Cloud computing has been a tool in the IT toolbox since Amazon launched Web Services in 2006. Over that time, it has evolved from “rented metal” to a set of powerful on-demand computing platforms. In the intervening years, we’ve learned how to balance dedicated hardware with public utilities. Software ate the world and relied on clouds to do so. But now AI is eating software, and many of our preconceived notions about utility computing won’t make sense much longer.

In this talk, we’ll explore the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and human decision-making in a world increasingly dominated by large language models (LLMs), and what that means for cloud computing. Borrowing from cognitive psychology and historical patterns in distributing computing, Alistair Croll will offer speculations and provocations on how AI will shape enterprise IT infrastructure. Using the analogy of an orbit, we’ll see why the best cloud adoption strategy is a posture of maximum agility.

Attendees will:

• Explore the evolution from mainframes to client-server computing to modern cloud infrastructure.
• Learn about singularities, and why in situations of limited knowledge, adaptivity drives survival.
• See why the System 1/System 2 paradigm is a useful tool for understanding LLMs.
• Look at factors to consider when deciding where to deploy components of an enterprise AI architecture.
• Understand why orbits, poised between the collective and the individual, offer a philosophical model for IT strategy.

Alistair Croll – Serial Entrepreneur, Event Organizer, and Bestselling Author