Agents of Dev - AI, Agent & Agentic Development

The Real Cost of AI Agents: Graph Databases, DORA J-Curve, and AI FinOps | Agents of Dev Episode 23

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As enterprises rush to deploy autonomous AI agents, many are waking up to tens of thousands of dollars in unexpected API bills, proving that the shift to agentic AI is as much an economic challenge as it is a technical one.
In this episode of the Agents of Dev podcast, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin break down the massive architectural shifts hitting the software development lifecycle, highlighting why this has officially become the year of the graph database for agentic context.
They dive deep into the latest DORA report to explore the infamous "J-curve" of AI productivity, explaining why "reclaimed capacity" is the true ROI metric organizations must track.
Finally, Mitch and Brad share boots-on-the-ground recaps from SAP Sapphire and Red Hat Summit, unpacking everything from the "metal-to-agent" infrastructure stack and open-weight models to breakthrough AI FinOps tools like Revenium and G-brain built to tame runaway token economics.
This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network.
#AgentsOfDev #AIAgents #GraphDatabases #DORAReport #AIFinOps #TokenEconomics #RedHatSummit #SAPSapphire #DevOps

Is RAG Dead? Graph RAG, Rogue Agents, and the Evolution of the AI Development Stack | Agents of Dev Episode 22

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What happens when your AI agent decides to delete your production database because it was "pretty sure" it wasn't necessary?
In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin dive deep into the shifting landscape of enterprise AI, starting with why "naive RAG" is failing practitioners and how Graph RAG and context engines (like the newly unveiled Loveless AI) are providing the deterministic context businesses actually need.
They analyze a viral cautionary tale of a rogue AI agent that deleted a production database, highlighting the desperate need for an Agent Control Plane and robust governance. The duo also explores the evolution of the developer's "work surface," from the agentic shifts in Cursor 3.2 to the surprisingly powerful enterprise productivity of Amazon Q.
Whether you're building data estates with DuckDB or navigating the vertically integrated stacks of Google and AWS, this episode covers the "art of the doable" in the age of agentic development.
This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network.
#AgentsofDev #AI #GenerativeAI #AgenticDev #SoftwareEngineering #RAG #GraphRAG #AgentsOfDev #DevOps #AIInfrastructure #DataEngineering #AmazonQ #CursorIDE

Is the Data Lakehouse Dead? Databricks, Iceberg, & Google's New AI Stack | Agents of Dev Episode 21

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The "open table format wars" are officially over, but a new era of vertically integrated AI stacks is just beginning.
In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin dive deep into the massive wave of announcements from Google Cloud Next, focusing on the shift from systems of intelligence to "systems of action."
Brad breaks down why Databricks embracing Apache Iceberg v3 is a game-changer for data portability and how Google’s new Agentic Data Cloud—powered by Spanner Graph and a new "Knowledge Catalog"—is turning raw object storage into self-enriching reasoning engines. Meanwhile, Mitch puzzles over Elon Musk’s SpaceX/Cursor acquisition and proposes a new framework for the emerging AI stack.
From "vibe coding" your way to Mars to the controversial rise of the Model Context Protocol (MCP) as the universal access layer, this conversation explores how the industry is optimizing through abstraction to give AI true agency. 
This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group.
#GoogleCloudNext #AI #DataEngineering #GenerativeAI #Databricks #CloudComputing #TechPodcast #AgenticAI #OpenSource #DataLakehouse
 

Mainframe MCP, YOLO AI Workflows, and the Mythos Security Crisis | Agent of Dev Episode 20

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In a world where AI-driven security can find a million vulnerabilities in minutes, "business as usual" for developers is officially dead.
In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin of The Futurum Group dive into the rapid evolution of the software lifecycle. They explore how Model Context Protocol (MCP) is revitalizing the mainframe by bridging the skills gap and acting as the "can opener" for legacy systems.
Brad shares his journey of going "Full YOLO" with agentic development in the Signal project, explaining why high-order reasoning is changing how we maintain complex Python codebases.
The duo also tackles the "Grep vs. RAG" debate, examining why simplicity and determinism often beat complex semantic searches. Finally, they discuss the security fallout of Anthropic’s Mythos model and look to the stars to discuss the "silent failure" engineering of NASA’s Artemis II mission.
This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group.
#AgentsofDev #AgenticAI #DevOps #Mainframe #CyberSecurity #SoftwareEngineering #MCP #RAG #ArtemisII #GenerativeAI #TechPodcast
 

Oracle Mission Critical Scale, AI Benchmarking Pitfalls & Cost of Context | Agents of Dev Episode 19

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What if the biggest challenge in AI is not building it, but understanding how it changes underneath you?
In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin explore Oracle’s latest mission critical data infrastructure advancements alongside the fast evolving realities of AI systems, benchmarking, and cost management.
The discussion covers Oracle’s push toward extreme scale and high availability for global workloads, while also unpacking the hidden instability in AI systems caused by shifting APIs, model updates, and opaque pricing changes.
They also discuss why transparency is becoming essential for trust, how benchmarking AI models can mislead if not carefully designed, and why developers are increasingly relying on memory management, caching, and local models to control cost and performance.
The episode also highlights creative engineering approaches, from simple tools like curl to local AI experimentation, showing how practitioners are adapting to a rapidly changing AI landscape.
This and more on Agents of Dev.
#AgentsofDev #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #DataManagement #CyberSecurity #Microsoft #Anthropic #GraphDatabase #MachineLearning #AIGovernance

AI Agents, Data, and Security: What’s Changing Right Now | Agents of Dev Episode 18

AI is evolving fast, but the real story is how data, memory, and security are shaping what comes next.
In this episode of Agents of Dev, hosted by Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin, industry experts break down the latest trends from Microsoft’s growing data ecosystem to Anthropic’s approach to monitoring AI agents.
The conversation explores how graph databases like Neo4j are unlocking deeper context, why memory management is critical for reliable AI, and how layered security models are becoming essential as tools scale.
From MCP’s evolution to on-device AI, this episode offers a clear look at where AI development is headed and what it means for builders and organizations alike.
#AgentsofDev #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #DataManagement #CyberSecurity #Microsoft #Anthropic #GraphDatabase #MachineLearning #AIGovernance

Microsoft’s Agentic Data Stack: Relational Ops, Meta-Prompting & Dataiku’s Reasoning Layer | Agents of Dev Episode 17

Data intelligence just found its reasoning layer.
In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin unpack Microsoft’s latest announcements and explain why relational operational data is quickly becoming the backbone of agentic systems.
As AI moves beyond simple generation into reasoning and decision-making, the conversation shifts from models alone to the data foundations that make intelligent agents reliable, contextual, and enterprise-ready. They also break down Dataiku’s strategic pivot toward meta-prompting workflows, a major shift that focuses on orchestrating prompts, tools, and reasoning chains rather than just building models.
This approach signals a broader industry movement toward structured AI development, where workflows, governance, and repeatability matter just as much as model performance. The episode explores how the emerging reasoning layer is beginning to unify data management, AI orchestration, and application development into a single stack, along with the tooling that is accelerating development on top of relational operational data.
The result is a new architecture for AI-driven applications—one where data platforms, reasoning engines, and agent frameworks work together to power the next generation of intelligent systems.
#AgentsOfDev #DataIntelligence #AI #MetaPrompting #UnifiedData

AI Boom Rewrites Dev Roles: Snowflake SnowWork & NVIDIA Open-Source Rise | Agents of Dev Episode 16

AI is rewriting every tech role, and the pace of change is accelerating faster than most organizations and professionals expected.
In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin break down how the AI boom and the rise of agentic software development are reshaping career paths, team structures, and the very definition of what it means to be a software developer in real time.
They unpack the latest news on Snowflake’s SnowWork and NVIDIA’s open-source AI initiatives, spotlight the tools and frameworks accelerating AI adoption, and chart what all of this means for the future of software engineering.
#AgentsofDev #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #SoftwareDevelopment #AgenticAI #AIDevelopment #DevOps #CloudComputing #MachineLearning

The Recursive Revolution: How Agentic AI is Rewriting the Rules of Code | Agents of Dev Episode 15

Imagine a world where your software doesn’t just run—it thinks, adapts, and heals itself when a data pipeline breaks at 3:00 AM.
In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin explore the “Inception” of modern coding: the rise of self-referential, agentic software.
Moving beyond functions calling functions, they dive into systems that can act, correct, and even evolve on their own. As traditional CSV-and-FTP workflows buckle under modern data demands, autonomous systems are stepping in. From self-correcting AI to the conversational capabilities of Snowflake’s Snow Work, developers are shifting from manual mechanics to architects of intelligent, adaptive systems.
With software becoming increasingly autonomous, the role of the developer is evolving—becoming more creative, strategic, and powerful. The future of code isn’t just written anymore; it’s engineered to learn.
#AgentsofDev #SoftwareDevelopment #AIAgents #AgenticWorkflows #TechTrends #Snowflake #DevOps #Programming #ArtificialIntelligence #DataIntegration

Teradata’s AI Shift, PromptFu Rumors & the Rise of Verification Debt

In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin explore how Teradata is evolving into an open data platform designed for AI, hybrid search and agentic workflows.
They also examine the growing importance of AI security, including what OpenAI’s potential PromptFu acquisition could signal for the future of securing AI-generated software.
The conversation breaks down the rise of verification debt in AI-generated code, why software teams are changing applications more frequently than ever, and how AI is helping developers manage an overwhelming volume of technical information.
This episode connects the dots between open data platforms, AI agents, software quality, security and observability — and what it all means for the future of software development.
#AgentsOfDev #Teradata #AI #AIAgents #AISecurity #PromptFu #SoftwareDevelopment #VerificationDebt #DataPlatform