A marching band, a red carpet and a DJ who codes her beats are all things you may get before coffee (and a business card) on the Upfront Summit, one in every of enterprise’s most awaited conferences. But not even a marching band couldn’t pull focus away from the true star of the show: AI.

Upfront Summit founder Mark Suster and partners Kerry Bennett and Kobie Fuller even performed a sketch centered around AI. The takeaway? AI is a tempting sector to take a position in, nevertheless it’s too still early to trust blindly.

This isn’t latest; hyped-up technologies often get outsized interest. However the atmosphere is different from what it was in 2021 when investors were throwing billions of dollars at 15-minute grocery delivery corporations and web3. Enterprise dry powder is locked up, deals are getting done slower, and a few investors are still licking their wounds from the downturn so far.

AI is feeling it. In keeping with a TechCrunch evaluation of PitchBook data, “generative AI corporations aren’t going to even set a neighborhood quarterly maximum for fundraising in Q1 2023.” Understanding how recently humbled check-writers are enthusiastic about AI will help tech higher understand learn how to execute moonshot visions.