Oracle’s AI future is data-driven! Oracle is now focused on helping enterprises securely use AI on their own data. #OracleAI #Database #AIStrategy
Explanation in video
Oracle’s Big AI Surprise: What’s Their Secret?
Hey everyone, John here! You know, sometimes in the tech world, a company you might think of as an old-timer can suddenly pull a rabbit out of a hat. That’s kind of what’s happening with Oracle, a company that’s been around for nearly 50 years! Their business is booming, and a big reason for that is Artificial Intelligence, or AI. But they’re playing the AI game a little differently, and it seems to be working wonders.
A Tech Giant Wakes Up!
Imagine a big, experienced company, famous for one thing (in Oracle’s case, managing huge amounts of data for businesses), suddenly finding a new burst of energy. Oracle’s recent financial news was a big surprise – they made a lot more money than experts expected! Their company value even jumped up significantly, the most it has in over 20 years. So, what’s behind this sudden success? Well, it boils down to two main things: the cloud and AI, and most importantly, how Oracle is helping businesses use AI with their own precious data.
Lila: “John, you mentioned the ‘cloud.’ I hear that word all the time, but what exactly is it? Is it like the fluffy white things in the sky?”
John: “Haha, good question, Lila! Not quite. In the tech world, the ‘cloud’ is basically a network of powerful computers and storage owned by companies like Oracle, Amazon, or Microsoft. Businesses can rent space and computing power from them over the internet, instead of buying and maintaining tons of their own expensive computer servers. Think of it like using a giant, shared super-computer that you access through the internet, paying only for what you use, kind of like electricity.”
Oracle’s Smart AI Move: Your Data, Your AI
For a long time, Oracle has been the go-to for many big companies when it comes to storing and managing their most important information. This information is often kept in something called a database.
Lila: “Okay, so what’s a ‘database’ then, John?”
John: “Great question, Lila! Imagine a company has tons and tons of information – customer details, sales records, product information, everything. A database is like a super-organized, gigantic digital filing cabinet. It doesn’t just store the information; it lets the company find, sort, and manage that information very quickly and efficiently. Oracle is a world leader in making these digital filing cabinets for big businesses.”
Now, here’s Oracle’s clever idea for AI. Instead of trying to build the biggest, most general AI like some other tech giants, Oracle is saying to its customers: “Hey, you’ve already got all your important data stored securely with us. How about we help you use AI to get amazing insights from your own data, right where it is, without sending it off to someone else?”
They’ve even launched a new product called Oracle Database 23ai. This special database has AI smarts built right into it. So, companies can use AI to understand their data better, find patterns, and make smarter decisions, all while keeping their information safe and sound in their own environment.
The AI Challenge: Knowing Your Business
You’ve probably heard about amazing AI systems, often called Large Language Models (LLMs), that can write, chat, and do all sorts of clever things. These AIs have learned from massive amounts of information from the internet.
Lila: “John, what are ‘Large Language Models’ or ‘LLMs’? That sounds complicated!”
John: “Not as complicated as it sounds, Lila! Think of an LLM as a super-smart student who has read almost every book, website, and article on the public internet. They can talk about a huge range of topics because they’ve ‘learned’ from all that text. AI chatbots, for example, are often powered by LLMs.”
The problem is, while these LLMs are great with general knowledge, they usually know nothing about a specific company’s private data – their customer lists, sales figures, secret plans, and so on. And companies are, quite rightly, very careful about sharing that sensitive data. They’ve tried some workarounds, like something called retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), but it’s not always perfect.
Lila: “And ‘retrieval-augmented generation’ or RAG? What’s that in simple terms?”
John: “Okay, imagine that super-smart student (the LLM) again. RAG is like giving that student a specific, private textbook – say, your company’s internal documents – before asking them a question about your company. The LLM can then ‘retrieve’ information from that textbook and ‘augment’ its general knowledge to give a much more relevant and accurate answer about your business. It’s a way to make general AIs smarter about specific, private information without fully retraining them.”
This is where Oracle sees its big chance. They believe the real goldmine for businesses is using AI on their own data, securely. And since so many companies already store their data in Oracle databases, Oracle feels they have a home-field advantage!
Oracle’s Big Bet: “We Have the Data!”
Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, basically said that while other companies talk about having data for AI, Oracle actually has most of the world’s really valuable business data already sitting in its databases. It’s a bold claim, but there’s a lot of truth to it. Oracle databases are everywhere in big businesses.
So, Oracle’s pitch is simple: use your existing Oracle setup to add AI smarts. No need to move your precious data to some new, potentially less secure place. They’re positioning themselves as the key helper for businesses wanting to use their own data with their own AI models.
Interestingly, Oracle is also playing nice with others. They’re making their database services available on other big cloud platforms, like Amazon’s AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. This is called a multicloud approach.
Lila: “What does ‘multicloud’ mean, John?”
John: “Multicloud simply means using services from more than one cloud provider. Think of it like not putting all your eggs in one basket. A company might use Oracle’s database in Oracle’s cloud (which they call Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, or OCI), but also use some specialized AI tools from Google Cloud, or storage from Amazon Web Services. It gives businesses flexibility and helps them avoid being locked into just one company’s offerings.”
Lila: “And OCI is just Oracle’s name for its own cloud services, right?”
John: “Exactly, Lila! Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is Oracle’s collection of cloud computing services – their version of those powerful remote computers and storage we talked about earlier.”
The Missing Piece of the Puzzle: Wooing the Coders
While Oracle’s strategy of selling to big bosses (like the CIO, or Chief Information Officer – the top tech person in a company) and focusing on existing customers is working well and making them good money, the article suggests there’s a crucial group Oracle needs to win over to keep this success going: developers.
Lila: “John, who are ‘developers’? And why are they so important?”
John: “Developers, or coders, are the creative people who write the instructions (the ‘code’) that make software applications and websites work. Think of them as the architects and builders of the digital world. They are super important because they are the ones who actually build all the new, innovative things. If developers aren’t excited to use Oracle’s tools and cloud for their new projects, Oracle could miss out on future growth, especially for brand-new applications that aren’t tied to their older systems.”
In the past, Oracle hasn’t always been the most popular choice for individual developers or smaller teams starting new projects. They tend to choose tools that are easy to start with, often cheaper or free, and have big, supportive communities.
How Can Oracle Attract These Digital Builders?
The article offers some pretty sensible ideas for how Oracle could get more developers on their side. It’s not about becoming “cool” overnight, but about making their powerful technology more accessible and inviting.
- Make popular tools more open: Oracle owns a very popular database called MySQL. The article suggests that if Oracle managed MySQL more like a community project (an open governance model), similar to another popular database called Postgres, it might attract more developers.
Lila: “So, MySQL and Postgres are like different brands of those digital filing cabinets (databases) we talked about? And what’s an ‘open governance model’?”
John: “You got it! MySQL and Postgres are two very popular database systems. An ‘open governance model’ means that the way the software is developed and managed is more open and community-driven, rather than being controlled by a single company. Think of it like a club where all the members have a say in how things are run, which can make it more appealing for developers to contribute to and use.”
- Easier to start, easier to pay: Make it super simple for a developer to sign up, maybe even with a free trial or credits, and have clear, pay-as-you-go pricing. Amazon Web Services (AWS) got very popular with developers partly because of this.
- Be where developers are: Oracle could be more active in online developer communities and at conferences. They could also showcase cool new companies and apps built using their technology. They’ve started doing this, for example, by announcing tools like Oracle Code Assist (an AI helper for programmers using the Java language on OCI) and improvements to their Oracle Kubernetes Engine to better support modern cloud-native apps and AI projects.
Lila: “Wow, more new terms! Can you break down ‘Oracle Code Assist,’ ‘Java,’ ‘Oracle Kubernetes Engine,’ and ‘cloud-native’?”
John: “Sure thing, Lila!
- Oracle Code Assist: This is like a smart assistant for people writing computer programs. If a developer is using a popular programming language called Java on Oracle’s cloud, Code Assist can help them write code faster and better, a bit like an AI co-pilot.
- Java: This is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. Lots of big company systems, web applications, and mobile apps are built with Java.
- Oracle Kubernetes Engine (OKE): Kubernetes itself is like an amazing traffic controller and manager for lots of small pieces of software (called containers) that work together to form a bigger application. OKE is Oracle’s service that makes it easier to use Kubernetes on their cloud, especially for these modern apps.
- Cloud-native: This describes applications that are designed from the very beginning to run really well in the cloud. They are built to take full advantage of what the cloud offers, like being able to scale up or down easily.
- Show off the cool tech, simply: Oracle has some really advanced features in its new databases, like something called JSON relational duality and vector search, which are great for AI. The key is to let developers easily try these out – maybe let them quickly set up a test database, load some data, and start building an AI-powered app using a simple API, without a long, complicated setup process.
Lila: “Okay, last ones for now, I promise! What are ‘JSON relational duality,’ ‘vector search,’ and ‘API’?”
John: “No problem, Lila, these are good questions!
- JSON relational duality: This is a fancy term for a feature in Oracle’s newer databases. Think of it like this: traditional databases are great at storing data in neat tables, like spreadsheets (that’s the ‘relational’ part). Modern apps often use a more flexible data format called JSON (which is like a list of notes with labels). ‘Duality’ means Oracle’s database can now handle both types of data super smoothly together, giving developers the best of both worlds.
- Vector search: This is a special kind of search that’s becoming really important for AI. Instead of just searching for exact words, vector search can find things based on their meaning or how similar they are. For example, if you search for ‘happy dog,’ it might also find pictures or documents about ‘joyful puppy.’ It’s very powerful for finding related information.
- API (Application Programming Interface): An API is like a special messenger or a set of rules that allows different software programs to talk to each other and exchange information or request services, without needing to know all the complex details of how the other program works. It’s like a waiter in a restaurant: you (one program) tell the waiter (the API) what you want from the menu (the services of another program, like the kitchen), and the waiter handles the communication with the kitchen and brings your order.
My Thoughts on Oracle’s Next Chapter
John: It’s genuinely impressive to see a company like Oracle reinvent itself and become a major player in the AI era, especially by focusing on what businesses really need – using their own data securely. They’ve found a smart way to leverage their long-standing strengths. The big question now, as the article points out, is whether they can truly connect with the developer community. If they can make their powerful tools as easy and inviting for individual coders as they are for big corporations, their current success could be just the beginning.
Lila: From my beginner’s point of view, it sounds like Oracle was a bit like a super-exclusive, very traditional library that only big companies knew how to use. Now, they’re realizing they need to make it more like a modern, friendly public library with easy-to-use tech and welcoming staff (for developers!) if they want everyone to see how great their books (their technology) are. It makes sense that making things easier for the people who actually build new stuff is a good idea!
This article is based on the following original source, summarized from the author’s perspective:
The key to Oracle’s AI future