Ep 8 - How Airy Powers Real-Time AI Agents with Data Streaming and Confluent

Agentic AI is transforming how modern systems interact with data, and Airy is at the forefront with its real-time approach.

In this episode, Steffen Hoellinger, Co-founder and CEO of Airy, discusses the transformative impact of agentic AI for enterprises and why real-time data streaming is a crucial component. From Apache Flink® and Apache Kafka® to the importance of focusing on core business challenges, Steffen breaks down how Airy builds intelligent systems that react to data as it happens.

You’ll learn:

• How Airy’s team uses Confluent to simplify their data infrastructure
• What agentic AI means beyond the buzzwords and why it’s a leap past basic natural language processing (NLP)
• Why real-time interaction is essential for creating next-generation software experiences
• How business users can create and test AI-driven patterns without writing any code

If you’re building AI-powered apps—or planning to—this one’s for you.

About the Guest:
Steffen Hoellinger is the Co-founder and CEO of Airy, where he leads the development of open-source data infrastructure that connects real-time event streaming technologies like Apache Kafka® and Apache Flink® with large language models. Airy helps enterprises build AI agents and data copilots for both technical and business users across streaming and batch data. Steffen is also an active early-stage investor focusing on data infrastructure, AI, and deep technology.

Guest Highlight: 
“Real-time is getting more and more important. Once you understand all the fancy ways people in the market are trying to solve a real-time data problem, you come to the realization that [data streaming] is the best way of doing things. It became natural to adopt it early on in our journey.”

Episode Timestamps: 
*(05:10) - Overview of Airy’s AI Solutions
*(37:20) -   The Runbook: Tools & Tactics
*(44:00) -   Data Streaming Street Cred: Improve Data Streaming Adoption 
*(47:50) - Quick Bytes
*(50:25) - Joseph’s Top 3 Takeaways

Dive Deeper into Data Streaming:

• EP1—Stream On: Unleashing Innovation with Data Streaming | Life Is But A Stream
• EP2—Processing Without Pause: Continuous Stream Processing and Apache Flink® | Life Is But A Stream
• EP3—The Connective Tissue: Shift Left to turn Data Chaos to Clarity | Life Is But A Stream

Links & Resources:

• Connect with Joseph: @thedatagiant
• Joseph’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/thedatagiant
• Steffen’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hoellinger
• Learn more at Confluent.io

Our Sponsor:  

Your data shouldn’t be a problem to manage. It should be your superpower. The Confluent data streaming platform transforms organizations with trustworthy, real-time data that seamlessly spans your entire environment and powers innovation across every use case. Create smarter, deploy faster, and maximize efficiency with a true data streaming platform from the pioneers in data streaming. Learn more at confluent.io.