Banks Demand AI Systems They Can Unplug Amid Security Fears
Nvidia's partnership with Perplexity has shed light on the growing demand for AI systems that can be physically disconnected from the internet. According to Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, big banks want AI computing power they can control and unplug, citing security concerns.
Srinivas noted that data centers alone cannot carry AI's next phase, requiring a terawatt of power and significant memory. He advocates for a hybrid approach, routing privacy-sensitive workloads to local hardware while keeping cloud access for frontier models.
Nvidia's DGX Spark desk-side box is being used by firms like Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan for air-gapped implementation, disconnecting boxes running AI workloads on-premises. NVIDIA CFO Colette Kress reported that on-prem revenue in the automotive vertical reached $8 billion, while financial services, manufacturing, and healthcare combined contributed $7 billion.