The Spring AI Ecosystem in 2026: From Foundations to Agents @ Spring I/O 2026

This talk, presented by Mark Pollack, Christian Tzolov, and Dariusz Jędrzejczyk, explores the advancements in the Spring AI ecosystem as it relates to Java development in 2026. The speakers discuss how to effectively harness AI's capabilities beyond simple calls, focusing on agentic workflows that involve reasoning, planning multi-step tasks, and taking action. Key topics include Spring AI 2.0, the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and its security updates, and the innovative Advisor architecture that facilitates context orchestration within AI interactions. The session emphasizes the necessity for iterative processes in agent workflows and demonstrates how to create sophisticated AI-powered applications, including building MemGPT and Claude Code-like systems and ensuring effective client-to-agent communication through the Agent Client Protocol (ACP).