TechFinitive

AI may be making software development faster, but the systems used to monitor that software have not necessarily kept pace. For Bob Quillin, Co-Founder and CEO of ControlTheory, that is becoming a problem as AI agents and engineers together push more code into production at a speed that traditional observability was never designed to handle.

Quillin’s argument is not that AI-generated code is inherently bad. It is that the assumptions behind conventional observability are starting to break down. Teams can no longer anticipate every failure worth monitoring, the cost of collecting and storing ever-growing volumes of telemetry can become significant, and runtime behaviour does not necessarily make its way back to the people – or agents – responsible for the code.

That is the thinking behind ControlTheory’s Dstl8, which the company describes as a “runtime feedback loop” rather than another observability platform. Instead of simply reporting what happened after deployment, Dstl8 analyses telemetry at its source, correlates runtime behaviour with deployments, diagnoses the underlying problem and sends that information back into development tools. Its approach includes analysing the actual language in logs for signals such as sentiment, patterns, anomalies and severity, rather than relying solely on predefined thresholds.

In this interview, Quillin discusses what breaks when software velocity accelerates, why ControlTheory believes telemetry should be distilled before it enters expensive observability pipelines, and what its “zero alert rules” approach means in practice. He also explains how feeding incident knowledge into a knowledge graph could change the role of engineers, from searching through dashboards for what went wrong to judging the evidence and deciding what should happen next. Read it here: https://www.techfinitive.com/interviews/bob-quillin-ceo-and-co-founder-controltheory-trust-is-the-whole-question-in-agentic-systems/

Bob Quillin, CEO and Co-Founder, ControlTheory: "Trust is the whole question in agentic systems" Bob Quillin shares how ControlTheory addresses challenges in observability amid rapid AI-driven software development.

AI is already changing the way people work in film, but the disruption may be less dramatic than the headlines suggest. For Egor Dubrovsky, CEO and Co-Founder of Filmustage, it is happening one production task at a time: a studio handling its own subtitles, a crew using AI to rebuild a schedule, or a production team automating the paperwork that would otherwise keep someone working late into the night.

That distinction matters to Dubrovsky. His company focuses on assistive AI for filmmaking, using it for tasks such as script breakdowns, scheduling and pre-production rather than generating the creative work that audiences ultimately see. His argument is that AI can take on structured, repetitive work while leaving creative decisions and production judgment with the people who have the experience to make them.

That does not mean the transition is without consequences. Filmustage’s research found that four in 10 US film workers say they have already lost work or income to AI, while younger workers appear particularly exposed. Dubrovsky, who started his own career as a director’s assistant, is concerned about what happens when the entry-level roles that traditionally taught people how productions work begin to disappear. At the same time, he sees an opportunity for AI to remove some of the unpaid preparation and administrative work that contributes to burnout across the industry.

In this interview, Dubrovsky discusses the gap between how the film industry talks about AI and how workers are already using it, where assistive AI can make a practical difference, and why the industry may need to rethink how the next generation gets its experience.

Read it below👇

Egor Dubrovsky, CEO and Co-Founder of Filmustage: "Software won't fix a culture where 74% of people kept working through a personal crisis with no support" Filmustage CEO Egor Dubrovsky discusses AI’s impact on film jobs, burnout, entry-level roles and the changing role of filmmakers

For JSK Investments, the appeal of autonomous surgery is not really about autonomy for its own sake. Petra Cihlářová, Investment Director of Venture Capital at JSK Investments, is unusually blunt about the point: “AI in itself is not an investment thesis.” What matters is whether the technology addresses a specific clinical problem, whether the team can bring it into real-world practice, and whether there is evidence that it works beyond the pitch deck.

That thinking sits behind JSK’s investment in Andromeda Surgical, a US medtech startup developing an autonomous surgical platform initially focused on HoLEP, a complex procedure for treating an enlarged prostate.

For Cihlářová, the opportunity is rooted in a problem that extends beyond the technology itself: a shortage of surgeons trained to perform the procedure and a long learning curve that limits its availability.

The investment also reflects an unusual combination of expertise in Andromeda’s founding team. Co-founder Nick Damiano brings experience developing medical technologies, while Kartik Tiwari has a background in autonomous systems. Cihlářová says that combination was important because autonomous surgery sits at the intersection of medicine, AI, robotics, regulation and clinical adoption.

In this interview, Cihlářová discusses what JSK looks for when assessing AI healthcare companies, the milestones she will be watching as Andromeda moves into commercial deployment, and why she sees the bigger opportunity in autonomous surgery not as replacing doctors, but as extending specialist expertise to more patients and more places. She also explains why clinical evidence, human oversight, regulation and accountability will be just as important as the underlying technology as autonomous capabilities develop.

Read it here: https://www.techfinitive.com/interviews/petra-cihlarova-investment-director-of-venture-capital-at-jsk-investments/

Petra Cihlářová, Investment Director of Venture Capital at JSK Investments: "AI in itself is not an investment thesis" Petra Cihlářová explains why JSKI backed surgical robotics startup Andromeda Surgical, discussing AI in healthcare, clinical scaling, and HoLEP

For over 30 years Bruce Schneier has been a leading light in cryptography, security, privacy and internet rights. Now he’s turned his gaze onto AI.

Schneier literally wrote the book on modern crypto – Applied Cryptography – published in 1994 and on curricula around the world. He has devoted his life to sussing out the effects and remedies for security in the modern world – be that in code, privacy, and personal and IoT devices. He’s a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access Now and The Tor Project, and now has nearly 20 books to his name.

His most recent book – coauthored with data scientist Nathan Sanders – examines the effect of AI on society, security, and politics. Rewiring Democracy: How AI Will Transform Our Politics, Government, and Citizenship is a surprisingly positive take on how AI will influence society, albeit with significant caveats

In this interview with Iain Thomson, we explore some of the book’s themes and reveal why he believes open source is the right approach.

👉 Read the full interview here: https://www.techfinitive.com/interviews/bruce-schneier-on-ai-these-massive-us-ai-companies-have-no-viable-business-model/

Bruce Schneier on AI: “These massive US AI companies have no viable business model” Security legend Bruce Schneier is worried about AI. In this exclusive interview, he explains why he thinks open-source AI is the answer

Two words just kept on coming up in our interview with Dan Onions, Global SVP of Data & AI at Quantexa: trust and context. That makes sense given that this is a core part of his role at Quantexa, whose platform aims to “Put Context Behind Every Decision” to quote its website, but let’s first explain why you should trust Dan. And add some context whilst we’re at it.

He’s certainly had a varied career, including several years providing strategic advice to the UK’s Ministry of Defence. Before joining Quantexa, he was the Founder and CEO of the DASH project management startup, and in total has 27 years of experience helping organisations use well-founded data to meet the needs of today’s world. Most recently, that means AI transformation too.

You can hear the learnings in his advice throughout this interview. “Most enterprises have a chronic data problem,” he says, describing “a mess of inconsistencies and inaccuracies that kills trust”. No wonder, when organisations are often relying on record keeping that stretches back over decades.

This is one of the many areas where context is king. “Whether it be a global bank or a local family-owned insurance firm, what differentiates the AI that can be trusted from the rest is a robust context layer,” he says. For example, knowing “a person from their alias, a shell company from its parent, and a relationship from its paper trail”.

As he also points out, many organisations are rushing to deliver AI-based solutions. That comes with real and obvious dangers, especially as we embed AI deeper into our systems. How to avoid the dangers yet deliver the innovation every business needs to succeed?

Read the full interview 👇

Dan Onions, Global SVP of Data & AI at Quantexa: "Feeding unstructured, siloed data into massive models just scales bad outputs faster" Two words just kept on coming up in our interview with Dan Onions, Global SVP of Data & AI at Quantexa: trust and context.

AI is changing the economics of reverse engineering. For decades, compiled binaries provided software vendors with an important layer of protection. Reverse engineering was possible, but it generally required considerable technical expertise, time and resources. AI-assisted tools are changing that equation.

A recent test by Thales illustrates the scale of the shift. An AI-powered reverse engineering agent found eight vulnerabilities in a custom bytecode virtual machine in just over three minutes. When the same binary was protected using Thales Sentinel Envelope, the agent found none after six hours of analysis, while consuming vastly more tokens.

The implications extend beyond software piracy. Exposed vulnerabilities can put customers at risk, while stolen intellectual property, compromised licensing systems and potential breaches can create financial and reputational consequences for software vendors.

The bigger question is whether simply compiling software into binaries is still enough protection in an era when AI can analyse those binaries at speed.
We take a closer look at the changing reverse-engineering landscape, and what software developers can do about it.

Read the full article here: https://www.techfinitive.com/features/mitigate-the-threat-of-ai-assisted-vulnerability-detection-and-exploit-creation/

Mitigate the threat of AI-assisted vulnerability detection and exploit creation AI reverse engineering threatens software security and IP. Learn how Thales Sentinel Envelope protects compiled binaries against threats.

Proofpoint recently announced a new security system designed to give organisations a single view of AI activity and data access.

According to the cybersecurity firm, the Proofpoint Agentic Data and AI Security system has been designed so that enterprises can give AI agents access to only data they need based on intent.

“You cannot secure AI without securing the data it acts on, and you cannot secure data without understanding how AI is using it,” Proofpoint data security and governance group executive VP and General Manager Mayank Choudhary said.

Story here: https://www.techfinitive.com/features/proofpoint-combines-ai-and-data-security-in-new-agentic-system/

Proofpoint combines AI and data security in new agentic system Proofpoint unveiled an agentic security system combining AI activity and data access governance to help enterprises manage emerging risks.

High staff turnover, seasonal workers and sprawling supply chains can leave forgotten accounts behind. In partnership with SailPoint, Asda shows how businesses can stop them from becoming a security risk.

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What ASDA can teach your business about unmanaged identities High staff turnover and seasonal workers can leave forgotten accounts behind. ASDA shows how businesses can stop them becoming a security risk

AI agents are breaking into real systems, and the law is scrambling to catch up. Some are already blaming victims of attacks for failing to build a “higher fence”, but in the end, any of us could be in the legal firing line, writes Nicole Kobie.

Who's to blame for rogue AI? It could be you as ignorance of the law is no defence When developers unleash autonomous tools without adequate safeguards, victims shouldn’t be blamed for failing to build a higher fence

Normally you’d expect Satan to be seen driving to work on a snowplough before Valley firms start pleading for regulation to rein in AI development. Or changing a key part of their vocabulary based on the whim of the President. This month, both happened.

AI companies are getting vocal about the need to slow down and get regulated, writes Iain Thomson from San Francisco, and they got exactly what they were after.
Read it here: techfinitive.com/opinions/view-from-the-valley-ai-pleads-for-regulation-on-its-terms-trump-obliges/

View from the Valley: AI pleads for regulation on its terms, Trump obliges AI companies are getting vocal about the need to slow down and get regulated, writes Iain Thomson from San Francisco, and they got exactly what they were after