AI performance depends on far more than GPUs. In this talk, Vinay Sherkar explores the platform beneath AI: compute, memory, storage, networking, observability and automation working as one resilient system. Drawing on 15+ years of infrastructure experience, he shows how telemetry, IaC and policy-driven control loops can detect degradation, contain failures and enable safe recovery. The talk examines the progression from monitoring and scripted automation toward bounded autonomous operations—where infrastructure can act at machine speed while remaining observable, reversible, auditable and under human control.