Exploring Oracle’s Latest Innovations: AI, Cloud, and Developer Productivity

Oracle continues to innovate at pace in 2025, rolling out transformative technologies that are reshaping how businesses build, run, and scale applications. From groundbreaking developments in AI to new tools that empower developers and data professionals, Oracle is positioning itself not just as a database company, but as a full-stack technology provider. Here’s a look at what’s new and what it means for the Oracle community in New Zealand and beyond.

🔍 Generative AI Natively Integrated in Oracle Cloud and Applications

The biggest buzz this year is Oracle’s continued integration of generative AI across its cloud and application offerings. Oracle is embedding AI copilots throughout its Fusion Cloud Applications, enabling users to generate content, automate tasks, and gain insights faster than ever. Whether it’s writing job descriptions in HCM, summarising financial reports in ERP, or drafting emails in CX, generative AI is now a first-class citizen across the Oracle ecosystem.

What sets Oracle apart is its focus on domain-specific large language models (LLMs). These LLMs are trained on proprietary business data, offering more accurate and relevant outputs for enterprise use cases. Oracle’s partnership with Cohere and support for open models gives customers choice and control—something many enterprises are demanding in the age of AI.

☁️ Oracle Database@Azure and Multi-Cloud Strategy

Oracle’s partnership with Microsoft has reached new levels. With Oracle Database@Azure now widely available, customers can run high-performance Oracle databases directly inside Microsoft Azure data centres, with full OCI services behind the scenes. This enables truly multi-cloud architectures—ideal for businesses in New Zealand who want the best of both worlds without compromising on latency, security, or cost.

Oracle’s message is clear: multi-cloud is not just tolerated—it’s embraced.

🧱 Oracle Database 23ai: Built for AI and Developers

The new Oracle Database 23ai (previously 23c) introduces features designed to make life easier for developers and data professionals:

• AI Vector Search: Built-in support for storing and querying vector embeddings makes it possible to integrate retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) into applications without bolting on third-party vector databases.

• JSON Relational Duality: A game-changing model that allows developers to work with JSON and relational data simultaneously—bridging the NoSQL/SQL divide.

• Python in the Database: Native Python execution within the database, ideal for data scientists and AI workloads.

• Graph and Spatial Enhancements: Oracle continues to double down on powerful, specialised data models that add business value in fields like logistics, finance, and public services.

🧰 Oracle APEX and Low-Code Evolution

For the developer community, Oracle APEX keeps getting better. With improved UI components, AI-assisted development, and seamless deployment to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), APEX remains one of the fastest ways to deliver robust enterprise applications.

And for teams looking to move away from legacy platforms, Oracle is making it easier than ever to modernise apps with APEX—especially when paired with Autonomous Database and Oracle’s growing library of REST APIs.

🌏 What It Means for NZ Oracle Users

For the New Zealand Oracle community, these innovations present exciting opportunities. Whether you’re modernising ERP systems, exploring AI-enhanced customer experiences, or building next-gen applications in the cloud, Oracle offers a rich set of tools with local and global scalability in mind.

As always, NZOUG is here to help you navigate these changes. Stay tuned for upcoming meetups, webinars, and training sessions where we’ll dive deeper into these topics—and give you a chance to hear from experts and your peers.