Voice of the DBA

Tag: AI

Data Security and AI

I ran across an article on the best AI meeting assistants, which can help you with note-taking and summarization tasks. Most of these cost money, but there was something that struck me about these tools.

They aren’t allowed for a lot of my meetings.

At Redgate, I’m not sure if these are allowed. Our policy is to seek permission before using a tool, so I’ve sent a query off for more information. In many of my customer meetings or in Microsoft meetings, I’ve been told these tools aren’t allowed as there isn’t sufficient data security to allow their usage.

I think a lot of people are concerned about their data when these AI LLMs (large language models) are involved and if their data is being used to train future models. If it is, then that could be a security problem. Already many people and organizations are upset about their data sets being used for training without their knowledge. Not everyone agrees.

I don’t quite know how I feel about this issue, but I do think there ought to be guidelines and discussions about how data is used, and where data is stored (or where it transits a network). Certainly, organizations might need to set this in place to ensure their employees aren’t exposing confidential or internal data in ways that could increase their risk of a breach. After all, without any guidelines or rules, you may have no recourse if employees just use tools and data escapes your network.

At Redgate, we’ve begun experimenting with SQL Prompt and AI. As of now, we’ve had quite a few queries about how customer data is being used. Our EAP EULA notes that schema information will leave your network, but not data in rows. That might be a problem or might not, but it’s important to disclose that, which we’ve done.

I’d like to think that as hardware power increases and models become more mature, we’ll stop having to send data for many AI-related tasks away from a device that might perform a task. At some point, I hope your mobile phone or laptop can process the AI model without a network connection, which would be helpful for data security.

AI is here to stay, and we have to learn how to work with it, and where it works well. It feels a little like we haven’t really answered many of these questions as an industry or inside our organizations. That’s something that needs to change and quickly as the number of places AI is being used continues to rapidly increase.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

November 27, 2023
A SQL Prompt AI Experiment with Window Clauses

SQL Prompt has an EAP with some AI capabilities. I was asked to do some testing, and while I’ve done relatively little, I did find some time to play with this recently and decided to document what happened.

I completed this and then clicked the < back arrow to return through previous versions of the code, which also shows what the prompt was that produced this code.

This is part of a series of posts on SQL Prompt. You can see all my posts on SQL Prompt under that tag.

My Experiment

I wanted to write a windowing function to test something. Instead, I decided to ask SQL Prompt to do this for me. I connected to a database, hit ALT+Z, and then entered this prompt in the popup. You can see the code produced.

I only entered the prompt in the dialog. SQL Prompt wrote the highlighted code.

This wasn’t what I wanted, so I changed the prompt. You can see what I typed and what changed below.

Not bad, but not what I wanted. Next I asked to move this to the window clause. I got a window clause, but it wasn’t used in the OVER() clause.

Hmm, I tried again. Once I hit the play button, the AI does something and clears the prompt. That happened above, and this is the prompt I tried next:

It still didn’t work. Actually, it really didn’t work. I’m glad I have a back button.

Let me move on. I can fix that myself. Now I’ll change the column list.

That worked:

Can I add a second aggregate? I’ll try that.

That didn’t work. It changed my SUM to the COUNT I wanted. Interesting.

Thoughts

This is interesting in that it can help me structure queries, but knowing how to prompt them matters. I do like the back and forth, as I hit back above and then added to my prompt, which worked.

This doesn’t feel faster to me, but I’ve written a lot of SQL code. I could structure this stuff quickly and easily. In fact, I’d likely use a * in the column list and try to build the window clauses I need first, then go back and add aggregates. Normal SQL Prompt would help me, and I think it would be faster than the AI.

However, I also know the AI is new, and there are possibilities here, which might be easier than me playing with syntax and looking through suggestions, even with SQL Prompt.

I’ll keep playing and hopefully I’ll find this useful. Or at least useful enough that I can give good feedback to the team experimenting here.

November 22, 2023
Are You Worried About AI?

The AI revolution is happening. I don’t know how successful it will be, but regardless, people are trying to get AI into everything. That might be good or bad in various situations, but it has people worried about AI. This piece looks at a survey from the American Staffing Association that says 47% of people somewhat or strongly agree that their job is replaceable by automation with an AI. There is more data to dig into, but that’s a lot of people who worry about their jobs.

Most people do think that tech is generally a good thing. I do find that many of us in tech, and some other industries, are buried in work. There’s never a shortage and we could easily work 60, 70, or more hours a week and not complete everything. The flip side of that is a lot of work doesn’t necessarily need to be done now and could be delayed, so I think it’s hard to decide whether we need more help or more patience.

The various places I’ve seen AI used are often helping people get started or unblock their creativity struggles. Recently someone posted this link on some prompts a person had used to get moving. I found a few of these possibly helpful. Not writing, but maybe having an AI proof something, or even get me started in some new area. I worry about book summaries, or even text summaries, as I’m not always confident the AI understands which pieces I might find important. However, that’s also a danger with humans. I’ve seen no shortage of people asked to summarize something for others. When I understand the subject well, I sometimes disagree with another’s summary (or think it’s just plain wrong).

I don’t think AIs are a big danger to many people’s employment. I do think that as people learn to use AIs are assistants we might find that we grow or enhance staff less. We might also find that the 10x engineer knows how to engage 10 AIs to help them get things done, especially simple, busy work. The low performers will likely be those working in the same way in the future as they do today. That might not threaten your job, but it might mean lower bonuses and less opportunities in the future if you can’t adapt your skills to this new world.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

September 25, 2023
Finding Analogies with AI

I saw this article on using AI to help that included a few prompts. I decided to try one.

This is part of a series of experiments with the ChatGPT and other AI systems. Lots of Copilot lately.

The Prompt

Here’s what I wrote, since I was reading piece on cloud migration and writing an editorial:

I am currently learning about cloud migration. Convert the key lessons from this topic into engaging stories and metaphors to aid my memorization

The Response

1. The Cloud Island Adventure:

Imagine your business as a group of settlers on a remote island. They’ve been working with outdated tools and limited resources, making progress slow and inefficient. One day, they hear about a magical cloud island that’s full of modern technology, abundant resources, and a vibrant community.

The settlers decide to embark on a journey to this cloud island, symbolizing your migration to the cloud. As they arrive, they realize they can instantly access powerful tools, scalable resources, and connect with experts from various fields. Just like in cloud migration, your business gains flexibility and efficiency, leaving behind the struggles of managing on-premises infrastructure.

Key Lesson: Cloud migration is like moving to a new land of opportunity, where you can harness advanced tools and resources to grow your business.

2. The Cloud Highway Construction:

Think of your business as a growing city with a bustling population. However, the existing roads and bridges are becoming congested and outdated, hindering growth and causing delays. To expand and flourish, the city planners decide to build a futuristic cloud highway.

This cloud highway represents your migration to the cloud. Construction crews work tirelessly to build this highway, which is scalable, adaptable, and has lanes for various services. As businesses start using the highway, traffic flows smoothly, and they can easily scale up or down as needed. The old congested roads symbolize the limitations of on-premises systems, while the cloud highway signifies the ease of scalability and innovation in the cloud.

Key Lesson: Cloud migration is like building a high-speed highway that allows your business to easily adapt, grow, and efficiently navigate the digital landscape.

3. The Cloud Carnival:

Envision your business as a traditional carnival that’s been running for years. The carnival’s attractions are fixed in place, and changing or upgrading them is difficult and time-consuming. Visitors are getting bored, and the carnival is losing its charm.

Deciding to modernize, the carnival organizers pack up and move to a new location, which represents migrating to the cloud. In this new location, they can easily set up and tear down attractions, experiment with new games, and respond quickly to changing trends. The cloud becomes their dynamic playground, allowing them to create delightful experiences for visitors.

Key Lesson: Cloud migration is like relocating a carnival to a space where you can easily innovate and provide fresh, exciting experiences to your customers.

4. The Cloud Puzzle Factory:

Imagine your business as a puzzle factory, creating intricate puzzles with limited resources and machinery. You’re tasked with making bigger and more complex puzzles, but the factory’s machinery is old and cannot keep up with the demand.

To overcome this challenge, you decide to move the factory to a cloud-powered puzzle factory. Here, you have access to state-of-the-art machines that can quickly produce even the most complex puzzles. You can rent additional machines when needed and return them when the demand decreases. The cloud puzzle factory allows you to efficiently meet demand without being limited by physical constraints.

Key Lesson: Cloud migration is like upgrading your puzzle factory to a cloud-powered version, where you can easily scale resources to meet demand and improve production efficiency.

By associating these engaging stories and metaphors with the key lessons of cloud migration, you’ll find it easier to remember and apply these concepts in your learning journey.

Thoughts

I liked these analogies. They got me thinking about how to explain things to customers, though they are all positive and don’t represent the downsides. However, when I asked to alter this to show how this hinders progress, I got the result below.

Very interesting. Not sure if I think this is that helpful, but it was thought provoking.

1. The Stagnant Island Settlement:

Picture a group of settlers who refuse to leave their old, resource-scarce island. They struggle with outdated tools and limited resources, but they’re unwilling to explore the nearby cloud island that offers modern technology and abundant resources.

As time goes on, the settlers fall behind in their development. They can’t innovate or expand due to their lack of access to advanced tools and resources. The once-promising settlement becomes stagnant and isolated, symbolizing the limitations of staying on-premises instead of migrating to the cloud.

Key Lesson: Choosing not to migrate to the cloud can lead to stagnation and missed opportunities, as your business remains bound by outdated tools and restricted growth.

2. The Congested Road City:

Imagine a bustling city that stubbornly refuses to build a modern cloud highway. The existing roads and bridges are constantly congested, causing delays, frustration, and hampering the city’s growth.

As more businesses and people move in, the traffic situation worsens. Without the scalability and adaptability of a cloud highway, the city’s infrastructure can’t handle the increased demand. This congestion and lack of flexibility mirror the challenges of sticking with traditional on-premises systems.

Key Lesson: Failing to migrate to the cloud can result in congestion and inefficiency, preventing your business from scaling and responding effectively to changing demands.

3. The Stagnant Carnival Grounds:

Consider a carnival that’s stuck in its old location, unable to adapt to changing times. The attractions become outdated, and visitors start losing interest. Despite the need for innovation, the organizers resist moving to a cloud-enabled carnival.

As a result, the carnival fails to attract new visitors and struggles to create exciting experiences. The reluctance to embrace the cloud leads to a decline in customer satisfaction and revenue, as the competition adopts modern approaches.

Key Lesson: Not migrating to the cloud can result in a decline in customer engagement and revenue, as your business fails to adapt to changing market demands and deliver innovative experiences.

4. The Inefficient Puzzle Factory:

Visualize a puzzle factory that clings to its old machines and refuses to transition to a cloud-powered system. The factory can’t keep up with the demand for larger and more complex puzzles, leading to delays and frustrated customers.

Without the ability to scale resources on demand, the factory struggles to meet production goals. The reluctance to modernize impedes efficiency and profitability, as competitors who utilize cloud resources outpace them.

Key Lesson: Neglecting cloud migration can lead to production inefficiencies and missed business opportunities, as your organization struggles to scale and respond to market needs.

By exploring these scenarios that depict the hindrances of not moving to the cloud, you can gain a better understanding of the potential pitfalls and disadvantages of staying with traditional, on-premises systems.

August 31, 2023