Key Points:
- Oracle is updating its cloud financial software to work with AI agents.
- The goal is for humans to ask business questions, and AI will find the data.
- This is part of a trend where specialized business software uses AI to automate tasks.
- Oracle aims to shift human roles from data entry to higher-value decision-making.
Oracle is making a big change to its cloud-based financial software used by large companies. They’re revamping it to work with artificial intelligence (AI) agents. The idea is simple: humans will ask the system business questions, and the AI will then figure out how to find and use the necessary data.
These changes, which Oracle plans to announce at an event in London, are part of a wider trend. Companies that provide highly specialized corporate software are updating their tools so that AI agents can carry out tasks on behalf of human users.
Oracle’s shares have dropped about 40% this year. Investors have been worried that new AI tools might replace complex business software. However, Oracle’s executives argue that the company is embracing AI to keep its software advanced and competitive.
In this latest update, Oracle is focusing on its Fusion suite of software. This suite handles essential business tasks like planning production in factories and managing customer payments.
Steve Miranda, executive vice president of applications development at Oracle, explained that the company wants to make it easier for businesses to focus on big questions. For example, how can they make a new product cheaper and faster, while also reducing risks to their supply chain?
Miranda noted that the information needed for these decisions is spread across different applications within Oracle’s suite and other connected software. AI will take over tasks like entering and collecting data and offering recommendations. This means human employees can focus more on skills like negotiating with suppliers or understanding a company’s tolerance for supply disruptions.
“Typing in an invoice isn’t a particularly high-value skill for your company or for the person who does that part of their job,” Miranda said. He added, “Decision making is still up to that human, weighing the different pros and cons of that case. But certainly the execution, the typing of the invoices, the typing of the purchase order, that is what is going to be replaced in whole by AI.”
