nsDB: Architecting the Next Generation Database by Integrating Neural and Symbolic Systems

In this paper, we propose nsDB, a novel neuro-symbolic database system that integrates neural and symbolic system architectures natively to address the weaknesses of each, providing a strong database capable of data managing, model learning, and complex analytical query processing over multi-modal data. We employ a real-world NBA data analytical query as an example to illustrate the functionality of each component in nsDB and highlight the research challenges to build it. We then present the key design principles and our preliminary attempts to address them. In a nutshell, we envision that the next generation database system nsDB integrates the complex neural system with the simple symbolic system. Undoubtedly, nsDB will serve as a bridge between databases with AI models, which abstracts away the AI complexities but allows end users to enjoy the strong capabilities of them. We are in the early stages of the journey to build nsDB, there are many opening challenges, e.g., in-database model training, multi-objective query optimization, and database agent development. We hope the researchers from different communities (e.g., system, architecture, database, artificial intelligence) could tackle them together.