Oracle adds generative AI features to finance, supply chain software

Oracle (ORCL.N) on Thursday said it is adding generative artificial intelligence features across its corporate software lineup, intensifying competition with Microsoft and other technology firms to sell the technology to businesses customers.

Oracle's cloud-based software offerings are central to many businesses in running their finances, supply chains and human resources departments, and the Austin, Texas-based company said that the new features are designed to save time for those people by generating reports, summarising complicated data or drafting job descriptions, among other tasks.

For Oracle, a late comer to the cloud computing market, the features are a core part of its efforts to catch up to corporate software rivals such as Microsoft (MSFT.O), which is also trying to woo business with its "Copilot" AI features. Oracle has spent billions of dollars on Nvidia chips and partnered with Cohere, an AI start-up founded by ex-Google employees.

Unlike consumer apps such as ChatGPT where users simply type requests directly to a chatbot, Oracle has identified about 50 different features where the AI system has been tuned to handle specific tasks, such as writing up a product description in a catalogue based off data in a company inventory system, or summarising a long chain of back-and-forth price negotiations with a supplier. In all cases, a human employee reviews the AI-generated information before it becomes final.

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Steve Miranda, executive vice president of applications development at Oracle, said the approach was meant to avoid some of the pitfalls of current AI technology, such as the tendency to make up inaccurate information, while still providing productivity improvements.

"We think we've got a broad set of use cases that we think we brought to market quickly. That's going to give us some great feedback, but it's very much in a controlled fashion to avoid some of the issues," Miranda said.

Miranda said that Oracle does not plan to charge extra for the new features.