What's New In Data

Modernizing databases in practice involves more than just moving data—it requires rethinking how systems, developers, and AI interact. In this episode, Shireesh Thota, Corporate Vice President of Azure Databases at Microsoft, joins Alok Pareek, co-founder and Executive Vice President of Product Development at Striim, to discuss the evolution of operational databases, the rise of real-time data movement, and what it really takes to modernize at scale. Together, they discuss how Microsoft’s Un...

What if the fastest route to real AI value isn’t training a new model—but learning how to use the ones we already have, better? We sit down with author and professor John K. Thompson to chart a clear path from AI’s roots to practical wins you can ship this quarter, while keeping an honest eye on what stands between today’s LLMs and true AGI. We start with the origin story—from Turing’s early ideas to the Dartmouth workshop—and show why those founding questions still matter. Then we move into...

In this episode of What’s New in Data, we’re joined by Clare Liguori – Senior Principal Engineer at AWS – to dig into the evolving role of retrieval in modern AI systems. Clare unpacks why retrieval shouldn’t just be thought of as a technique to get documents — it’s a strategic tool that can unlock smarter, more adaptive agents. We also explore how AWS is thinking about orchestration, what actually counts as “reasoning,” and why the real power lies in combining structured memory with real-tim...

Jonathan Shough, CIO of Parexel, joins us to talk about leading data modernization in one of the world’s most regulated industries. He shares how compliance can be reframed as an enabler, not a blocker—and why it’s critical to deliver value to patients, not just platforms. We get into Parexel’s pragmatic approach to AI adoption, the role of human interaction in digital transformation, and what it really means to modernize data infrastructure without breaking what works. If you’re balancing tr...

Joe Reis joins us to reflect on life after Fundamentals of Data Engineering, what makes data content worth consuming, and why good taste matters as much as technical skill. We talk about burnout in big tech, the myth of AI replacing everyone, and how Discord communities, DJ sets, and a sense of humor are helping shape the future of data. This one’s part industry pulse check, part real talk. Follow Joe: LinkedInSubstackDiscordWhat's New In Data is a data thought leadership series hosted by Jo...