Local bulk operators in AdS/CFT and the fate of the BTZ singularity

This paper has two parts. First we review the description of local bulk operators in Lorentzian AdS in terms of non-local operators in the boundary CFT. We discuss how bulk locality arises in pure AdS backgrounds and how it is modified at finite N. Next we present some new results on BTZ black holes: local operators can be defined inside the horizon of a finite N BTZ black hole, in a way that suggests the BTZ geometry describes an average over black hole microstates, but with finite N effects resolving the singularity.