Software Engineering Daily · Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Historically, databases focused on storing data and returning exact query results. However, the rise of AI is changing this paradigm, pushing databases towards territory that emphasizes relevance and ranking, similar to search engines, as applications increasingly expect structured and unstructured data to converge. Salish Krishna Murty, VP of Engineering at Google, highlights this shift, noting that AI agents are also beginning to write their own queries and propose schemas, raising new questions about data governance and trust.
“Historically, databases were responsible for storing data and returning exact results in response to queries. However, AI is now bending that contract in a new direction.”
“Applications increasingly expect structured and unstructured data to come together. This is pushing databases into territory that looks more like search, where relevance and ranking matter and results are no longer strictly exact.”
“Agents are also beginning to write their own queries and even propose their own schemas, which raises new questions about how data should be structured, governed, and trusted.”