Hoodies taking over lab coats

From vector databases to hallucinations, to the purity of open source, to how hyper-personalisation and real-time delights are redefining the afternoon shift of databases – this CTO reorganises a lot of shelves. And in a fun way!

- By Pratima H

There was a time when libraries smelt of time-travelled oak, vintage ceilings, dog-eared books, dust-draped spines, and mazes of musty rows. There came a time for glass vitrines, travelators around bookshelves, Escher stairs, interlocking planks, floating books, dapper honeycombs and well-lit fluid spaces. The monolith changed into a matrix. Today, both exist. For different kinds of readers. For different moods. Different needs. Even as some question the very relevance of a library in a world smitten with pixels and bits. Also, a world where databases have evolved from racks, rows and rigid columns to modular designs, non-relational fluidity and vectors. Caught between nostalgia and future, between legacy backyards and on-the-fly trays, between rigidity and real-time agility - databases are rearchitecting themselves for the new city called AI. How relevant and well-fitted are these libraries for the data readers of today and tomorrow? No better person to ask that question than a CTO who picks fun analogies over heavy jargon, who simplifies rather than complicates his answers and who cites ‘blueberry yoghurt’ instead of a boiler-plate geeky term to explain exactly how and why we need new-and-improved-and-delicious databases today. Grab your spoon for this interview with Boris Bialek VP and field CTO, MongoDB.

Let's start with the most obvious question first. The AI buzz is everywhere and am sure the database world is feeling the heat too. What happens to databases now? Especially non-relational ones?