The Gilbane Advisor

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Sigma launches semantic layer integration and AI SQL capabilities on Snowflake

June 4, 2025 /

Sigma, an analytics platform, today announced two major platform innovations in partnership with Snowflake: an integration with Snowflake Semantic Views (private preview) and support for AI SQL, Snowflake’s feature for querying unstructured data. Together, these advances enable governed semantic exploration and file-based AI-powered analysis directly in Sigma’s spreadsheet-like interface. Structured metrics and raw human context—contracts, images, PDFs, and text—are queryable side-by-side in a single governed system.

Sigma also supports Snowflake AI SQL, a new capability that lets users query unstructured data as if it lived in a table. This news follows Sigma’s recent launch of its File Column Type feature, allowing end users to connect unstructured content with structured data, making complex workflows executable inside Sigma.

Teams can upload files with Sigma, run them through Snowflake’s LLM-based functions, and analyze the structured results alongside traditional datasets—no pipelines and no special tools required. Snowflake’s AI SQL functions analyze the content using LLMs, and Sigma picks up the structured output and renders it live in dashboards or workflows.

Joint customers can start using the semantic layer integration immediately through their existing Snowflake and Sigma environments as well as the full support for Cortex AISQL.

https://www.sigmacomputing.com/resources/announcements/sigma-launches-native-semantic-layer-integration-and-ai-sql-capabilities-on-snowflake-ai-data-cloud

Contentstack unveils Contentstack Data and Insights

June 4, 2025 /

Contentstack, a headless CMS and digital experience vendor, announced they have completed the integration of Lytics technology after acquiring the company in January. Contentstack Data and Insights, is a native set of capabilities for audience analytics and real-time data activation, along with omnichannel campaign orchestration capabilities, now integrated into Contentstack EDGE, its integrated adaptive digital experience platform (DXP).

As of today the digital experience platform, Contentstack EDGE includes:

  • Contentstack Data & Insights: A set of real-time intelligence capabilities connecting content and customer behavior, including:
    • Audience Insights App: Understand what content drives engagement and business outcomes, support targeted campaigns and ground personalization in data-driven insights. With visual maps, audience building, and opportunity insights, brands can learn what their audiences care most about in real time. Available at no additional cost to Contentstack customers.
    • Real-Time Data Activation: Deliver personalized experiences instantly with seamless access to over 200 data connectors and native integration with existing data warehouses, activated in real time as customers interact.
  • Campaign orchestration:
    • Flows: The ability to activate omnichannel personalization at scale through adaptive customer journeys that guide individuals seamlessly across web, mobile, email, ads, SMS, and other channels, maximizing engagement and conversions.

https://www.contentstack.com

Gilbane Advisor 6-4-25 — Knowledge metagraphs, hello GEO

June 4, 2025 /

This week we feature articles from Seema Amble & Zach Cohen, and Volodymyr Pavlyshyn.

Additional reading comes from Jon Udell, Cai Parry-Jones, Thomas H. Davenport, Roger W. Hoerl & Thomas C. Redman, and Steve Jones.

News comes from LandingAI, MindsDB, Aprimo, and dbt Labs.

Our next issue arrives June 11.

All previous issues are available at https://gilbane.com/gilbane-advisor-index

Opinion / Analysis

The evolving landscape of knowledge graphs: A journey towards smarter AI memory

Volodymyr Pavlyshyn takes you on an engaging tour of graph models, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of each along the way. He then postulates a “practical solution” that would combine various features to manage the complexities of Graph of Graphs (GoG) / metagraphs. (18 min)

https://ai.plainenglish.io/the-evolving-landscape-of-knowledge-graphs-a-journey-towards-smarter-ai-memory-7e24e45a5fba

That LLMs are an ineludible threat to search in general is not news, but Seema Amble & Zach Cohen dig into what it means specifically for SEO vendors and for marketers. As VCs they are naturally looking at the new generation GEO replacements —  there are more than you might think — and for “monopolistic potential”. (6 min)

https://a16z.com/geo-over-seo

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LandingAI upgrades Agentic Document Extraction for complex documents

Agentic document extraction captures different form fields, tables, checkboxes, and provides accurate descriptions for these elements based on their visual layout.
https://landing.ai/agentic-document-extraction

MindsDB launches open-source AI interface for databases and documents

Enables natural language conversations with enterprise datasets—unifying structured databases and unstructured knowledge with intelligent agentic orchestration.
https://mindsdb.com/newsroom/chat-with-your-data-mindsdb-launches-open-source-ai-interface-for-databases-and-documents

Aprimo launches AI agents to transform content operations

Aprimo enables digital marketing, digital asset management, and content operations teams to accelerate planning, production, and content transformation.
https://www.aprimo.com

dbt Labs unveils new Fusion engine

Fusion now powers the entire dbt platform, from the CLI, to dbt Orchestrator, Catalog, Studio, introduces SQL comprehension, and many other capabilities.
https://www.getdbt.com/blog/dbt-labs-redefines-dbt-with-new-fusion-engine

All content technology news

The Gilbane Advisor is authored by Frank Gilbane and is ad-free, cost-free, and curated for content, computing, data, web, and digital experience technology and information professionals. We publish recommended articles and content technology news most Wednesdays. We do not sell or share personal data.

Subscribe | View online | Editorial policy | Privacy policy | Contact

MindsDB launches open-source AI interface for databases and documents

May 30, 2025 /

MindsDB, an open-source enterprise AI platform, released their AI chat interface in MindsDB Open Source. This platform enables users to interact with their connected databases and knowledge bases using natural language, merging semantic understanding and SQL querying in a single unified experience.

Drawing inspiration from MindsDB’s enterprise product line, the chat interface brings the advanced conversational capabilities of intelligent agents directly into the open source offering, allowing developers, data scientists, and business users alike to “talk to their data” with no-code simplicity.

The MindsDB conversational interface powered by its AI Agent technology automatically interprets user queries and orchestrates the right mix of SQL and semantic operations behind the scenes. For example, a user can ask: “What are the common themes in support tickets about feature X, and how does that correlate with user engagement metrics?” MindsDB intelligently splits this into:

  • A semantic query to extract themes from support tickets.
  • A parametric SQL query to retrieve structured usage data.
  • A unified response, delivered conversationally in the UI.

The new Chat UI is now available in beta within the latest release of MindsDB Open Source. Detailed setup instructions are available in the MindsDB documentation.

https://mindsdb.com/newsroom/chat-with-your-data-mindsdb-launches-open-source-ai-interface-for-databases-and-documents

Aprimo launches AI agents to transform content operations

May 28, 2025 /

Aprimo, a provider of digital asset management and content operations software, announced the launch of new enterprise-grade AI Agents, designed to automate and optimize manual tasks and decisions across content operations. Functionality spans planning, metadata, quality control, brand compliance, content production, and transformation.

Aprimo AI Agents are purpose-built digital workers embedded directly into the platform. They reduce manual work, ensure governance, and power large-scale content transformation across formats, languages, and markets. The agents span five specialized categories:

  • Planning agents include the Campaign Brief Agent and the Content Brief Agent which use AI to generate strategic campaign and content briefs based on organizational goals.
  • Librarian agents automate content typing, taxonomy application, metadata creation, and enrichment.
  • Critic agents evaluate tone, clarity, and sentiment to support editorial optimization.
  • Compliance agents perform brand and regulatory checks on creative assets.
  • Production agents transform rich media and text, streamlining content creation, renditioning, and localization.

Aprimo’s agents are integrated across the platform, enabling fluid, automated progression workflow. Agent are designed to work both independently and in concert with others, dynamically adjusting based on context, business logic, and real-time usage data. The result is a self-optimizing system that adapts to enterprise workflows and scales with content demand.

https://www.aprimo.com

LandingAI upgrades Agentic Document Extraction for complex documents

May 28, 2025 /

LandingAI, a creator of agentic vision technologies, announced major upgrades to Agentic Document Extraction (ADE). Unlike traditional optical character recognition (OCR), ADE sees a PDF or other document visually, and uses an iterative workflow to accurately extract a document’s text, diagrams, charts, form fields, to produce an LLM-ready output. Agentic Document Extraction (ADE) goes beyond traditional OCR and fine-tuned LLMs by utilizing layout-aware parsing, visual grounding, and no-template setup, allowing for quick deployment and dependable outcomes without the need for fine-tuning or model training. ADE updates include:

  • ADE now delivers faster processing than the initial release. Users can now process hundreds to thousands of pages per minute.
  • ADE parses structured forms and dynamic layouts for classification and extraction, and now delivers higher accuracy when extracting data from complex tables and multi-column layouts for reliable results even with challenging formats.
  • Visual Grounding links outputs to exact document locations (page, region, coordinates) for traceability, validation, and compliance. ADE now offers zero-data retention for enterprise customers.
  • Whether for research or large-scale production, ADE streamlines complex document processing, reducing manual review and saving costs

ADE is now available through self-serve and enterprise plans. For enterprise customers, tailored pricing and customized request limits are available.

https://landing.ai/agentic-document-extraction

dbt Labs unveils new Fusion engine

May 28, 2025 /

dbt Labs unveiled the new dbt Fusion engine, built on Rust and equipped with native SQL comprehension, introduces a faster developer experience that delivers productivity, data velocity, and platform intelligence to drive cost savings. dbt Labs also launched its VS Code extension, unlocking access to Fusion for local developers, and is introducing a free, source-available version of the Fusion engine with a subset of features. The dbt Fusion engine now powers the entire dbt platform, from the CLI, to dbt Orchestrator, Catalog, Studio, and other dbt products, and introduces SQL comprehension and many other capabilities. 

Fusion is now available for eligible dbt projects on Snowflake, with support for Databricks, BigQuery, and Redshift coming soon. dbt Labs is also introducing its VS Code extension to access the the Fusion engine while developing locally.

In conjunction with the rollout of the Fusion engine, VS Code extension and dbt MCP server, dbt Labs launched features designed to bring data analysts into the dbt workflow, including:

  • dbt Canvas, a visual editing experience enabling analysts less familiar with dbt or SQL to create new and edit existing dbt models.
  • dbt Insights, an AI-powered query interface that allows asking questions about their data models in SQL or natural language.

https://www.getdbt.com/blog/dbt-labs-redefines-dbt-with-new-fusion-engine

Gilbane Advisor 5-21-25 — AI user penalty, AI energy math

May 21, 2025 /

This week we feature articles from Jessica A. Reif, Richard P. Larrick, & Jack B. Soll, and James O’Donnell & Casey Crownhart.

Additional reading comes from Ksenia Se, Pavel Samsonov, and Cobus Greyling.

News comes from Perplexity & PayPal, Foxit, Databricks & Neon, and Box.

Our next issue arrives June 4.

All previous issues are available at https://gilbane.com/gilbane-advisor-index

Opinion / Analysis

Evidence of a social evaluation penalty for using AI

“Through four experiments with over 4,400 participants, we reveal a social penalty for AI use: Individuals who use AI tools face negative judgments about their competence and motivation from others. These judgments manifest as both anticipated and actual social penalties, creating a paradox where productivity-enhancing AI tools can simultaneously improve performance and damage one’s professional reputation.”

Surprise – not surprise, but now we have good data thanks to Jessica A. Reif, Richard P. Larrick, & Jack B. Soll. (28 min)

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2426766122

We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard.

“… new analysis by MIT Technology Review provides an unprecedented and comprehensive look at how much energy the AI industry uses—down to a single query—to trace where its carbon footprint stands now, and where it’s headed, as AI barrels towards billions of daily users.”

This deep dive by James O’Donnell & Casey Crownhart is likely the most thorough and current you will find. (23 min)

https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech

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Content technology news

Perplexity and PayPal partner

Consumers can check out instantly with PayPal or Venmo when they ask Perplexity to find products, book travel, or buy tickets.
https://www.perplexity.ai/shopping ■ https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2025-05-14-Perplexity-Selects-PayPal-to-Power-Agentic-Commerce

Foxit launches enterprise Smart Redact Server

Enhances redaction technology with batch document processing, scheduled compliance scans, multi-cloud integration, and team collaboration tools.
https://foxit.com/en/

Databricks to acquire Neon

Databricks and Neon will remove the traditional limitations of databases that require compute and storage to scale in tandem.
https://www.databricks.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/databricks-agrees-acquire-neon-help-developers-deliver-ai-systems ■ https://neon.tech

Box announces AI Platform to bring AI agents to enterprise content

Customers will be able to leverage AI agents for Search, Deep Research, and enhanced data extraction to get more value from content in Box.
https://blog.box.com/content-ai-virtual-summit-may-2025

All content technology news

The Gilbane Advisor is authored by Frank Gilbane and is ad-free, cost-free, and curated for content, computing, data, web, and digital experience technology and information professionals. We publish recommended articles and content technology news most Wednesdays. We do not sell or share personal data.

Subscribe | View online | Editorial policy | Privacy policy | Contact

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