AI and the data lake (w/ Lauren Anderson)

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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