apidays Helsinki & North 2025 - APIs at Scale: Designing for Alignment, Trust, and Intelligence, Michael Jackson (Loihde)

APIs at Scale: Designing for Alignment, Trust, and Intelligence
Michael Jackson, Senior Architect at Loihde

apidays Helsinki & North 2025 - APIs for Innovation, Intelligence, and Impact
June 3 & 4, 2025

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Transcript

1. APIS AT SCALE Designing for Alignment, Trust, and Emergent Intelligence Michael Jackson
2. The Problem Emerges Minor change in API → major trust issue No system failure, but partners disengaged Lesson: technical correctness ≠ alignment
3. Rethinking APIs Not just interfaces — trust surfaces Every API reveals assumptions, not just data In complex systems, misalignment is systemic
4. Semantic Contracts Traditional APIs: fast, stateless, context-blind Alignment requires semantic intent, not just payloads Contracts that preserve why, not just what
5. Feedback Loops API metrics ≠ feedback Real feedback enables system evolution Designing APIs to observe and adapt over time
6. Trust at Scale Every API call is a promise In SLA-driven ecosystems, small inconsistencies echo Trust erodes through confusion, not just errors
7. Context Continuity Multi-step user journeys span fragmented endpoints Context lost = intent misunderstood APIs must carry forward meaningful state
8. Strategic API Design Patterns Semantic contracts over procedural endpoints Feedback-aware interfaces Context-preserving request chains Intent-aligned versioning strategies
9. From Utility to Intelligence Utility: scale, speed, integration Intelligence: memory, adaptability, alignment Designing for evolution, not just execution
10. Closing Insight We don’t scale trust through control. We scale it through coherence. APIs aren’t just systems talking — they are systems understanding.