Tim Lortz

Agents have promised a lot lately, but most people just have a job they want done and don't want to spend time on endless science experiments. Teams stall on integration, struggle with scale, and wrestle with how to deliver agents to users safely and reliably inside a real application. This intro session shows how to build and scale agentic apps end-to-end on Databricks. You'll see how Agent Bricks lets you create managed, production-ready agents; how Databricks Apps delivers them to users with governance and observability built in; and how Lakebase powers the transactional backend so your app can act — not just answer. You'll walk away with a clear blueprint for turning your first agent into a production app your whole company can use, and the confidence to move from prototype to scaled deployment without rebuilding your stack.

AI is shifting from single models to multi-agent systems, and governance must evolve with it. Traditional approaches break down when agents dynamically access data, tools, APIs and multiple AI models across platforms. In this session, Databricks and Thoughtworks introduce a unified approach to AI governance built on a data-centric foundation. Learn how to extend governance from data to models, agents and tools using Unity Catalog, consistent identity-based controls and end-to-end observability. We’ll explore where AI governance is headed, including multi-AI governance with Unity AI Gateway, open and interoperable controls across frameworks and real-time monitoring to detect risk and manage cost. Thoughtworks will share architectural principles for building governed agentic systems at scale. Walk away with a clear path to move fast with AI without losing control.