delphihq.com uses LLMs with Semantic layers like Cube/AtScale/dbt/Looker/Lightdash

It is kind of like an ORM. I find ORM's and semantic layers to be similar in many ways, except that semantic layers are meant for defining metrics too. These metrics describe aggregating data. Like summing order amounts to get revenue, or counting order_ids to get sales.

I wrote a series on semantic layers on my substack, hopefully it helps: https://davidsj.substack.com/p/semantic-superiority-part-1

I think ORMs have got some bad press because they were intended to be used bi-directionally: map data from the data source to business objects and back. With semantic layers, data is only mapped to metrics and rarely back - which makes things much simpler, IMO.