At MongoDB Inc.’s flagship developer conference in New York City last year, I spoke with Chief Executive Dev Ittycheria, who offered his take on the burgeoning generative artificial intelligence wave. Ittycheria predicted that as developers began to experiment with new AI tools, including those within MongoDB’s developer data platform, they’d see productivity gains and would be able to build revolutionary new kinds of applications.

This week, MongoDB returns with its annual New York City developer conference, MongoDB.local NYC 2024, which kicks off its world tour of events across 23 cities. I sat down with Ittycheria again recently to hear his vision and predictions on how MongoDB is enabling organizations to maximize their data value from their developer platform for AI-applications.

A year of generative AI experimentation

“Investing in AI became an imperative for every organization this year,” Ittycheria (pictured) told me. “This is a crucible moment for technology, and businesses want to capitalize on generative AI to reimagine how their businesses operate and how they support their customers.” 

Despite the enthusiasm, Ittycheria acknowledged that only a small fraction of executives feel fully prepared to meet AI’s demands, and truly transformative AI applications are yet to be fully realized.

According to Ittycheria, the industry’s journey with AI is a marathon, not a sprint, characterized by significant long-term impacts that often overshadow short-term benefits. As organizations continue to test and learn, the goal is to ensure that AI initiatives translate into substantial enterprise outcomes.

Overwhelmed yet opportunistic

“Enterprises are overwhelmed by the rapid pace and breadth of options in the AI space,” Ittycheria explained. He sees a critical need for solutions that simplify the start and management of AI applications, amid the noise of the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

Survey data from ETR indicates how organizations are looking at AI. The data shows that test summarization, support for writing content, customer chat and code generation are the top use cases. However the really game changing use cases haven’t emerged and will likely take longer to demonstrate return.

The research data confirms the growing interest and integration of generative AI and large language models across various business use cases. There is an appetite for the evaluation of AI while most of the action is with developers around code generation and documentation. The business use cases in the areas of customer support and content creation, including marketing and sales copy, have seen increases in interest and implementation.

Specifically, customer support applications show the largest growth, indicating a significant shift toward using AI for enhancing customer interactions. The bottom line is that the market is showing a broader understanding and acceptance of AI technologies in business operations.

According to Ittycheria, organizations are eager to take advantage of the opportunities that can come from generative AI, but they’re overwhelmed. “Right now, enterprises want to unlock value from AI-powered applications, but the space is moving quickly and there’s so much choice that many enterprises don’t know where to start,” he said. 

Introducing the MongoDB AI Applications Program

In response to the demand for faster capture of generative AI value, the company is launching the MongoDB AI Applications Program or MAAP, a first-of-its-kind collaboration that brings together industry-leading consultancies and foundation model providers, cloud infrastructure providers, and generative AI frameworks — all in one place.

This initiative provides customers with tailored architectures and expert services to quickly develop and scale AI solutions addressing key business challenges. MAAP aims to be a cornerstone for organizations seeking to leverage AI, with partners such as Anthropic PBC, Amazon Web Services Inc. and Google Cloud signaling strong industry support for MongoDB’s strategic direction.

“Organizations need trusted partners to capitalize on this crucible moment,” Ittycheria told me. “From our flexible document model designed to accommodate different data types critical to building AI apps to our deep partnerships with the leading AI companies and cloud providers, MongoDB offers a unique solution in today’s market.”

MAAP will be available with top-tier consultancies, model providers and cloud service providers to streamline AI adoption. Industry partners include Anthropic, Anyscale, AWS, Cohere, Fireworks.ai, Google Cloud, gravity9, LangChain, LlamaIndex, Nomic, Microsoft Azure, PeerIslands, PureInsights and Together AI. 

“This collaboration is a powerful signal that AI leaders recognize that MongoDB is a critical player in enabling organizations to transform with AI,” said Ittycheria.

Capitalizing on the application layer

Companies such as the cloud players, Nvidia Corp. and OpenAI have made significant strides at the infrastructure level with high performance systems and custom chips, MongoDB is focused on harnessing AI at the application layer to enhance developer productivity and customer engagement. This approach is expected to drive rapid adoption and value from organizations’ data across various industries.

According to theCUBE Research analyst Rob Strechay, it is clear that MongoDB is looking up the stack, building an ecosystem of partners that understands the technology and business drivers to realize ROI from AI. “MongoDB is focused on AI as part of the application and by focusing on customer success and not building a foundation model will help MongoDB customers build better data apps that include GenAI and heritage AI,” says Strechay. 

Analysts all agree enterprises will reap AI’s value through increases in developer productivity, faster time to market for new applications, and enriched ways for customers to interact with their brands through these applications — all of which will fuel competitive advantage across industries. “It’s the applications built on this infrastructure that will actually make businesses more efficient, enrich customer experiences and transform our lives,” Ittycheria said. 

A unified platform for modern application development

At the heart of MongoDB is a globally distributed operational database with a flexible data model that offers developers a natural way to represent diverse data types so they can deploy applications that effortlessly adapt, scale and perform at the level that the most innovative organizations with the most demanding use cases require. 

“Fortune 500 giants and startups alike choose MongoDB as the best platform for building scalable, high-performing, and intelligent apps that can efficiently manage diverse data types and adapt to evolving technological requirements, like AI functionality,” said Ittycheria.

The recently launched MAAP claims to bolster customer support through a broad network of partners, purportedly easing the integration of complex technologies into existing systems. MongoDB promotes MAAP as a solution that offers businesses flexibility and a wide range of AI tools to prevent lock-in with any single technology provider. 

“We’ve curated an extensive partner ecosystem so that businesses don’t have to worry about complex technology integrations with their tech stack,” noted Ittycheria.

MongoDB for the AI future

Ittycheria’s vision positions MongoDB as a key player in the next surge of technological innovation, aiming to lead the charge in AI development.

As the AI infrastructure market gears up, the AI application developer space is eager to advance new data-driven AI capabilities. With offerings that promise scalability and advanced intelligence, MongoDB is well-positioned to meet the evolving needs of developers and enterprises alike. This strategic pivot not only highlights MongoDB’s robust capabilities but also signifies its potential to significantly influence the trajectory of AI-driven application development.

If Ittycheria’s predictions hold true, MongoDB could well become a cornerstone in shaping the technological landscape of tomorrow.

Photo: MongoDB