Olivia Cohen

4 results

AI Apps: What the World Sees vs. What Developers See

Imagine you’re in the market for a new home in, say, Atlanta. And you’re on vacation in a different city. You see an amazing-looking house, whose design you love. You open up your favorite real estate app, snap a picture of this house, and type: “Find me a home that looks like this in Atlanta, in my price range, and within my budget, that’s also next to a park.” Seconds later, you’re served a list of homes that not only resemble this one, but match all your other specifications. This is what the world—specifically, consumers—expects when it comes to AI-powered applications. But when developers see the possibilities for these hyper-personalized, interactive, and conversational apps, they also see what goes into building them. A video showing the behind-the-scenes of an AI-powered real estate app. To make these advanced apps a reality, developers need to be able to unify operational and vector data . They also want to be able to use their preferred tools and popular LLMs. Most of all, developers are looking for a platform that makes their jobs easier—while, at the same time, providing a development experience that’s both seamless and secure. And it’s critical that developers have all of this. Because as in previous tech revolutions (the software revolution, the birth of the World Wide Web, the dawn of the smartphone, etc.), it’s developers who are leading the new AI revolution. And it’s developers who will use different kinds of data to push the boundaries of what’s possible. Take for instance audio data. Imagine a diagnostic application that records real-time sounds and turns those sounds into vectors. Then an AI model checks those sounds against a database of known issues: all of which pinpoints the specific sound that signals a potential problem that can now be fixed. Until recently, this kind of innovation wasn't possible. A video showing an AI-powered advanced diagnostics use case. This is also just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the types of new applications that developers will build in this new era of AI. Especially when given a platform that not only makes working with operational and vector data easier, but provides an experience that developers actually love . To learn more about how developers are shaping the AI revolution, and how we at MongoDB not only celebrate them, but support them, visit www.mongodb.com/LoveYourDevelopers . There you can explore other AI use cases, see data requirements for building these more intelligent applications, discover developers who are innovating in this space, and get started with MongoDB Atlas for free .

July 1, 2024

Two Keys To AI’s Future: What We Heard From Developers At AWS re:Invent 2023

At AWS re:Invent 2023, we chatted with numerous developers about the thing everyone was talking about. Which was… drum roll AI. Specifically, Generative AI. So much has happened over the last year in this space. LLMs have gone from being primarily a field of academic research to something every developer, product engineer, IT decision maker, C-level executive (and everyone in between) is thinking about. Questions that have emerged in that time—in the news, at tech conferences, in conversations with developers, among colleagues, in blog articles, etc.—include: Are we in a hype cycle? Is this just another fad? Is AI, after a series of promising starts and then long winters, here to stay for real this time? And if so, how can an organization use Generative AI to disrupt the market instead of being disrupted? We chatted with several developers at AWS re:Invent to get a sense of what they were thinking about when it comes to Generative AI. Here’s some of what they had to say: "[Generative AI] will help people build faster and safer, but [it’s] definitely not going to replace everything." - Developer "I'm excited about all the tools that can help developers to develop faster, like CodeWhisperer." - Head of Cloud Operations "Generative AI is here to stay." - Chief Technology Officer The theme throughout these quotes is how Generative AI will benefit developers in the work they do. Specifically, how Generative AI will help them develop faster and easier. A prime example of this is, as one of those quotes above notes, Amazon CodeWhisperer, which boosts developer productivity through AI-driven code assistance. The data used to train Generative AI code assistants, like Amazon CodeWhisperer, is key, though. This is why MongoDB collaborated with the Amazon CodeWhisperer Data Science team to train CodeWhisperer’s foundational model on MongoDB use cases to give developers the best possible code suggestions. In addition to helping developers do their work faster and easier, advancements in Generative AI are also empowering developers—specifically developers with more limited backgrounds in AI/ML—to use LLMs more effectively in their applications. In fact, it’s now easier than ever for developers to build AI-powered apps. As one data engineer at AWS re:Invent 2023 said: “Generative AI enables people that have no experience in AI to start entering this industry to use their domain knowledge to explore the applications.” A good example of this is Retrieval-Augmentation Generation or RAG. MongoDB’s Mat Keep writes in a recent blog article : “As recently as 12 months ago, any mention of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) would have left most of us confused. However, with the explosion of generative AI, the RAG architectural pattern has now firmly established itself in the enterprise landscape.” RAG presents developers with a potent combination. They can take the incredible knowledge and reasoning capabilities of pre-trained, general purpose Generative AI models and feed them with accurate and up-to-date company-specific data. This means developers can build AI-powered apps that generate outputs grounded in enterprise data and knowledge without having to turn to specialized data science teams to train or fine-tune models — which is a complex, time-consuming, and expensive process. RAG is one of many examples of how development tools and technologies are changing to allow developers to build AI confidently and securely. When you look at all of the above, it’s very clear that this new revolutionary era of Generative AI is driven by empowered developers. Still, because there are so many incredible advances in both commercial and open-source Generative AI models, and because everyone has access to these, the real differentiation comes down to something unique to every organization: data. One question we’re left to ask is: What will developers be talking about with respect to Generative AI at AWS re:Invent in the coming year? As we’ve seen over the last twelve months, a lot can happen and change. So there’s no exact telling what the future will hold. But what is clear is that the two key things that will determine Generative AI’s future will continue to be data and developers. To learn more, check out our resources page for building AI-powered apps .

December 19, 2023

Why We’re Celebrating Developers (And Why We Always Will)

No matter the future, developers will build it. This is the fundamental message for MongoDB’s Love Your Developers campaign, which we created to celebrate, recognize, and support all that developers have done and continue to do. When the campaign launched earlier this year, it took a more historical view on how developers have shaped the history of computing from its earliest days — even before computers were invented. We wanted to show that — even in the eras when hardware was the primary focus — programming language pioneers, like Grace Hopper, and innovative engineers, like Jerry Lawson, fundamentally shaped the future through software. (To read more about the campaign, and why we launched it, check out our announcement blog article .) Introducing the MongoDB Developer Spotlight Series Just like in the past, today’s technologies aren’t developed in a vacuum. It takes entire teams of developers — experimenting, innovating, testing — to build and deploy applications that transform how we interact with the world. That is why we’re introducing our MongoDB Developer Spotlight Series. Our aim is to celebrate the diversity of experiences and approaches that exist among and throughout the global developer community. To do this, we will highlight stories from today’s community champions, developer advocates, newbies, senior engineers — and more. It’s our hope that these stories will help inspire the next generation of developers who will further shape our future. In this new series, we’ll introduce you to developers like Trina Yau. Trina went from being a pharmacist to a software engineer at Cisco. While initially concerned about her nontraditional background, she was later told by recruiters that her unique journey was a strength, rather than a weakness. This revelation showed her that, in order to become a developer, one must only possess a curious mind. In other words, there is no singular path to working in software. In a forthcoming post, Trina (who is also a MongoDB Community Creator) will share with us why developing isn’t just a way to earn a living, but a way to connect with people and share experiences through technology. This series will also spotlight developers like Justin Jenkins, who is a Software Development Engineer at Pushpay and a MongoDB Community Creator. He got his start at an early age, building his own computers and coding in BASIC - before he even knew that developing was a thing. In a future post, Justin will share tips based on his own experiences. For example, in his view, newbie developers know more than they think when it comes to getting started. Through MongoDB’s social channels, we’ll share all of these developers’ insights, tips, advice, and origin stories. So stay tuned. And let us know what you think. #LoveYourDevelopers Because no matter what the future holds, it’s developers who will build it. If you’d like to learn how you can get involved in MongoDB’s own Developer Community, head on over to our Community Forum . There, you’ll find updates, announcements, and ways to interact with other developers.

November 14, 2023

Why We're Telling the World: "Love Your Developers"

Today, we at MongoDB are proud to announce the launch of our Love Your Developers campaign. The tl;dr behind it all is simple: We love developers. Always have. Always will. The reason is simple. From the earliest days of room-sized machines doing a handful of tasks to today’s pocket-sized super machines, developers have been there, pushing past what anyone ever thought possible. Developers not only defined what the internet could be, but are now redefining what it should be in an ever-connected world. And it’s developers who are leading the charge to demonstrate for the world all that intelligent machines can do. At MongoDB, we want to recognize and support all that developers have done and continue to do; and we ask you to do the same. The “Love Your Developers" campaign is our call to celebrate developer accomplishments — past, present, and future — through a variety of media and storytelling avenues. Our anthem film, “No Matter the Future,” looks at the monumental achievements developers have made in the history of tech and why they’ll continue to redefine what’s possible into the future. Going forward, this campaign will also detail what developers are doing today to transform the way that customers interact with businesses around the world. To join in on this campaign, check out our Love Your Developers page, and tell us about your own developer triumphs, achievements, hopes, and dreams on social with #LoveYourDevelopers. *Archival photos courtesy of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

June 22, 2023