Matt Bornstein and Jennifer Li (and their co-author Martin Casado) of a16z have compiled arguably the most nuanced diagram of the data ecosystem ever made.  They recently refreshed their classic 2020 post, "Emerging Architectures for Modern Data Infrastructure" and in this conversation, Tristan attempts to pin down: what does all of this innovation in tooling mean for data people + the work we're capable of doing? When will the glorious future come to our laptops? For full show notes and to read 6+ years of back issues of the podcast's companion newsletter, head to https://roundup.getdbt.com.  The Analytics Engineering Podcast is sponsored by dbt Labs.

Jennifer Li, a General Partner at a16z, teams up with Jordan Tigani, Cofounder and CEO of MotherDuck, to explore the surging popularity of DuckDB as the big data era passes. They discuss how SQL systems can effectively handle AI workloads and the advantages of user-friendly tools for query writing. Jordan shares insights on using AI to troubleshoot SQL errors and the shift towards smaller, manageable datasets for faster performance. They also delve into how AI is reshaping data analysis and the supportive role it plays in programming.