New AI vector similarity search in Oracle
Database 23c allows the combination of search on semantic and
business data resulting in highly accurate answers quickly and
securely
LAS
VEGAS, Sept. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle
CloudWorld -- Oracle today announced its plans to add semantic
search capabilities using AI vectors to Oracle Database 23c.
The collection of features, called AI Vector Search, includes a new
vector data type, vector indexes, and vector search SQL operators
that enable the Oracle Database to store the semantic content of
documents, images, and other unstructured data as vectors, and use
these to run fast similarity queries. These new capabilities also
support Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), a breakthrough
generative AI technique that combines large language models (LLMs)
and private business data to deliver responses to natural language
questions. RAG provides higher accuracy and avoids having to expose
private data by including it in the LLM training data.
"Oracle Database is the leading repository of business data, and
the combination of business data and semantic data is what
enterprises need to implement artificial intelligence solutions,"
said Juan Loaiza, executive vice
president, Mission-Critical Database Technologies, Oracle.
"Searches on a combination of business and semantic data are
easier, faster, and more precise if both types of data are managed
by a single database. By adding AI Vector Search to Oracle
Database, we enable customers to quickly and easily get the
benefits of artificial intelligence without sacrificing security,
data integrity, or performance. Using Oracle AI Vector search does
not require machine learning expertise. All database users,
including developers and administrators, can learn to use it in
less than 30 minutes."
Oracle will also enable applications built on Oracle Database
and Autonomous Database to add an LLM-based natural language
interface, providing a simple and intuitive way for end-users to
quickly ask for the data they need by just posing natural language
questions. In addition, Oracle Database tools such as APEX and SQL
Developer will be enhanced with generative AI capabilities to
enable developers to use natural language to generate applications
or generate SQL queries without needing to write code.
Oracle Database 23c, code named "App
Simple," focuses on simplifying the way data professionals,
developers, and data users interact with data by declaring their
intended outcome instead of hand coding. Data systems will generate
the solution leveraging new database technologies like JSON
Relational Duality Views and AI Vector Search combined with new
natural language interface capabilities. Additionally, developers
will be able to generate complete applications by combining these
technologies with Oracle's low-code APEX development framework.
This approach represents the future of data and application
development and will enable massive productivity gains.
"Vector search is fundamentally an OLTP feature, as it needs
scalability, performance, and reliability. Vendors like Oracle
that have a proven track record of delivering mission-critical OLTP
will be the winners in this market," said Holger Mueller, vice president and principal
analyst, Constellation Research. "Oracle's DNA to deliver
enterprise-class performance will be a key capability for its
new vector-based offering, building on the trust and confidence
that CxOs have developed for the Oracle Database."
The latest updates to Oracle Database services and products
include:
Modern Oracle Database and AI application development
- Oracle Autonomous Database: Makes it easy for developers
to extend existing applications with natural language capabilities
by posing natural language questions directly to Autonomous
Database. Autonomous Database takes an open, flexible API approach
to integrating LLMs so that developers can select the best LLM from
Oracle or third parties to generate SQL queries to respond to these
questions.
- Oracle Autonomous Database Free Container Image:
Allows developers to create cloud-native applications with
Autonomous Database using a free, downloadable image with the same
advanced capabilities as the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI)
Always Free Autonomous Database. By allowing developers to use
Autonomous Database in the environment that best suits their needs,
including their own laptop, they get the simplicity and power of a
self-managing database, including all the low-code, ETL, analytics,
and reporting capabilities of Autonomous Database Data Studio, with
the ability to migrate the application to the cloud without needing
to make any changes.
- Oracle APEX: Helps developers accelerate the process of
building secure, scalable, and feature-rich enterprise applications
by using AI to convert natural language prompts into SQL queries
and then creating the desired app components. Additionally, APEX is
introducing an integrated workflow and process automation
capability that can invoke actions, trigger approvals, send emails,
and more.
- GoldenGate 23c Free: Enables developers, DBAs, analysts,
and students to use the industry-leading Data Integration and Data
Mesh capabilities of GoldenGate for free. GoldenGate 23c Free
features a new, highly simplified user experience that makes it
easy for even novices to configure data replication and
integration, as well as simpler and more intuitive run-time
observability and diagnostics.
Next-generation Oracle Database service and products
- Oracle Database 23c: Is now generally available on
Oracle Base Database Service in OCI. Base Database Service allows
organizations to greatly reduce operational costs by automating
database lifecycle activities without requiring infrastructure
management. It provides flexible virtual machine shapes across
multiple instance types and pay-as-you-go pricing to simplify cloud
deployment. Base Database Service now allows developers to quickly
benefit from all the new Oracle Database 23c features in the cloud.
In addition, the Oracle Database 23c Free—Developer Release,
available since April 2023, has been
refreshed with the latest version of Oracle Database 23c.
- Oracle Exadata Exascale: The next generation of Exadata
System Software dramatically lowers the cost of using Exadata
technology for cloud databases and developers requiring smaller
configurations. Now all workloads can benefit from the extreme
performance, availability, and simplicity of Exadata. Exadata
Exascale combines cloud capabilities such as multitenancy, resource
pooling, and pay-as-you-go with the performance of
database-intelligent Exadata storage and RDMA, and enables a highly
elastic database infrastructure both for on-premises and Oracle
Cloud. It also features state-of-the-art storage-efficient database
cloning capabilities to increase developer productivity and reduce
costs. In cloud deployments, Exadata Exascale enables
cost-conscious customers that need only a few cores of compute to
get all the benefits of Exadata, making the power and
mission-critical capabilities of Exadata available to small
businesses and departments.
- Oracle Globally Distributed Autonomous Database: Helps
customers simplify the development and deployment of sharded or
distributed application architectures for mission-critical
applications that require compliance with data residency
regulations, high availability, hyper-scalability, or low database
access latency for globally distributed users. This distributed
database offering is a fully managed OCI service that combines all
the benefits of Oracle Autonomous Database with customer control
over data distribution policies.
- Autonomous Database Elastic Resource Pools: Helps
customers improve their operating efficiency and reduce costs by
consolidating all their databases in the cloud using Autonomous
Database. This enables customers to consolidate database instances
into a pool that can scale up and down without downtime,
potentially providing up to 87 percent compute cost savings
compared to paying for each individual instance separately.
Trusted data fabric for AI
- GoldenGate 23c: Delivers faster high-availability
replication with new Oracle Database 23c capabilities, easier
runtime management, improved observability and diagnostics, and
increased security. Highlights include exposing event-driven Data
Streams using the Asynch API, extended Maximum Availability
Architecture (MAA) capabilities to support non-Oracle databases and
shared databases, and improved runtime health checks. A new
streaming insert and AI vector embedding capability enables Oracle
GoldenGate 23c to capture, move and generate AI vector embeddings
in real-time for enterprise data transactions for use by generative
AI and analytics.
- OCI GoldenGate: Delivers support for 40+ new data
connections from Oracle and non-Oracle sources across multicloud
environments, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, as
well as Streaming Analytics with real-time vector embeddings.
- Oracle GoldenGate Veridata 23c (Beta): Helps
customers compare one set of data to another, identifies data that
is out-of-sync, and repairs the incorrect data. This latest release
features a new browser-based, self-service user experience, new
advanced job monitoring, and a new distributed agent to capture
transactions.
- Oracle Database infrastructure for small and medium
businesses
- Oracle Database Appliance X10: Makes it easy and
economical for small- and medium sized organizations and business
units, including those with distributed locations, to deploy and
manage their Oracle databases, applications, and infrastructure.
The latest release of this database-optimized engineered system
provides enhanced end-to-end automation, and up to 50 percent more
performance than the previous generation, enabling customers to
deploy Oracle Database workloads with exceptional price-performance
and minimal IT expertise.
Additional Resources
- Read what industry analysts are saying about Oracle
Database
- Read about the latest updates on the Oracle Database
Insider blog
About Oracle
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us at www.oracle.com.
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