Hello readers,

Today I’m going to start with a thank you. Our second annual Confidential Computing Summit was a major success in large part to many of you. We gathered some of the brightest minds in confidential AI last week where we heard a range of perspectives around confidential computing and its impact on the growing AI landscape. We talked about how advancements in our sector can significantly move the needle in AI innovation. 

First, and foremost, GenAI is a catalyst for confidential computing adoption. The technology’s growth over the past few years introduced new opportunities for companies to efficiently store and use their data. But this also led to new privacy and security risks that we see impacting numerous industries daily. Confidential computing is now a core strategy for companies to reduce risk while realizing the overall value of GenAI. 

Our summit also spotlighted confidential computing in action, and the many ways it can benefit our society in the future. We had a front-row seat to some of the most innovative use cases across sectors, witnessing how it can help businesses improve everything from drug discovery to insurance fraud detection to cyber defense. 

This year’s conference made one thing clear: confidential computing will ultimately simply be how we do all computing. And, as more businesses realize confidential computing’s power to drive workflow efficiency, improve security, and accelerate innovation, its adoption will only continue to grow.

2024 is a breakout moment for confidential computing. And our team at Opaque Systems is thrilled to be spearheading its momentum. We hope to see you next year! 

— Aaron Fulkerson, CEO, Opaque Systems

Our Top Takeaways from Confidential Computing Summit

Aaron and Opaque Systems co-founder Raluca Ada Popa recap the top takeaways from the two-day Summit in San Francisco last week.

In the Lab

The latest happenings at Opaque Systems

Opaque Systems launches new Confidential AI Platform to manage AI projects on encrypted data

As part of Opaque’s mission to drive confidential computing forward, we announced a new solution for enterprises at the Confidential Computing Summit: the Opaque Confidential AI Platform, developed by our team at the Berkeley RISELab. The solution is designed to help businesses manage a large amount of AI workloads—including SWL analytics and AI inference—via encrypted data. The platform supports machine learning pipelines and AI frameworks including Python and Spark. Read coverage of the launch in SiliconAngle and Datanami. Watch below for more about the impact of the platform from CEO Aaron Fulkerson:

AMD announces new generation of EPYC processors

Confidential computing company AMD has been a leader in the space since launching the Infinity Guard security features in 2017. AMD CTO and EVP Mark Papermaster announced the company's latest privacy innovations at our Confidential Computing Summit: the 5th Generation EPYC processors. Available later this year, the newest generation will incorporate Trusted I/O, a new security offering that uses an open standard called the TEE Device Interface Security Protocol (TDISP).   

Chester Leung gives a tour of the new Opaque Confidential AI Platform

Confidential computing powers the new Opaque Confidential AI Platform, and our team of experts has designed the solution to be accessible for all. At the Confidential Computing Summit, Chester Leung, Co-Founder and Head of Platform Architecture at Opaque Systems, walked attendees through some of the newest features and capabilities of our platform. Chester’s product tour showcases how our solution helps teams streamline AI workloads by removing encrypted data silos and complying with privacy regulations.

Code for Thought

Worthwhile reads

🍎 Apple’s iOS18 AI strategy will leverage confidential computing: Apple announced some major AI updates for iOS18 during the company’s annual WWDC keynote this week. As part of its new AI plans, the company is set to embrace confidential computing to promote secure server processing. The company will deploy confidential computing techniques within its server infrastructure to process user data while maintaining robust privacy standards.

📝 Texas passes new data security law for businesses: Texas businesses will soon have to adhere to stricter rules around using customer data. The Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, which goes into effect in July, permits state residents to ask companies how they plan to use their data and requires businesses to provide people with a clear way to opt out of data collection and sales. Small businesses are mostly excluded, but still banned from selling customers’ data without their consent.

❄️ Snowflake linked to recent Ticketmaster and Santander data breaches: Cloud data analysis company Snowflake is the focus of a recent wave of customer data leaks at major corporations. Cyber attacks have caused large-scale database breaches at companies including Santander Bank and Ticketmaster, which use Snowflake to store mass amounts of data in the cloud. Techcrunch reports that a lack of multi-factor authentication enforcement is how hackers accessed data from Snowflake’s customers, including employee passwords. 

💡New AI report shows growth in GenAI investment and regulations: The Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2024—the seventh edition of a research report conducted by Stanford University—illuminates some key takeaways about AI trends impacting our world. Most notably, the report found that funding for GenAI across industries spiked tremendously to $25.2 billion, eight times what the investment was in 2022. Concurrently, AI regulations have surged: In the past year, AI-related regulations increased by 56%.