Agents of Dev - AI, Agent & Agentic Development

Futurum Media

The Agents of Dev Podcast explores how software developers build and will build applications in the era of AI, agents, and agentic technologies. Futurum Research analysts Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin bring their dual perspectives as industry analysts and practitioners to unpack what industry moves, vendor strategies, and on-the-ground engineering realities signal about the future of enterprise software. Each episode explores innovations, opportunities, and even oopsies to inform us about how AI-native development is reshaping the work of planning, designing, building, deploying, and operating software. Part of the Futurum Group family of podcasts.

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32 episodes
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Avg 46 min
English

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#44
Thursday · 58 min
The 7 Billion Commit Tsunami: Is Agentic AI Breaking the SDLC? | Agents of Dev Episode 44
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. When monthly developer commits surge fivefold to over 7.3 billion in a single year, the traditional software development lifecycle isn't just bending under the weight of automation—it's breaking. In this episode of Agents of Dev, hosts Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin dissect the seismic platform shifts surfacing from GitHub Universe and Oracle AI World. From autonomous agent swarms turning pull requests into high-frequency continuous saves to Oracle’s Deep Trust AI embedding enterprise governance directly into database engines, traditional silos across code, runtime, and data are collapsing. Mitch and Brad evaluate why brittle markdown "skills" fall short of true enterprise architecture, assess the urgent need for automated CVE remediation engines like Google Gemini Carbon and Red Hat Lightwell, test-drive multi-agent terminal stacks powered by Ghostty and Jev, and pay tribute to Star Trek’s Captain Picard on what it takes to evolve when old systems reach their breaking point. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Media Podcast Network.
#43
October 22 · 1 hr 1 min
Anthropic's "Cruelty" Rules & AI Agent Databases | Agents of Dev Episode 43
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. Have you ever yelled at an AI model out of frustration? Anthropic's new Terms of Service might make you think twice! In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin dive into the latest tectonic shifts in the tech industry, starting with IBM's newly minted 4-part AI operational model and a heated debate on whether NVIDIA is positioned to be the "next IBM." The hosts also explore the psychological, technical, and marketing implications behind Anthropic banning "cruelty" toward its models. Plus, discover a handy new tool for sizing hardware for local LLMs, learn why KV caching is the new bottleneck in the AI economy, and find out how databases like Supabase are completely re-architecting for the agentic AI era. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Media Podcast Network.
#42
October 15 · 43 min
The $8 Trillion AI Trap: Why Infrastructure Always Loses | Agents of Dev Episode 42
We are pouring $8 trillion into AI data centers, but history reveals a brutal truth: the companies building the physical infrastructure almost never capture the lasting wealth. In this episode of Agents of Dev, hosts Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin sit down with tech founder and bestselling author Alan Shimel to break down his book, The Indispensability Trap. Comparing today’s AI frenzy to the massive historical build-outs of the railroads, electrification, telecom monopolies, and the dot-com dark fiber bust, Alan explains how Jevons Paradox forces value to flee the infrastructure layer and migrate "up the stack." The trio also tackles whether software engineers are facing obsolescence or evolution, how "vibe coding" changes development, and why AI search threatens the core business model of online media. Check out Alan Shimel's book, The Indispensability Trap. available on Amazon and wherever books are sold. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of the Futurum Media Podcast Network.
#41
October 8 · 54 min
Google Argon 4, Agent Sandboxing, and System 1 Decisioning with Jev | Agents of Dev Episode 41
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. As AI agents move from experimental prompts to autonomous production workflows, developers are facing a brand-new set of infrastructure, governance, and safety challenges. In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin break down takeaways from Microsoft FabCon in Barcelona, highlighting the rise of autonomous database management agents and the industry-wide shift toward lightweight agent sandboxing. The duo dives deep into Google’s Argon 4 release—evaluating its bold trade-off of raw benchmark scores to slash hallucination rates down to 15%—and unpack OpenAI’s Dev Days updates like ChatGPT Space and Dots. Finally, in "The Drop," Mitch explores NVIDIA’s hardware-enforced Open Agent Safety Platform, while Brad shares his hands-on testing with Jev, a ultra-fast "System 1" decisioning model redefining task routing. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Media Podcast Network.
#40
October 1 · 44 min
Is Headless AI Taking Over? Dreamforce Recap, Neo4J Graph Summit & AI Security | Agents of Dev Episode 40
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. Are bloated frontier models already becoming obsolete for everyday enterprise workflows? In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin break down fresh takeaways straight off the plane from Salesforce Dreamforce and the Neo4J Graph Summit. They dive into Salesforce’s new COA model and headless architecture, how graph databases provide the critical "meaning, reach, and memory" needed for agentic AI, recent security headlines surrounding AI-assisted breaches, and why ultra-focused state decision models like JEV might change the economics of AI forever. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Podcast Network.
#39
September 24 · 42 min· Video
Beyond AGI Hype: Demystifying AI Harnesses, Context Economics, and Agentic Workflows | Agents of Dev Episode 39
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. Is the fear of world-ending AGI a genuine existential threat, or just aggressive marketing designed to protect a massive AI investment bubble? In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin cut through the industry noise to examine how software development is actually evolving on the ground. They unpack key market moves from Cloudera’s partnership with Mistral to Atlassian’s agentic workflow ecosystem, before diving into a technical breakdown of developer harnesses like Pi and Maki. From managing token economics and context bloat to tackling AI’s "Memento-like" short-term memory struggles, Mitch and Brad share practical insights on how developers can maintain control over their AI toolchains. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Podcast Network.
#38
September 17 · 49 min
Beyond the AI Doomer Hype Harness Engineering, Context Economics, and Agentic Workflows | Agents of Dev Episode 38
Is AI heading toward a dystopian sci-fi nightmare, or are we just watching market hype mask the real architectural shifts happening in software engineering? In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin move past the polarities of AI doomerism vs. pure hype to tackle the pragmatic reality of agentic workflows. They analyze Cloudera’s enterprise sovereignty partnership with Mistral, examine Atlassian’s push into agentic SDLC management, and take a deep dive into the world of developer harnesses—comparing setups like Pi, Aider, and Maki. Along the way, they unpack context tokenomics, cash ownership, and why managing LLM memory often feels like living out the movie Memento. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Podcast Network.
#37
September 10 · 52 min
AWS DuckDB Moves, Fixing "Lazy" AI Agents, and the 2026 AI Budget Reckoning | Agents of Dev Episode 37
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. Are enterprise AI budgets running out of control while agentic models pretend to finish tasks they haven't actually completed? In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin tackle the biggest developments across cloud infrastructure, AI behavior engineering, and enterprise data strategy. They start with AWS’s acquisition of Duck Labs and what embedding DuckDB directly into storage tiers means for the open-source ecosystem. Next, they unpack the issue of AI "phantom completeness" and how new tools like the Unlazy extension enforce behavioral discipline on agents. The pair also analyze Brad’s newly published Data Intelligence Platforms Signal report, break down Bill Gates’ 6,000-word call for AI guardrails and job protections, and discuss the "fund AI anyway" spending habits shaping IT budgets in 2026. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Podcast Network.
#36
September 3 · 49 min
Inside the Mind of an Open Source Innovator with Tracy Ragan | Agents of Dev Episode 36
Unvetted AI code generation in your software pipeline is like handing a construction apprentice the keys to a wrecking crane—it might get the job done, but it could just as easily knock down the entire building. In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin sit down with open source pioneer Tracy Ragan (CEO of DeployHub and Ortilius community leader) to dissect the state of the modern software supply chain. Tracy breaks down why hardcoded scripts continue to paralyze DevOps evolution, how global vulnerability collection laws are reshaping cybersecurity risk, and why "reachability" matters more than static SBOM scans. Together, the team explores the inevitable shift from bloated frontier models to lean, domain-specific small language models, proving why human collaboration still forms the ultimate zero-trust defense. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network.
#35
August 27 · 48 min
Model Fatigue, Phantom Fixes, & Toolchain Chaos: Finding Control in Agentic Dev | Agents of Dev Episode 35
Are constantly shifting AI models and phantom fixes driving you to throw away hours of work? In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin dive into the real-world frustrations of developer toolchain chaos, model instability, and aggressive pricing shifts in the race for AI dominance. Brad highlights Oracle’s new APEX AI Application Generator and APEX Lang framework, while Mitch breaks down Dynatrace’s acquisition of Arise and why observability must anchor itself at the intent stage. Together, they demystify what actually defines a developer sandbox, test-drive Unsloth’s new agentic desktop harness, and examine Atlassian’s Code Context updates—offering a much-needed dose of tech therapy for software builders navigating today's rapid model churn. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network.
#34
August 20 · 46 min
DynamoDB Vectors, Shift Zero Security, and Taming AI Tech Debt | Agents of Dev Episode 34
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. As AI moves deeper into software development, keeping up with rapid updates can feel like chasing a moving target. In this episode of Agents of Dev, hosts Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin break down the biggest shifts transforming the developer ecosystem. Brad explores AWS's new native vector support for DynamoDB and explains why placing vectors inside operational databases slashes latency and infrastructure costs. Mitch shares top takeaways from Black Hat, focusing on "Shift Zero"—the practice of governing developer intent at the point of origin rather than catching errors downstream. Finally, the duo discusses prompt fatigue, non-deterministic pipelines, and how tools like Tencent's DB Agent Memory might help systems clean up their own technical debt. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network.
#33
August 13 · 44 min
Stop Reviewing Agent Code? Anthropic, DynamoDB & AI Tech Debt | Agents of Dev Episode 33
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. Are your AI agents creating more technical debt than they actually solve? In this episode of Agents of Dev, hosts Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin break down the fast-moving world of modern AI development, starting with AWS DynamoDB adding native vector support to optimize query latency. They dig into Black Hat insights like "Shift Zero" intent governance, why Anthropic is telling developers to strip down their prompt instructions, and how human alarm fatigue makes reviewing agent tool calls almost pointless. Finally, they wrap up with "The Drop," highlighting Tencent's graph-based agent memory hub and exploring how sci-fi clones from Dune mirror the current state of AI memory. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network.
#32
August 6 · 46 min
Unifying Data Stacks, Open-Weight Controversies & Google's Anti-Gravity CLI | Agents of Dev Episode 32
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. As enterprise AI stacks grow increasingly complex, the race is on to simplify data pipelines, unify developer work surfaces, and tame ballooning token costs. In this episode of Agents of Dev, hosts Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin break down the biggest shifts across database architecture, agentic tools, and AI infrastructure. They explore RegattaDB's unified engine for OLTP, analytical, and vector workloads, Atlassian's expanding AI lifecycle strategy, and Mitch's eight-layer AI Stack framework highlighting why "presence is not completeness." They also discuss the industry drama surrounding Moonshot AI's 2.8-trillion parameter Kimi K3 open-weight model, Anthropic’s distillation accusations, and the economic shift toward local models. To close out, Brad shares key takeaways from migrating to Google's Anti-Gravity CLI and what new agent workspace protocols mean for future developer workflows. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network.
#31
July 30 · 37 min
Securing AI Agents: Snowflake CSTO Mayank Upadhyay on Cortex AI Gateway Presented by Snowflake | Agents of Dev Episode 31
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. As enterprise AI evolves from simple chatbots into autonomous agents, traditional security methods are no longer enough to protect your company's crown jewels. In this episode of Agents of Dev presented by Snowflake, hosts Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin sit down with Mayank Upadhyay, Chief Security and Trust Officer at Snowflake, to dive into the security and governance shift required for agentic workflows. Mayank explains why static API keys fail in non-deterministic environments, how workload identity gives autonomous agents true accountability, and how Snowflake’s Cortex AI Gateway centralizes model routing, cost management, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) tool governance. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network. This episode was presented by Snowflake.
#30
July 23 · 48 min
How Red Team/Blue Team AI, JSpace, & Agentic IDEs Are Changing Development | Agents of Dev Episode 30
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. What happens when you pit Google Gemini against Anthropic Claude in a "red team/blue team" duel to fact-check AI research, or peek inside an LLM’s subconscious "Jacobian Space"? In this episode of Agents of Dev, analysts Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin explore the rapidly evolving landscape of AI engineering and how modern tools are turning everyone into a builder. They cover IBM’s multi-agent IDE update ("Bob"), AWS OpenSearch’s jump into real-time observability, and Anthropic’s groundbreaking research into model introspection. Plus, they dive into the "Drop" segment to discuss practical developer breakthroughs like Accordion for smart agent memory compaction, Cactus for ultra-fast micro-model function calling, Herder for terminal-based agent management, and Prefect's acquisition of Dagster Labs. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network.
#29
July 16 · 44 min
Inside Google’s OKF, Linux Appia, and Ornith 1.0 Self-Scaffolding Models | Agents of Dev Episode 29
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. Can autonomous AI agents finally be trusted to modify your enterprise code bases and databases without a human handholding them? In this episode of Agents of Dev, analysts Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin break down the explosive evolution of the agentic control plane. From the newly launched Linux Appia Foundation mapping out AI conformity to Google's Open Knowledge Format (OKF) operationalizing self-organizing LLM wikis, the core infrastructure for developer workflows is shifting fast. The duo also dives deep into the general availability of AWS's DevOps agent, Oracle's structural thesis on database-level security, and hands-on impressions of Ornith 1.0—the open-source, self-scaffolding model shaking up agentic coding. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network.
#28
July 9 · 34 min
Databricks LTAP Collapsing the Wall Between OLAP and OLTP | Agents of Dev Episode 28
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. AI agents are completely transforming how enterprise data moves, but running them shouldn't break your token budget. In this episode of Agents of Dev, practice leads Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin break down the massive infrastructure shifts coming out of Microsoft Build and Snowflake Summit. Discover how tools like Microsoft Fabric IQ, Project Rayfin, and Snowflake's "Coco" (Cortex Code) ecosystem are elevating metadata into actionable ontologies, shrinking token counts, and cutting operational costs. They also discuss Anthropic’s unsettling Claude 4.8 self-awareness disclosures, evaluates Google’s incredibly fast, encoder-free Gemma 4 12B local model, and extracts a crucial software design lesson from Blue Origin’s recent launchpad failure. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network.
#27
July 2 · 49 min
Agentic Reality Check: Multi-Cloud Data, Zero Trust Security, and the Death of ETL | Agents of Dev Episode 27
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. AI is moving faster than ever, but enterprise leaders are discovering a tough reality: deploying autonomous agents is not just about choosing the right model. It is about building the right control systems. In this episode of Agents of Dev, practice leads Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin reflect on a busy conference season covering Snowflake, Databricks, and AWS. They look beyond the keynote announcements to explore why companies are moving away from complex ETL pipelines and letting data stay where it already lives. They also discuss the rapid rise of the Model Context Protocol (MCP), how open source AI frameworks are becoming commercial products, and why Zero Trust security must evolve for AI agents that make unpredictable decisions. From managing AI costs with FinOps to deciding where enterprise data belongs, this episode offers practical insights for building secure, reliable, and people-focused AI environments. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network.
#26
June 18 · 41 min
Why Claude Opus 4.8 Changes Everything: Models as Platforms, AI Microgravity & Graphify | Agents of Dev Episode 26
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. Is your AI development stack quietly trapping you in a state of "microgravity" vendor lock-in? In this episode of Agents of Dev, hosts Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin break down why the latest wave of AI engines—headlined by Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.8—are evolving into fully integrated operational systems rather than standalone models. Brad reveals how he used Claude Code to blueprint a complex 2,800-line Python migration in just five turns, shifting the architecture from a simple lift-and-shift to an optimized, AI-forward upgrade. The duo also dives into Starburst’s decentralized "catalog of catalogs" approach to data gravity, Harness's savvy acquisition of CodeCov to eradicate verification debt at the point of origin, and a game-changing open-source tool called Graphify that spins up queryable context graphs for agentic workflows with a single terminal command. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network. #ClaudeOpus #Anthropic #AgenticAI #Graphify #DevSecOps #DataEngineering #AIPlatform #SoftwareArchitecture #AgentsOfDev
#25
June 11 · 1 hr
AI Agents Are Breaking the Stack: Fabric IQ, Snowflake Coco, & Gemma 4 | Agents of Dev Episode 25
Email your questions and topics to the podcast here. AI agents are completely transforming how enterprise data moves, but running them shouldn't break your token budget. In this episode of Agents of Dev, Mitch Ashley and Brad Shimmin break down the massive infrastructure shifts coming out of Microsoft Build and Snowflake Summit. Discover how tools like Microsoft Fabric IQ, Project Rayfin, and Snowflake's "Coco" (Cortex Code) ecosystem are elevating metadata into actionable ontologies, shrinking token counts, and cutting operational costs. They also discuss Anthropic’s unsettling Claude 4.8 self-awareness disclosures, evaluates Google’s incredibly fast, encoder-free Gemma 4 12B local model, and extracts a crucial software design lesson from Blue Origin’s recent launchpad failure. This and more on Agents of Dev, part of The Futurum Group Podcast Network. #AgentsofDev #AIAgents #GraphDatabases #DORAReport #AIFinOps #TokenEconomics #RedHatSummit #SAPSapphire #DevOps

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