Conversation about Autonomous PostgreSQL: Peter Zaitsev

I recently sat down with the legendary Peter Zaitsev — co-founder of Percona and a true open-source icon — to dive into the future of autonomous PostgreSQL. Peter's been hitting the conference circuit lately, from Build DevCon 2026 asking "Are we ready for self-driving databases?" to FOSSASIA talking AI DBAs.

Watch the full interview above — here are a few of my notes and key takeaways.

We started with a discussion of where the big opportunities are, in design, in tuning, or in operations. Peter had a very interesting perspective, pointing out that it all depends on the team, and where AI can complement the team's skills.

When we discussed the dilemma that DevOps teams are facing, where more and more teams are not supported by skilled DBAs anymore, Peter pointed out that while AI is not perfect, it may be better than nothing — and that an AI that complements the team is much better than no database knowledge at all. This does not mean that DBAs have become obsolete, but that AI makes many of them stronger.

We also compared the roadmap to autonomous databases with the long roadmap towards autonomous vehicles. As early as 2010, there was an expectation that autonomous cars were just around the corner and that very soon, everybody would be driving autonomously. But in reality it took quite a while before we saw the first highly successful deployments.

Another, very interesting topic are the systems that deploy AI to make the use of the database easier, for example systems that allow non-technical analysts to interact with the data. Peter positioned that as an ongoing evolution, just like SQL (initially Structured English Query Language, or SEQUEL) allowed more people to work with a database than ISAM or VSAM. This then progressed to 4GL (Fourth-Generation Programming Language), dashboards, and no/low-code tools. In Peter's mind, AI-enabled tools like Percona's OSADA (Open Source AI Database Agent) are just the next logical step to make it easier to work with data.

This was a fascinating conversation. Listen to the video to get all the nuances and details.

This was the fourth in a series of interviews about Autonomous PostgreSQL. The earlier interviews are with Luigi Nardi, CEO and founder of DBtune; Bruce Momjian, VP, Postgres Evangelist at EDB; and Magnus Hagander, Principal Database Consultant at Redpill Linpro and President of PostgreSQL Europe.

If you have any feedback, questions, or suggestions for future interviews, please contact us at autonomouspostgresql@dbtune.com.