2025 DASH Breakout 2

It seems that everyone has an opinion on AI—sometimes wildly enthusiastic or pessimistic—but often with very little grounding. So how can you filter out the speculation from reality? For this session, we’ve brought together two deeply knowledgeable experts, Ameet Talwalkar (Datadog Chief Scientist, CMU Professor) and Zico Kolter (CMU Machine Learning Department Head, OpenAI Board Member) to talk about the current state and future trajectory of AI. They’ll discuss where AI is excelling, where it’s falling short, and what we can look forward to in the future based on current research. You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of how to apply AI to your work today and how to prepare for its advancement in the future.

How do you enable a team of 100 engineers to effectively support 300+ critical applications across five hosting platforms? At Thomson Reuters, we turned to AI - not as a buzzword, but as a genuine force multiplier. Experience our journey of transforming traditional IT operations into an AI-augmented powerhouse, where Datadog, ServiceNow, and custom AI solutions work in harmony to create a next-generation control plane. We'll share real victories, honest challenges, and practical insights from our mission to build a more intelligent operational framework.

According to some studies, nearly 90% of companies are running hybrid or multi-cloud. As your IT footprint grows, so does its complexity and the likelihood for hidden gaps in security. In this session, Datadog’s Wissal Lahjouji will chat with Robert Wise (Cognizant Trizetto), Paul Richards (Citizens Bank), and Bobby Argeanton (Hyatt) about how they protect critical data across legacy and modern environments while meeting compliance demands. They’ll share ways to assess costs, skills, and resources in multi-cloud security. You’ll learn how proper planning keeps operations smooth and avoids disruption, and leave with structured methods to maintain trust and reduce risk.

As AI agents rapidly improve, becoming more autonomous and interconnected, they unlock new ways to assist us. But as they perform actions for us and delegate tasks to other AI agents, we need to reexamine our understanding of “identity.” How do we ensure these powerful AI interactions are authentic, authorized, and permissioned, while differentiating between legitimate actions and potential misuse? Join Datadog co-founder and CTO Alexis Lê-Quôc and Okta CTO Bhawna Singh as they explore the convergence of AI, security, and observability. They’ll delve into the complexities of agentic AI and where they see the risks and opportunities. They’ll also share how they’re leading their teams as they harness this burgeoning technology to accelerate engineering performance. You’ll walk away with actionable advice to unify observability and security, infusing trust into your AI-augmented systems and maximizing your organization’s overall impact.

There are many factors that contribute to creating a high-performing engineering team, such as processes, automation, and culture. While all of these are important, the most critical ingredient is engineers. But how do you recruit and hire the best engineers? Join Datadog’s Ambra Benjamin (VP of Tech Recruiting) and Jeromy Carriere (SVP of Engineering) as they chat about their approaches. They’ll share advice for recruiting, interviewing, retaining, and mentoring to help you build exceptional engineering teams.

Today's security leaders navigate the challenge of fostering innovation and speed while safeguarding system and user trust. In this fireside chat, Datadog CISO Emilio Escobar and a special guest will discuss defining and calibrating acceptable risk levels within their organizations. They will explore practical decision-making that allows teams to accelerate delivery without sacrificing fundamental principles of trust, security, and compliance. This candid conversation will cover real-world risk trade-offs and guiding frameworks, offering insights into leading secure, high-velocity organizations.