
AI and the data lake (w/ Lauren Anderson)
From The Analytics Engineering Podcast by dbt Labs, Inc.
January 11, 2026 · 54 min
About this episode
Tristan talks with Lauren Anderson about the intersection of AI, data lakes, and governance in analytics.
Tristan talks with Lauren Anderson, Senior Director for Okta's Enterprise Data Platform. Lauren shares how identity sits at the center of two seismic shifts in data—AI agents and the open data lake—and why central governance and a shared semantic layer are critical. Lauren lays out how analytics engineers and data engineers should divide responsibilities as agents begin to write a growing share of analytical queries. For full show notes and to read 6+ years of back issues of the podcast's companion newsletter, head to https://roundup.getdbt.com . The Analytics Engineering Podcast is sponsored by dbt Labs.
People in this episode
Host: Tristan
Guest: Lauren Anderson
Topics covered
- AI
- data lake
- identity governance
- analytics engineering
- data engineering
Keywords
- AI agents
- open data lake
- central governance
- semantic layer
- analytical queries
Sponsors
dbt Labs
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Okta
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