STARTS MAY 12TH · BI-WEEKLY · LIVE
WTF IS THE
A bi-weekly live series for AI leaders and builders. One burning question per episode, an open AMA floor, and guests who've actually built context infrastructure.
IS SEMANTIC LAYER = CONTEXT LAYER?
Both the semantic layer and the context layer exist to help AI agents understand your business. A semantic layer teaches agents business language and meaning. But is knowing the meaning sufficient for agents to take action? David Mariani, Co-founder and CTO of AtScale, joins Austin to give his honest take.
Bring your questions.
We'll bring answers.
...or more questions
Context is having a moment. Every new startup, and legacy business, is now a context company. The LangChain CEO called context engineering the defining skill for AI. Even MIT published a piece on context being the single biggest reason for AI failures.
And in all of this noise, you're still left with real questions nobody's answering. This series is built to work through your questions, with guests who actually know what they're talking about.
Why do my AI agents keep getting enterprise data wrong?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
How do I give AI the context that lives in my people's heads?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
How can I make sure our organizational context stays our own?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
How do I actually know if my context layer is working?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
Who should own the context layer?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
What does an AI team look like when it owns the context layer?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
Is context engineering a real discipline?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
How do you know when your context layer is good enough to ship an agent?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
Does every company need one, or is this only for large enterprises?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
Why do my AI agents keep getting enterprise data wrong?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
How do I give AI the context that lives in my people's heads?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
How can I make sure our organizational context stays our own?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
How do I actually know if my context layer is working?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
Who should own the context layer?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
What does an AI team look like when it owns the context layer?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
Is context engineering a real discipline?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
How do you know when your context layer is good enough to ship an agent?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
Does every company need one, or is this only for large enterprises?
WTF IS THE
CONTEXT LAYER
What are your burning questions about the context layer?
UPCOMING SESSIONS
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Both the semantic layer and the context layer exist to help AI agents understand your business. A semantic layer teaches agents business language and meaning. But is knowing the meaning sufficient for agents to take action? In this episode, we go deeper into the semantic layer and context layer, where they diverge, and whether the two are different names for the same solution. David Mariani, Co-founder and CTO of AtScale, joins Austin to give his honest take.
QUESTIONS WE'LL TACKLE:
- How is a semantic layer different from an enterprise context layer?
- The semantic layer existed for 30 years before AI made it urgent. What changed?
- The semantic layer gives AI a vocabulary. Does vocabulary make AI trustworthy?
- When every platform ships a semantic layer, who ends up owning your business logic?
Both ontologies and context layers are trying to solve the same problem: give AI an understanding of what business concepts actually mean. Ontologies were the original attempt to encode the meaning human organizations run on. Whether the context layer is a new name for the same job, or whether AI changed something fundamental about how it gets done. Jessica Talisman has been building ontologies since before LLMs existed. She joins Austin to give her honest take.
QUESTIONS WE'LL TACKLE:
- Ontologies have existed for thirty years. Why did its enterprise adoption stall?
- When AI can generate an ontology, what does the human still have to own?
- What can an ontology give an AI agent that a semantic layer cannot?
- Is the context layer a genuine evolution of ontology, or a rebrand?
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