MongoDB talks up its AI chops by talking down PostgreSQL

At the risk of protesting too much in the shifting database landscape, NoSQL-based MongoDB has attempted to trash the competition by claiming PostgreSQL systems lack scalability to keep up with the demands of AI workloads.

CEO Chirantan Desai took the opportunity of largely positive earnings results for the quarter ended Oct. 31 to make a couple of pointed remarks about the open source PostgreSQL database, which has climbed to the top in developer rankings in recent years.

Speaking to investment analysts, he said that while MongoDB had all the elements needed to be the right foundational platform for AI workloads, it was too early to say what might be the platform of choice.

However, he said MongoDB had been winning work from AI-native companies, citing a customer that recently "switched from PostgreSQL to MongoDB because PostgreSQL could not just scale."

MongoDB enjoyed a 23% spike in its share price on ...