Oracle AI World 2026: What Should Oracle Professionals in New Zealand Be Watching For?

AI is moving fast, but what does that actually mean for Oracle customers, developers, DBAs and cloud professionals? Oracle AI World 2026 is just around the corner, and this year’s event looks set to offer plenty of food for thought for anyone working in the Oracle ecosystem.

Taking place in Las Vegas from 25–28 October, Oracle AI World brings together Oracle leaders, customers, partners and technology specialists to explore the latest developments across databases, cloud infrastructure, enterprise applications and artificial intelligence.

For those of us here in Aotearoa, the interesting question isn’t simply what new technology Oracle will announce. It’s how these developments could change the way we build applications, manage data, operate infrastructure and deliver value to our organisations.

Here are five areas I’ll be keeping a close eye on.

1. Oracle AI Database 26ai: More than just another database release

Oracle’s AI strategy increasingly puts the database at the centre of enterprise AI, and Oracle AI Database 26ai is a major part of that story.

Expect plenty of attention on AI Vector Search, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), natural-language interaction with data, and the tools developers can use to build AI-powered applications directly on top of Oracle data.

The attraction is straightforward: organisations already hold enormous amounts of valuable information in their Oracle databases. Moving that data into separate AI platforms can introduce additional complexity, security concerns, integration work and cost.

Oracle’s approach is to bring more of the AI capabilities closer to the data itself.

For DBAs and architects, the questions worth exploring include:

• How do we secure AI access to sensitive enterprise data?

• How do we keep AI-generated answers grounded in reliable, current information?

• What are the performance and cost implications of adding vector search and AI workloads to existing database environments?

• How can we introduce AI capabilities without compromising the reliability of mission-critical applications?

  
  

These are practical challenges, not just technology demonstrations, and I expect them to feature prominently in the conversations around Oracle’s database roadmap.

2. AI agents: Moving beyond chatbots

We’ve all seen the explosion of AI assistants and chatbots. The next step is making AI systems capable of doing useful work across business processes, rather than simply answering questions.

Oracle is putting considerable emphasis on agentic AI: systems that can retrieve information, use tools, coordinate tasks and execute workflows within defined boundaries.

Within the Oracle ecosystem, this raises some exciting possibilities. Imagine an AI agent that can investigate a database performance issue, retrieve relevant documentation, analyse application logs or help a developer understand a complicated legacy system. In enterprise applications, agents could assist with processes spanning multiple systems and business functions.

Oracle’s database programme also highlights technologies such as Select AI, MCP Server and agent-building capabilities.

The important distinction is between an impressive proof of concept and something you can safely run in production. Identity, permissions, audit trails, data privacy, error handling and human approval will all matter when AI starts taking actions rather than merely making recommendations.

For developers and architects, this is an area where hands-on experimentation will be particularly valuable.

3. OCI: The infrastructure behind the AI boom

AI requires serious computing power, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) continues to position itself around high-performance infrastructure, GPU capacity, scalable cloud services and enterprise workloads.

I’ll be interested in developments around AI infrastructure, model choice, cloud economics, distributed cloud and the flexibility to deploy workloads across different environments.

For organisations already using Oracle Cloud, the key question is how these developments translate into practical benefits: better performance, simpler operations, more deployment choices and a sensible return on investment.

Multicloud is another area to watch. Oracle’s database technologies are available across OCI and major hyperscaler environments, including AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. That gives organisations more options when deciding where their applications and data should live.

For New Zealand organisations, data residency, sovereignty, connectivity, resilience and operational cost are all important considerations. The most useful announcements will be those that help us make better architectural decisions, rather than simply adding another service to an already extensive cloud catalogue.

4. AI-powered development: What happens to our existing skills?

One of the biggest questions facing our community is how AI will change software development.

Oracle’s programme points towards AI-assisted development, more intelligent application tooling and faster ways to build and deploy solutions. For developers working with SQL, PL/SQL, Oracle APEX, APIs and enterprise applications, there is real potential to accelerate routine work and spend more time on architecture and business problems.

But faster code generation doesn’t automatically mean better software.

We still need to understand data models, transaction boundaries, security, performance, maintainability and the business rules that have accumulated over years of enterprise development.

I’m particularly interested in what these developments mean for Oracle APEX developers and teams modernising older applications. Could AI make it easier to build prototypes, generate SQL, explain unfamiliar code and deliver useful applications more quickly? Almost certainly. The real test is how reliably these capabilities work with complex, real-world systems.

There is also an opportunity for experienced Oracle professionals to bring their existing knowledge into AI projects. Understanding enterprise data, integration patterns and production environments is still enormously valuable.

5. Enterprise applications, analytics and real-world results

AI isn’t just a database or infrastructure story. Oracle is also bringing AI into Fusion Cloud Applications, analytics and industry-specific solutions.

The opportunity is to embed intelligence into the systems people already use: helping teams make decisions, automate repetitive work and gain better insights from business data.

For customers, though, the questions remain familiar. Does it solve a genuine problem? Does it integrate with existing processes? Can we measure the benefit? What does implementation look like, and how do we govern the result?

I’d like to see more practical customer examples that demonstrate measurable improvements, including the lessons learned along the way. Those are often more useful than a polished demonstration that works perfectly on stage.

What does this mean for the NZ Oracle community?

For me, the most interesting theme running through Oracle’s AI direction is the connection between new capabilities and the enterprise systems organisations already depend on.

We don’t all need to become AI researchers. But we do need to understand how AI is changing database architecture, application development, cloud operations, security and the way organisations use their data.

Oracle AI World is a good opportunity to separate the genuinely useful developments from the hype, learn from organisations putting the technology into practice, and identify skills worth investing in next.

As the announcements roll out, I’d encourage NZOUG members to look beyond the headline features and ask a few practical questions:

• Can I use this with the Oracle technology I already support?

• What would it take to implement this securely in my organisation?

• What are the licensing, infrastructure and operational implications?

• Is there a hands-on lab or technical session that will help me evaluate it properly?

  
  

Those are the questions that turn conference announcements into useful knowledge.

Stay connected with NZOUG

Oracle AI World runs from 25–28 October 2026, and there’s plenty to explore across Oracle AI Database, OCI, application development, analytics and enterprise AI.

We’ll be watching the developments with interest and sharing insights relevant to our community.

And if you’d like to put some of these ideas into practice, join us at Tūtahi: NZOUG 2026 on Friday 27 November at The Spencer Suites Auckland. With 32 Oracle sessions across four tracks covering APEX, AI and Cloud, DBA and Development, and Applications, it’s a great opportunity to learn from fellow Oracle professionals, exchange ideas and take useful knowledge back to your workplace.

Find out more and register at www.nzoug.org/conference.

The future of Oracle is evolving quickly. Let’s explore what it means for Aotearoa, together.