What Fivetran + dbt Labs brought to Databricks Data + AI Summit (and what you can take home)

At the 2026 Databricks Data + AI Summit, the newly merged Fivetran and dbt Labs showcased their commitment to building an Open Data Infrastructure for the evolving agentic era, emphasizing the need for reliable, governed, and contextual data to support AI-driven processes. Key presentations included insights from George Fraser and Tristan Handy on how AI is reshaping data infrastructures, and Mars Dauer's discussion of the "BI why" problem, highlighting the importance of underlying business logic for accurate data interpretation. The event also featured Jon McManus's case study on how Inova Health rapidly modernized its data strategy using Fivetran, dbt, and Databricks, achieving substantial cost reductions and enhanced data governance. Additionally, exciting new developments were unveiled, such as the dbt Wizard, an AI agent designed for analytics engineering, and the first alpha release of dbt Core v2.0, which promises significant improvements in performance and integration capabilities, further cementing dbt's role in driving innovation within the data community.