Data practitioners are feeling pressure around the realities and real-life considerations of building out a data stack that can handle the next generation of data problems in addition to today's data challenges. Considerations like minimizing complexity and cost while focusing on scalability and performance are at the forefront of the data world right now, and how this works in a world where LLMs and deep learning are becoming table stakes is paramount. There are questions about data management at this scale, as well as how to fold in legacy infrastructure and architectures. We'll discuss the modern AI data stack in this talk, delving into the realities of building the data ecosystem of the future.