Oracle's first general on-prem release of its .ai database iteration draws skeptics

Last week, Oracle announced the general availability of Oracle AI Database 26ai Enterprise Edition for Linux x86‑64, but 13-year support for 19c and the prospect of AI lock-in might make users think twice about upgrading to it.

Oracle started life as a database company and — despite the avalanche of news around its cloud and AI initiatives — it still is one, hanging on to the number one spot in the DB-Engines ranking system at least. Among developers, though, PostgreSQL is the most popular database, according to Stack Overflow.

In 2024, Oracle launched its Database 23ai, dropping the “c” suffix it established for cloud in 2013. But the release never arrived as a general on-premises option beyond Oracle's own engineered systems, and the company later pushed back the Premier Support cutoff for 19c to December 31, 2029, with Extended Support running through December 31, 2032. Premier support was originally slated ...