Oracle is enhancing its generative AI capabilities within its cloud infrastructure to stay competitive as demand for cloud services and AI escalates. Fueled by the rise of technologies like ChatGPT, the need for extensive data handling capabilities in AI training is driving this increased demand. Oracle, traditionally lagging behind giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google in cloud infrastructure, is integrating advanced generative AI features across various applications including finance, supply chain, HR, and marketing. These features aim to automate complex tasks such as financial reporting and job ad drafting, thereby boosting productivity and cutting costs.

“The classic AI is very good in terms of detecting patterns or predicting numbers … but you cannot use large language models to predict numbers,” Rondy Ng, executive vice president of applications development at Oracle, told CNBC.

The company’s move to bolster AI capabilities began in earnest in January, with further enhancements announced in March. As the generative AI sector grows, Oracle is positioned to potentially increase revenue and its market share in cloud services. This strategic shift comes after Oracle’s founder, Larry Ellison, once dismissed cloud computing but has since acknowledged its significance, highlighted by Oracle’s plans for a new data center in Salt Lake City and collaborations like the one with Nvidia to offer sovereign AI solutions globally.

“So we combined the predictive numbering capability with the explained ability in words. So the two together become very powerful and you need both. In the past many years, the number prediction part is already very mature. As part of the product we continue to evolve that and it’s not going to stop. Generative AI is basically the talk of the town right now,” said Ng.

Ng also told CNBC that generative AI services provide a significant advantage over the competition, who must collaborate with various companies and cloud providers to access necessary infrastructure and services. He explained that his company integrates everything into a single stack, which they then utilize directly.