Agent-Native Infrastructure Emerges: Database Design for a Non-Human World

AI agents have become the primary consumer of database infrastructure at scale—80% of new databases at Databricks are now created by agents—forcing a fundamental redesign of systems optimized for humans over four decades. This week's coordinated announcements from six major database vendors reveal an industry-wide consensus: every architectural principle, from isolation mechanisms to retention windows, must be rethought for non-human consumption. The impact cascades across the entire data stack, reshaping everything from billing models to command-line interfaces.