What’s New in Oracle AI Database 26ai? A Simple Guide

Oracle just launched Oracle AI Database 26ai in October 2025, and it’s a game-changer. Think of it as your database getting superpowers for the AI era. Let me break down what’s new in plain English.

What Is Oracle AI Database 26ai?

Oracle AI Database 26ai replaces Oracle Database 23ai. It’s not just a regular update—it’s Oracle’s vision of putting AI right into the heart of your database. Instead of moving data around to use AI, everything happens where your data already lives.

The Big Idea: Keep your data secure, make AI work faster, and don’t break what already works.

Easy Upgrade, No Headaches

Good news! If you’re running Oracle Database 23ai, upgrading is simple:

• Just apply the October 2025 update
• No major upgrade needed
• Your apps keep working as-is
• No recertification required

For on-premises users: Oracle AI Database 26ai for Linux will be available in January 2026. It’s coming to all major cloud platforms too—Oracle Cloud, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

Top 5 Game-Changing Features

1. AI Vector Search: Find Things by Meaning, Not Just Keywords

Imagine searching for “happy customer” and finding reviews that say “satisfied buyer” or “delighted shopper”—even though they don’t use your exact words. That’s vector search.

What you can do:

• Search documents, images, videos, and audio by what they mean
• Combine regular database searches with AI-powered semantic search
• Build smart recommendation systems
• Power chatbots with your own data (RAG – Retrieval Augmented Generation)

Best part: Vector search is included at no extra cost!

2. Autonomous AI Lakehouse: Analyze All Your Data

Your data might be sitting in data lakes (like S3 buckets or Azure storage). Now you can run AI and analytics directly on that data without moving it.

Key benefits:

• Works with Apache Iceberg format (the industry standard)
• Runs on all major clouds
• Works with Databricks and Snowflake
• Pay only for what you use (serverless)
• Get Exadata-level performance

3. Build AI Agents Right in the Database

AI agents are like smart assistants that can do tasks for you. Oracle 26ai lets you build these agents securely inside the database.

New capabilities:

• Select AI Agent: Create AI agents that use pre-built or custom tools
• AI Private Agent Factory: Build agents with drag-and-drop (no coding needed)
• Model Context Protocol (MCP): Let AI safely access your database and ask for more data when needed

Security first: Agents follow your database security rules—row-level, column-level, you name it.

4. Quantum-Ready Security

Your data is protected against future quantum computer attacks using new NIST-approved algorithms (ML-KEM). This protects both:

• Data at rest (stored data)
• Data in motion (data being transferred)

5. True Cache: Speed Without Compromise

True Cache is like having a high-speed lane for your most-used data.

How it works:

• Transparent to your application (no code changes)
• Always consistent with your database
• Supports all types of queries (SQL, JSON, Vector, Spatial, Graph)
• Reduces latency dramatically

For Developers: Life Just Got Easier

Unified Data Model

Access the same data as:

• SQL tables
• JSON documents
• Graph relationships

No more converting between formats!

SQL BOOLEAN Data Type

Finally! You can now use TRUE/FALSE directly in your database columns. No more storing “Y” and “N” or 1 and 0.

JavaScript in the Database

Write stored procedures in JavaScript and use thousands of existing JavaScript libraries. Perfect for modern developers.

Better SQL

• SELECT without FROM clause
• GROUP BY ALL (no need to list all columns)
• Direct joins for UPDATE and DELETE
• IF EXISTS syntax support

Mission-Critical Features

SQL Firewall

Built-in protection against:

• SQL injection attacks
• Unauthorized SQL commands
• All without adding extra network hops

Globally Distributed Database

• One logical database across multiple regions
• Failover in under 3 seconds
• Zero data loss
• Data stays in the right country (for compliance)

Zero Data Loss Cloud Protect

Protects your on-premises databases from:

• Ransomware attacks
• Data loss
• Disasters

Uses Oracle Cloud for real-time protection and fast recovery.

For Data Scientists and AI Teams

Private AI Services Container

Run your own AI models privately:

• Embedding models
• Open-source LLMs
• Named Entity Recognition

Deploy anywhere:

• Public cloud
• Private cloud
• On-premises

NVIDIA Integration

Oracle partnered with NVIDIA for ultra-fast AI:

• NVIDIA NeMo Retriever microservices
• NVIDIA NIM microservices
• GPU-accelerated vector search

ONNX Support

Import machine learning models built in other tools (like TensorFlow or PyTorch) and run them directly in the database.

What About Cost?

Here’s the best part: Advanced AI features like AI Vector Search are included at no additional charge. Plus, there’s a free tier available to try it out.

Should You Upgrade?

Yes, if you want to:

• Build AI-powered applications
• Use modern development tools (JavaScript, JSON, GraphQL)
• Improve security
• Get better performance
• Future-proof your infrastructure

When:

• Cloud users: Available now
• On-premises Linux: January 2026
• Other platforms: Coming soon

Real-World Use Cases

Retail: Build recommendation engines that understand what customers really want

Healthcare: Search medical records by symptoms, not just exact diagnoses

Finance: Detect fraud patterns using AI without moving sensitive data

Customer Service: Build chatbots that answer questions using your company’s private knowledge base

Manufacturing: Predict equipment failures before they happen

Getting Started

1. For current 23ai users: Apply the October 2025 release update
2. For 19c/21c users: Direct upgrade path available
3. New users: Start with the free tier

Additional Resources

Want to dive deeper? Check out these official Oracle resources:

• Press Release: Oracle AI Database 26ai Announcement
• Technical Details: Oracle AI Database 26ai New Features Guide
• Official Page: Oracle AI Database 26ai Features

The Bottom Line

Oracle AI Database 26ai isn’t just an incremental update. It’s Oracle reimagining what a database can do in an AI-first world. Whether you’re building the next generation of applications or just want better performance and security, 26ai has something for you.

The future of data is AI-native, and Oracle is making it accessible, secure, and practical for everyone.

Have questions about Oracle AI Database 26ai? Drop them in the comments below!

Ready to upgrade? Check the official documentation and start your journey to AI-powered data management today.