What K8s Users Really Think About AI in 2025

I’ve spent four springs in a row staring at giant spreadsheets of research data and combing through hours of practitioner interviews as I prepare for our annual “State of Production Kubernetes” report.

Each year comes with a signature surprise: In 2022, it was the depth of the skills gap; in 2023, the felt pain of DevEx; and last year, the impact of risk and volatility in the cloud native landscape.

2025’s unmistakable headline is AI. Not hype‑cycle speculation, but real workloads, real budgets and — crucially — real operational…