The CNCF community is exploring a conformance program centered around AI workloads in the Kubernetes space. Announced in alpha form in June 2025 at both KubeCon + CloudNativeCon China and KubeCon + CloudNativeConJapan, this program is similar to the Kubernetes Conformance program. The genesis of the AI Conformance program stems from many of our end users asking, “what does X look like?” Since AI is a fast moving and innovative space, we anticipate this definition to evolve as more perspectives are shared and new technologies emerge.
In the last months, we’ve been working with our vendors, end users, and project community to create the first iteration of “Cloud Native AI Conformance.” The goal is for a definition to be finalized in early autumn in order to announce on-stage at KubeCon+CloudNativeCon NA 2025!
The Kubernetes project is working towards an AI-on-Kubernetes definition. These discussions are happening in SIG-Architecture and within a newly formed Working Group. The artifacts from this will bubble up into a broader “Cloud Native AI Conformance” definition that will encompass more domain areas (such as Telemetry, Storage, and Security).
Have ideas? Interested in contributing? There’s still plenty of time to get involved! Join the aforementioned groups and let’s help shape the future of AI Conformance in Cloud Native together.