OpenTelemetry Graduation Sets Stage for AI Observability

Mike Vizard talks with Chris Aniszczyk of the CNCF about OpenTelemetry’s graduation and the project’s evolution from OpenTracing and OpenCensus into a widely adopted observability standard. Aniszczyk explains why OTel is becoming foundational for tracing applications, modernizing legacy monitoring environments and helping teams manage the growing volume of telemetry data. The conversation also explores why AI agents, token usage and emerging agentic workloads will require stronger instrumentation, traceability and open standards.