Where this was said
How Datadog Embraced AI Instead of Blocking It
At 2:55 · chapter starts 1:49
Joel de la Garza opens by asking Escobar to walk through how Datadog is thinking about AI risk and deployment. Escobar's answer is instantly disarming: there was never a serious debate about blocking AI tools — that ship had already sailed. Datadog started small, with just 50 Cursor licenses on a 'see who bites' basis, and adoption exploded organically [1] — Emilio Escobar "Blocking AI tools has never stopped employees from using them — it just drives adoption underground. Datadog handed out ChatGPT licenses to…" 02:43 . Today, over 4,000 engineers use coding agents and the company-wide AI adoption rate sits around 98%. On the non-engineering side, the approach was equally pragmatic: hand out ChatGPT licenses to everyone, configure zero data retention, and let people use it for whatever they want — including finding a recipe for pot roast. The contrast with the prevailing industry posture is stark: at RSA two years ago, Escobar was surrounded by CIOs asking him how he wasn't blocking these tools.
Datadog's AI coding journey began with just 50 Cursor licenses, deployed on a trial basis to see organic adoption before scaling to thousands of users.
Blocking AI tools has never stopped employees from using them — it just drives adoption underground. Datadog handed out ChatGPT licenses to everyone two years ago, with zero data retention, while most CIOs were still asking how to block it.
Rather than blocking ChatGPT, Datadog gave all employees access with zero data retention policies — a move Emilio said was still contrarian among CIOs two years ago.
Datadog has over 4,000 engineers actively using coding agents, with virtually every employee across the company using some form of AI.
