# Crossing the Divide: Co-Evolving Kubernetes and Ray for the AI Era

PyTorch Conference North America 2026 · [All sessions](https://sessionize.com/api/v2/s2rq62nk/view/markdown)

- **Session ID:** 1256376
- **When:** Tuesday, October 20, 2026 2:50 pm - 3:15 pm (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08)
- **Room:** 210B (Concourse Level)
- **Speakers:** Jago Macleod, Ion Stoica

## Description

The AI workload orchestration landscape is currently split across two massive, parallel universes: the CNCF (the bedrock of cloud native and modern infrastructure) and the PyTorch Foundation (the epicenter of AI/ML innovation). While these foundations operate independently, the end user does not have the luxury of choosing just one. PyTorch Foundation contains PyTorch, vLLM, Ray, and more, while CNCF owns Kubernetes, Envoy, OpenTelemetry, llm-d, containerd and more. To build, deploy, and scale modern AI applications, users require a seamless integration of projects from both ecosystems.
In this session, Jago Macleod (Google) and Ion Stoica (Anyscale / Databricks / UC Berkeley) will explore the critical bridge connecting these communities: the co-evolution of Kubernetes and Ray into a unified OSS AI Stack. We will discuss how Google and Anyscale, together with the broader community, are actively collaborating to build an open, vertically integrated stack that prevents ecosystem fragmentation.

## Speakers

- [Jago Macleod](https://sessionize.com/api/v2/s2rq62nk/view/markdown/speaker/3ffe5bd3-7b9f-4c6b-b521-9078861c11f5) — Engineering Director, Kubernetes & GKE, Google
- [Ion Stoica](https://sessionize.com/api/v2/s2rq62nk/view/markdown/speaker/982d43d5-7e56-48e9-95b0-220abf8d3e03) — Anyscale / UC Berkeley