Bob Ward is a Principal Architect for the Microsoft Azure Data team, which owns the development for Microsoft SQL Edge to Cloud. Bob has worked for Microsoft for 30-plus years on every version of SQL Server shipped from OS/2 1.1 to SQL Server 2022, including Azure SQL. Bob is a well-known speaker on SQL Server, Azure SQL, AI, and Microsoft Fabric, often presenting talks on new releases, internals, and specialized topics at events such as SQLBits, Microsoft Build, Microsoft Ignite, PASS Summit, DevIntersection, and VS Live. You can also learn Azure SQL from him on the popular series aka.ms/azuresql4beginners. You can follow him at @bobwardms or linkedin.com/in/bobwardms. Bob is the author of the books Pro SQL Server on Linux, SQL Server 2019 Revealed, Azure SQL Revealed, and SQL Server 2022 Revealed, available from Apress Media.

Topics of Discussion:

[4:22] Bob’s long history with Microsoft and the evolution of SQL Server.

[6:41] What are the big use cases that SQL Server can now do?

[7:38] Beyond RDBMS framework.

[9:34] Building innovation off an already trusted brand.

[9:50] What’s the vision of AI on SQL Server?

[10:51] It’s all about smarter searching.

[14:26] AI assistance features in SQL Server, such as the SQL Copilot and natural language to SQL query generation.

[16:02] Hybrid searching.

[19:41] Challenges and opportunities in AI Integration.

[20:43] Content moderation is now being added to the loop.

[22:39] The categories of different models.

[23:16] The potential for industry-specific models to enhance AI capabilities in fields like insurance underwriting.

[28:19] Knowing which model to use.

[33:17] The trend towards industry-specific training of AI models to better suit specific business needs.

[34:07] The current vision for SQL Server.

[35:22] Innovating in the cloud.

[38:30] The potential for SQL Server to handle AI workloads on small form factors, such as edge devices and standalone boards.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Clear Measure Way

Architect Forum

Software Engineer Forum

Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net.

Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon!

Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events!

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