AI/ML is not new in the business world. It has been used for some time, but Generative AI (GenAI) initiated a new disruptive force in recent years. Many businesses and technical processes are taking advantage of embedded GenAI capabilities. However, companies must put more effort into leveraging AI patterns and pre-formatted AI/ML solutions, which require AI-specialized engineering capacity, a skill that is scarce in today's market. Also, AI-powered apps have intricate complexities, such as setting up indexing pipelines to continually update RAG data, continuous processes for data preparation, model maintainability policies, and guardrails for generated AI outputs. Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) have been working with AI for over a decade, using AIOps tools to make sense of large amounts of observability data, making them acquainted with AI/ML. On the other hand, the AI/ML model and MLOps pipeline observability have many challenges and hurdles to overcome. Can SREs become future AI/ML or LLMOps engineers? Can they apply site reliability engineering principles and practices to AI/ML models? This session sheds some light on possible paths for this question since SREs can both use and support AI deployments, therefore, a duality in embracing AI.

Rod Anami is a seasoned engineer who works with cloud infrastructure and software engineering technologies. As one of the Site Reliability Engineers from the SRE@Kyndryl CoE, he coaches other SREs on running IT modernization, transformation, and automation projects for clients worldwide. Rod leads the global SRE guild inside Kyndryl, where he helps plant and grow SRE chapters in many countries. Rod is certified as an SRE, Technical Specialist, and DevOps Engineer professional at their ultimate levels. He holds AWS, HashiCorp, Azure, and Kubernetes certificates, among others. He is passionate about contributing to the open-source software at large with Node.js libraries. Rod is also author of the "Becoming a Rockstar SRE" book.

Gregory Pruett is Vice President and Distinguished Engineer at Kyndryl, leading innovations in infrastructure and cloud architecture. Previously, he served as Chief Architect at Lenovo’s Data Center Group, driving the launch of ThinkSystem servers and XClarity software while establishing the Systems Technology Innovation Center. With nearly two decades at IBM, Gregory led system software advancements and completed an international leadership assignment in China. He holds a Master’s in Computer Science from UNC Chapel Hill and a Bachelor’s in Mathematics and Computer Science from Furman University.