2025-05-02 –, Ballroom (track sponsored by Checkmarx)
The DevOps community is at a critical point as AI-driven automation continues to reshape software development and infrastructure management. Understanding AI's historical evolution, from its philosophical foundations to modern reasoning models, is key to effectively navigating this transformation. This talk will bridge historical computing, epistemology, and DevOps, showing how AI's past informs its future in software engineering. We will explore AI's evolution from formal logic and deterministic computing to reinforcement learning and agentic workflows. Attendees will leave with insights on integrating AI into DevOps pipelines responsibly and efficiently.
The emergence of reasoning AI models, such as OpenAI's o1, o3-mini, and DeepSeek-R1, transforms how we approach DevOps, particularly in testing, automation, and incident management. This presentation aims to help DevOps practitioners understand AI's historical and philosophical foundations, enabling them to apply these concepts effectively in their work.
Key Takeaways:
- The historical evolution of AI and its philosophical foundations.
- The epistemological challenges of AI and its implications for DevOps.
- The role of reasoning models in automating complex problem-solving.
- How DevOps principles apply to AI workflows, including CI/CD for machine learning.
- Ethical considerations and the future of AI in software engineering.
John Willis has worked in IT management for 45 years and is a prolific author, including "Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge" and "The DevOps Handbook." He is researching DevOps, DevSecOps, IT risk, modern governance, and audit compliance. Previously he was an Evangelist at Docker Inc., VP of Solutions for Socketplane (sold to Docker) and Enstratius (sold to Dell), and VP of Training & Services at Opscode (Chef), where he formalized the training, evangelism, and professional services functions at the firm. Willis also founded Gulf Breeze Software, an award-winning IBM business partner specializing in deploying Tivoli technology to the enterprise. Willis has authored six IBM Redbooks for IBM on enterprise systems management and was the founder and chief architect at Chain Bridge Systems.