AI integrates with SQL Server 2025!

Microsoft’s recent announcement of SQL Server 2025 at Microsoft Ignite has sparked much interest due to its groundbreaking features aimed at enhancing data management and analysis capabilities. Here’s a detailed look into the most exciting advancements:

1. Integration of AI with T-SQL: SQL Server 2025 introduces the ability to call AI services like ChatGPT directly from T-SQL. This is facilitated through new T-SQL commands and the sp_invoke_external_rest_endpoint, allowing direct interactions with external AI services to enrich database operations with AI-driven insights.

2. Enhanced Vector Operations: The introduction of a native vector data type and vector indexes, specifically with DiskANN, marks a significant upgrade. This feature enhances the handling and analysis of large volumes of vector data, which is crucial for applications involving machine learning and other high-dimensional data scenarios.

3. Fabric Mirroring: SQL Server 2025 will extend its capabilities in data replication and real-time analytics by enhancing Fabric mirroring. This feature mirrors the functionality seen in Azure SQL DB, allowing for more seamless real-time data integration across diverse environments.

4. Regular Expression Support in T-SQL: The addition of regular expression capabilities within T-SQL is set to provide more powerful text processing and pattern matching directly within the database, avoiding the need for external processing and thereby speeding up data manipulation tasks.

5. Optimized Locking Mechanisms: Building on Azure SQL DB’s locking mechanisms, SQL Server 2025 aims to enhance database performance by optimizing locking strategies, which will improve concurrency and reduce wait times for accessing database resources.

6. Git Integration and Dark Mode in SSMS: The new SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) version 21 will introduce Git integration, allowing for better version control of SQL scripts and projects. Additionally, a highly requested ‘dark mode’ will be available, reducing eye strain and improving the interface for developers working in low-light conditions.

7. Other Notable Features: The platform promises enhanced analytics with deeper Azure Synapse integration, support for S3-compatible object storage, and improved availability with contained availability groups. Security enhancements and AI and Machine Learning capabilities are also significant additions, ensuring that SQL Server 2025 will be a robust tool for a wide range of applications.

These features collectively aim to bridge the gap between on-premises capabilities and cloud efficiencies, offering tools that leverage the best of both worlds while introducing new functionalities that are critical for modern data environments. As the release date approaches, these enhancements are poised to transform how professionals interact with and manage their SQL databases.

Final thoughts – it will definitley be interesting to see how this feature set is incorporated into operational workloads and utilised by industry. I still think we’re some time away from being replaced by AI though, given its tendancy to still misunderstand contexts, business requirements and hallucinate with its responses. At DBA Services, we continually strive to incorporate AI into our operational workflows, to supplement our in-house knowledge and experience, in order to achieve the fastest operational support times and time-to-resolution for our clients. If you’re interested to learn more about how DBA Services (and AI) can help your business, don’t hesistate to contact us for a chat!