and explored the rise of the collaboration ecosystem, the relationship between academia and industry, and the future prospects of high-performance computing. (* Disclosure below.)

A collaborative journey from chips to cloud

One of the most significant takeaways during the event was the emphasis on collaboration within the high-performance computing market. The success of Dell’s involvement and support for the event underscored the growing collaboration ecosystem, which extends from chip manufacturers to cloud service providers. The ecosystem fosters innovation and open standards adoption, and it is this collaboration that will shape the future of large-scale AI training and inference, according to Furrier.

“You’re going to see how this is going to shape the large-scale AI training and inference future,” Furrier said. “I think the killer app is going to be inference, and data will be upside down with kind of new data management models.”

This shift will provide an opportunity for hardware enthusiasts to architect and create superior products that enhance AI scalability, Furrier added. The transition will, in turn, lead to a step-function change, particularly as chips, networking and AI scaling converge. This transformation, once in production, will catalyze the growth of ecosystems and create value through collaboration, entrepreneurship and improved solutions.

“It’s going to be step-function change when you start to see the chips and the networking and the AI scaling,” Furrier said. “I think this is going to be probably the most exciting ecosystems to watch for the next few years.”

The effect of the ecosystem on HPC

The concept of an evolving and collaborative ecosystem in the world of supercomputing underscores the interconnectedness and dynamic nature of the industry, where various stakeholders work together to drive progress and innovation. The term “ecosystem” is frequently used to describe the multifaceted nature of HPC, according to Nicholson.

“We use the phrase ecosystem a lot because a couple of things have struck me from an ecosystem perspective,” he said. “It’s not just about learning to code and computer science; it’s about all of these other things from an industry perspective and an ecosystem perspective.”

As the businesses navigate the evolving world of HPC, one thing is certain: The “primordial soup” of AI evolution is simmering with potential, and we’re all along for the ride, Nicholson said.

“Things are not going to survive, and other things will evolve,” he added. “This whole thing about AI being the next evolutionary step for humanity, there’s some truth to that.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of SC23:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for SC23. Neither Dell Technologies Inc., the main sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE