In 2009, Alexey Milovidov set out to create ClickHouse, a database designed to handle real-time analytics at speeds unmatched by existing systems. Unlike platforms such as Snowflake, BigQuery, and Redshift, which struggle with real-time data needs, ClickHouse excels at running complex analytical queries with latency in milliseconds. This capability allows businesses to utilize data in ways that were previously too cumbersome or impossible, opening doors to new applications. The AI industry has increasingly adopted ClickHouse due to its ability to manage vast amounts of data efficiently. For example, it supports feature stores and MLOps observability, accommodating the high volume of telemetry data generated during model training and inference. Companies like Weights & Biases and Braintrust rely on ClickHouse for real-time querying, making it a strong player in data-intensive AI workloads. The database also handles vector search effectively, even with large embedding datasets, thanks to its foundational design principles focused on compression and query optimization. User experience is another area where ClickHouse stands out. Setting up the database is straightforward, requiring minimal configuration compared to other analytical databases that often involve complex setups. Alexey's hands-on experience as a regular user drives continuous improvement in the system, ensuring that features feel intuitive and that users can get started quickly. The development team invested two years building a native query analyzer that enhances performance and supports advanced SQL features, making ClickHouse competitive with established players like Oracle and Snowflake in data warehousing. Alexey remains deeply involved in ClickHouse's evolution, motivated by the clarity of problem-solving rather than traditional project management. This passion has kept ClickHouse relevant and powerful, enabling it to handle petabytes of data daily and adapt to unforeseen use cases. The combination of speed, user-friendly architecture, and Alexey's commitment positions ClickHouse as a leading choice for organizations looking to leverage data more effectively.