The Pulsar Virtual Summit North America 2021, featuring Kiran Matty from Aerospike, discussed the challenges and needs for AI/ML applications, including the necessity for hybrid storage and memory-like access at scale. Aerospike was highlighted as a solution for optimizing data processing, enabling faster training times and reducing operational complexities in data infrastructure. The presentation also emphasized the integration of Aerospike with Spark and Pulsar to enhance real-time data processing and machine learning efforts.