---
title: "WTF is the Context Layer? EP 01 - WTF is the Context Layer? | Atlan"
url: "https://atlan.com/wtf-context-layer/what-is-context-layer/"
description: "Every vendor claims to be the context layer now. We cut through the noise and work toward a definition that actually holds up - with the people who coined the term."
keywords: "context layer, AI governance, enterprise AI, data context, atlan events, context layer series"
---

> Atlan is hosting Context Conference, bringing together the leaders and builders at the frontier of giving AI the context it needs to understand their business. It runs online on October 28, 2026, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM ET. Atlan co-founder Prukalpa Sankar opens and closes the day. Leaders from AstraZeneca, BNY and Verizon share why they invest in context and what they get from it. Registrants get early access to The AI Context Gap, a new study from MIT Technology Review Insights. Register: https://atlan.com/context-conference/

Episode 1 of Atlan's WTF is the Context Layer? series. Every vendor claims to be the context layer now. This episode cuts through the noise and works toward a definition that actually holds up, with the people who coined the term.

## Episode details

- **Episode:** 1, "WTF is the Context Layer?"
- **When (as listed on the page):** Wednesday, May 12, 12 PM ET
- **Recording:** [Watch the EP 01 recording](https://atlan.com/wtf-context-layer/what-is-context-layer-recording/)
- **Series hub:** [WTF is the Context Layer?](https://atlan.com/wtf-context-layer/)

## Questions we'll tackle

- Where does a knowledge graph end and a context layer begin?
- What does a context layer actually look like inside a real enterprise?
- Who owns it: the data team, the AI team, or the platform team?

## Conversation leaders

- **Austin Kronz** (host), Field CDAO, Atlan. Former Gartner Director who spent years advising Fortune 500 data leaders on analytics strategy. He's the person large enterprises call when they can't figure out why their AI keeps getting context wrong.
- **Prukalpa Sankar** (guest), Founder and Co-CEO, Atlan. She's been inside the context layer problem longer than most, and is one of the people who coined the term and helped define what it actually means in practice.