The decentralized data warehouse startup Space and Time Labs Inc. said today it has integrated with OpenAI LP’s chatbot technology to enable developers, analysts and data engineers to query their information and create dashboards using natural language prompts.

Space and Time is the creator of a decentralized and hybrid data warehouse that enables transactional queries on any blockchain with low latency and scalable analytics in a single cluster. Each query in Space and Time is verified by what the company calls “proof of SQL,” a novel, zero-knowledge proof technique that proves each query is accurate and tamper-proof in a cryptographic way.

The idea is that Space and Time can support automated queries by smart contracts, which are coded agreements that self-execute when certain conditions are met. As Space and Time explains, data analysis has historically required knowledge of Structured Query Language, which is used to manage and query the information held in relational databases.

Because of this necessity, the task of creating a data pipeline that channels information from various sources into a database has traditionally required that users possess substantial technical expertise. It’s not a quick process, either.

Now, though, Space and Time is doing away with the need for knowledge of SQL, enabling any business user to create data pipelines and dashboards, and query information using natural language prompts. With today’s integration, the startup is introducing “Houston,” its generative artificial intelligence chatbot, which can answer questions about data from any source. Queries are translated by Houston into SQL on the fly, and the responses can be immediately published to a dashboard, application programming interface or AI model, the company said.

Space and Time co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Scott Dykstra said he thinks AI-powered SQL will be a game-changer for smaller businesses that run lean analytics teams, since it can decrease the time-to-value in various important tasks.

“Space and Time users can generate SQL or Python scripts from prompts, ask natural-language questions about data and get back an accurate visualization of the answer, and load in new datasets all by simply conversing with our chatbot,” he said. “Whether the focus is indexed blockchain data or off-chain data from your business, discovering, querying and building on that data is just a few prompts away.”

Space and Time’s decentralized data warehouse is currently available in beta test mode and can be deployed on any decentralized network or private intranet, with all sensitive data encrypted in-database, in-transit and in-use, the company said.

Image: Space and Time