US company Oracle launched a host of generative artificial intelligence solutions on Tuesday, with chief executive Safra Catz emphasising the technology's growing impact across sectors ranging from national defence to hospitality, banking and tech.
“We are infusing unbelievable capabilities and generative AI to our technologies … building it differently to run faster, securely, and give you [customers] the option to run it any way you want,” Ms Catz told the CloudWorld event in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Our customers want the best technologies … like the CIA [Central intelligence Agency] is using Oracle’s technology, harnessing data in their mission of keeping the world safe.”
The CIA was Oracle’s first client when the company was founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California.
“Technology and AI are part of every effort that we do at the CIA … [we are] accessing the best data and the best technology as quickly as possible to take the right decisions,” said the CIA's chief information officer, La’Naia Jones, who joined Ms Catz on stage.
She spoke of data’s crucial role in augmenting the agency’s intelligence, especially in the field of cyber security, and helping to produce insights and achieve its global security goals.
Ms Catz said that customers’ demands are constantly changing. Oracle is working with its partners to boost their AI capabilities and introducing solutions designed to help customers manage multi-cloud environments, she said.
Oracle launched its latest generative AI innovation on Tuesday to help businesses integrate the technology into everyday operations.
Called GenAI Agents, the new technology combines large-language models and retrieval-augmented generation technology – an AI technique that boosts the generation of text or other outputs, with user data.
The Texas-based company’s new offering will allow businesses to directly interact with their data for tasks such as call-centre optimisation, legal research, and recruitment, using natural language queries instead of manual processes.
AI is driving “breakthroughs and efficiencies at an unprecedented pace”, leading to new business models, applications and innovation across industries, said Greg Pavlik, executive vice president for AI and data management services at Oracle.
The new service is “designed for companies looking to put AI into their real-world production environments quickly … by bringing AI to their data", Mr Pavlik said.
The GenAI Agents was among a number of announcements and updates made by Oracle during its conference.
After the announcement, Oracle’s stock jumped 11.44 per cent to $155.89 at market close on Tuesday. It expanded 0.44 per cent to trade at $156.57 a share at 5.55pm UAE time on Wednesday after the US market opened, giving the company a market value of $432.81 billion. The company's market has jumped more than $47 billion in the past two days.
Oracle’s shares have surged by almost 50 per cent up since the start of the year, compared to the S&P 500′s nearly 16 per cent jump.
Oracle has 162 cloud data centres in operation and under construction around the world. The company is emphasising amalgamation of generative AI into its cloud solutions to make operations more secure and ensure clients’ transition a seamless experience.
The overall global AI market is projected to reach $184 billion this year and it is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of 28.46 per cent, reaching a market volume of $826.70 billion by 2030, according to Statista data.
AI to break data silos
Oracle also launched new AI-powered features aimed at helping businesses maximise the value of their data and make quicker, more informed decisions. The updates include intelligent applications for Oracle cloud human capital management, as well as supply chain and manufacturing systems.
The company’s executive vice president for analytics TK Anand said that the new AI capabilities will break down data silos and turn insights into steps that allow companies to have a faster response to market changes.
The new technology intends to help businesses respond quickly to changing demand, supply and market conditions by recommending intelligent actions across the supply chain network.
The company also unveiled a generative development solution for enterprises, an AI-powered application development platform. It offers technologies that enable developers to create applications and also makes it easier for those applications to use AI-powered natural language interfaces and human-centric data.
