Oracle Database 23ai, the latest long-term support release from Oracle, introduces over 300 new features designed to enhance database performance, developer productivity, and artificial intelligence (AI) integration. Here are some of the most notable enhancements

• AI Vector Search

Oracle Database 23ai introduces AI Vector Search, a breakthrough technology that enables searching for documents, images, patterns, and data that have similar content. This feature allows the database to store the semantic content of unstructured data as vectors, facilitating fast similarity queries. It also supports retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), combining large language models (LLMs) with private business data to deliver accurate responses to natural language questions

• JSON Relational Duality

This feature unifies the relational and document data models, allowing developers to build applications using both paradigms simultaneously. It simplifies data management by enabling seamless integration of JSON and relational data within a single application.

• JavaScript Stored Procedures

Developers can now write stored procedures in JavaScript, expanding the flexibility of application development within Oracle Database 23ai. This allows for the use of JavaScript’s extensive libraries and community modules directly within the database environment.

• Data Redaction Enhancements

Oracle Data Redaction has been improved to provide more accurate results for real-world application queries. It allows for dynamic masking of sensitive data at runtime, enhancing security without the need for complex proxy-based solutions. ​

• SQL Analysis Report

The new SQL Analysis Report feature assists developers in writing better SQL statements by reporting common issues that can lead to poor performance. It’s available in DBMS_XPLAN and SQL Monitor, providing insights to optimize query performance

• Raft Replication

Raft replication provides native, built-in replication for Oracle Globally Distributed Database without requiring configuration of Oracle GoldenGate or Oracle Data Guard. It ensures high availability and consistency, enabling declarative replication configuration with sub-second failover for seamless continuity. ​

• Oracle True Cache

Oracle True Cache is an in-memory, consistent, and automatically managed cache for Oracle Database. It operates similarly to an Oracle Active Data Guard reader farm but is designed for performance and scalability, allowing applications to connect directly to True Cache instances for read-only workloads. ​Oracle

These features, among many others, make Oracle Database 23ai a significant advancement in database technology, offering enhanced performance, security, and flexibility for modern application development.