I watched Dr. Hipp's keynote. Here's my summary for folks who don't want to sit through it. (This is hand written, not LLM-generated.)
Dr. Hipp suggests a definition of "AI" in which SQL planners are AI, defining AI as "any computing system that performs tasks typically associated with human reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making." (He then explains briefly how SQL planners are runtime code generators. If you're not familiar with how SQL planners work, the keynote is pretty short and worth a watch.)
He then makes a recommendation to developers who are afraid that AI will take their jobs. He points out that SQL planners kinda take away part of the job of a developer, but really just changed the nature of the job.
He makes his point with a slide:
> Q: How can you avoid being replaced by AI?
> A: Solve more problems than you create.
He concludes with a recommendation against having LLMs generate your SQL entirely. He recommends writing it yourself in order to understand it better and engage both the part of your brain that process human language and the part of your brain that processes formal languages like SQL. (He gives an example of trying to ask a coworker for help, but solving the problem by explaining it to the coworker, and how valuable that experience is.)
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For my part, I'm not sure I agree with calling a SQL planner "AI" in 2026 (I think that obscures more than it reveals), but the advice to solve more problems than you create will always be wise.
I suggested something similar in an internal chat, i.e. using AI as a tool to help specify, debug and improve your code, rather than delegating all coding to it, and I think the collective response was essentially 'ok grandpa'.
I think we have to expect the majority of SQL queries will soon be machine generated and machine tuned. The planner in database engines will use LLMs. There will be LLM chats to help you specify what query you want to make, and it will work out which tables etc via question and answer.
is that faster than just knowing what tables you want to run it on? I can see it for agentic but having to chat back and forth every time sounds frustratingly slow for my tastes
Every keynote, panel, and workshop from this year's Cesium DevCon is now free to watch, no signup. I work in DevRel at Cesium so wanted to flag it here since I don't think it's made the rounds yet.
Highlight for me: Richard Hipp (SQLite's creator) keynoted the opening session, marking 15 years of Cesium as an open source geospatial project. There's also a talk on building a lunar camera digital twin for an actual spacecraft instrument, and a session on Barcelona's underground infrastructure twin, if you want a sense of the range.
Dr. Hipp suggests a definition of "AI" in which SQL planners are AI, defining AI as "any computing system that performs tasks typically associated with human reasoning, problem-solving, and decision-making." (He then explains briefly how SQL planners are runtime code generators. If you're not familiar with how SQL planners work, the keynote is pretty short and worth a watch.)
He then makes a recommendation to developers who are afraid that AI will take their jobs. He points out that SQL planners kinda take away part of the job of a developer, but really just changed the nature of the job.
He makes his point with a slide:
> Q: How can you avoid being replaced by AI?
> A: Solve more problems than you create.
He concludes with a recommendation against having LLMs generate your SQL entirely. He recommends writing it yourself in order to understand it better and engage both the part of your brain that process human language and the part of your brain that processes formal languages like SQL. (He gives an example of trying to ask a coworker for help, but solving the problem by explaining it to the coworker, and how valuable that experience is.)
---
For my part, I'm not sure I agree with calling a SQL planner "AI" in 2026 (I think that obscures more than it reveals), but the advice to solve more problems than you create will always be wise.
I think we have to expect the majority of SQL queries will soon be machine generated and machine tuned. The planner in database engines will use LLMs. There will be LLM chats to help you specify what query you want to make, and it will work out which tables etc via question and answer.
Highlight for me: Richard Hipp (SQLite's creator) keynoted the opening session, marking 15 years of Cesium as an open source geospatial project. There's also a talk on building a lunar camera digital twin for an actual spacecraft instrument, and a session on Barcelona's underground infrastructure twin, if you want a sense of the range.
Happy to answer questions about any of it.