Guest: Peter Zaitsev (LinkedIn)
Company: Percona (Twitter)
Show: Let’s Talk About AI

Percona helps people run the most popular open source databases like MySQL, MongoDB, and Postgres. The company also offers their own branded approved version of software as well as solutions and services to assist with running the databases in high-load environments and mission-critical applications.

In this episode of TFiR: Let’s Talk About AI, Peter Zaitsev, Founder of Percona, talks about the role of AI for database administrators (DBAs). He goes on to discuss the evolution of DBAs and the current main trends he is seeing in the database space with the rapid increase in adoption of generative AI.

Key highlights from this video interview are:

• DBAs are looking to utilize AI in three key areas: helping to run or tune the database with parameters or queries; helping to make projections about the future, rather than just reporting on the past; and for a database to support integration of the AI models they would want to run.
• Zaitsev tells us that lots of developers are currently building generative AI applications where they need to integrate a database and create special workloads. He talks about the current new trends in databases versus the old traditional ones.
• Zaitsev feels that there is a skills shortage for the highly skilled engineers; however, he believes that they are seeing a lot of competition in AI skills for building AI platforms. However, there are also many people who are looking to integrate AI into the business with no code frameworks. He talks about these two paths towards AI integration.
• The role of DBA has evolved significantly over the years from the 90s where they would be looking after a couple of Oracle databases to nowadays when the amount of workloads has exploded and they are needing to rely on automation to manage them effectively. Zaitsev talks about the changes surrounding the role of DBAs and the opportunities that still exist to improve the quality of data environments.
• With AI, particularly generative AI, taking the world by storm right now, there is plenty of talk about it taking people jobs. However, Zaitsev firmly believes that humans are still needed. He talks about the areas where AI falls short and why we still need a human in the loop.
• While the barrier for entry is being lowered in many ways allowing people to create great apps with no code solutions, on the other end of the scale, the need for highly skilled engineers who can manage complex mission-critical systems is also growing.
• Zaitsev talks about how Percona is helping organizations run their databases while still dipping their toes in new technologies like generative AI.
• He talks about some of the major trends they are seeing in the space such as the need for more guardrails and regulations. He takes us through some instances where he feels they are needed, such as ensuring customer data and corporate data do not become intermingled. He goes on to discuss the topic of open source AI and how he feels like what is currently termed open is not completely open source.

This summary was written by Emily Nicholls.