--- title: The AI boom runs on something a lot less glamorous than... description: Bryan Liles, Senior Principal Engineer at Amazon, argues that the real bottleneck behind the AI boom isn't algorithms — it's power infrastructure and data... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-boom-runs-on-something-a-lot-less-glamorous-than-algorithms-vatqhgl35 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The AI boom runs on something a lot less glamorous than algorithms | daily.dev og:description: Bryan Liles, Senior Principal Engineer at Amazon, argues that the real bottleneck behind the AI boom isn't algorithms — it's power infrastructure and data... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-boom-runs-on-something-a-lot-less-glamorous-than-algorithms-vatqhgl35 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/VATqhgl35.png og:image:alt: The AI boom runs on something a lot less glamorous than algorithms og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The AI boom runs on something a lot less glamorous than algorithms **[All Things Open](https://daily.dev/sources/allthingsopen)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Bryan Liles, Senior Principal Engineer at Amazon, argues that the real bottleneck behind the AI boom isn't algorithms — it's power infrastructure and data tooling. He contends AI has eliminated the barrier to entry for building software, urging developers to just start building with any AI tool. He highlights the U.S. power grid as an overlooked dependency of AI data centers, and points to data infrastructure — particularly Apache Iceberg and moves like Databricks acquiring a Postgres-compatible database — as quietly undergoing a transformation as significant as AI itself. Apache Iceberg is explained as bringing catalog-style indexing to massive datasets, making it critical infrastructure for big data at scale. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is Apache Iceberg and why is it important for big data? Apache Iceberg is an open table format designed to organize and query massive datasets efficiently. It works like a library catalog system that tells you exactly where to find information instead of manually searching shelves, letting companies work with big data at scale. It is increasingly viewed as critical infrastructure for modern data storage and querying. _daily.dev helps engineers evaluating table formats like apache iceberg keep up with data infrastructure shifts._ ### What is the biggest bottleneck limiting the growth of AI right now? Electrical power infrastructure, not algorithms, is described as the main bottleneck limiting AI growth. GPUs and data centers require enormous amounts of electricity, and the power grid supporting them is both fragile and resilient, yet insufficiently planned for AI's rapidly growing energy demand. _engineers weighing AI infrastructure trade-offs can track power and hardware constraints on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Inside the infrastructure strategies propelling AI leaders](https://daily.dev/posts/inside-the-infrastructure-strategies-propelling-ai-leaders-aiwohyrxc) · databricks · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The AI Competition Is Now a High-Stakes Construction Race](https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-competition-is-now-a-high-stakes-construction-race-dmlpsuqm4) · The New Stack · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [A better way of thinking about the AI bubble](https://daily.dev/posts/a-better-way-of-thinking-about-the-ai-bubble-grgnxshio) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#open-source](https://daily.dev/tags/open-source), [#big-data](https://daily.dev/tags/big-data), [#apache-iceberg](https://daily.dev/tags/apache-iceberg) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-boom-runs-on-something-a-lot-less-glamorous-than-algorithms-vatqhgl35) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The AI boom runs on something a lot less glamorous than algorithms","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-boom-runs-on-something-a-lot-less-glamorous-than-algorithms-vatqhgl35","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-boom-runs-on-something-a-lot-less-glamorous-than-algorithms-vatqhgl35"},"datePublished":"2026-07-30T06:52:53.303Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T08:22:12.305Z","description":"Bryan Liles, Senior Principal Engineer at Amazon, argues that the real bottleneck behind the AI boom isn't algorithms — it's power infrastructure and data...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/e9fc56e6746a8bb14b478259ee6a519a?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/e9fc56e6746a8bb14b478259ee6a519a?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"All Things Open","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"All Things Open","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--dgFP6zAp--/f_auto/v1720885901/logos/allthingsopen","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/allthingsopen"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-boom-runs-on-something-a-lot-less-glamorous-than-algorithms-vatqhgl35","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai,open-source,big-data,apache-iceberg","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"All Things Open","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/allthingsopen"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The AI boom runs on something a lot less glamorous than algorithms"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-ai-boom-runs-on-something-a-lot-less-glamorous-than-algorithms-vatqhgl35#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is Apache Iceberg and why is it important for big data?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Apache Iceberg is an open table format designed to organize and query massive datasets efficiently. 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