Oracle announced new AI innovations in the latest release of the Oracle APEX low-code development platform. The new APEX AI Assistant simplifies application development and helps developers quickly build feature-rich, mission-critical applications at scale. Developers now can create applications by using natural language prompts to specify desired capabilities and components and automatically generate SQL statements, perform one-click debug correction, eliminate the need to remember table names, and easily add an out-of-the-box conversational interface to their applications. Oracle APEX is a fully supported, no-cost feature of Oracle Database and all Oracle Database services including Oracle Autonomous Database.

By replacing complex traditional coding, Oracle APEX’s declarative development approach enables developers to build and deploy mission-critical enterprise applications 20X faster with 100X less code. With over 21 million applications built, Oracle APEX is the platform of choice for over 850,000 developers in organizations across industries worldwide.

“As a developer and someone who writes SQL every day, I know how challenging it can be to remember table names, column names, and syntax I don’t frequently use. Having an AI assistant to determine column names contextually, JOINS, and generate complex syntax is a real game changer,” said Mike Hichwa, senior vice president, software development, Oracle. “Best of all, I can use plain natural language, such as ‘show me all pink T-shirts in size large left over from the most recent shipments to our Kansas City and Wichita locations and the APEX AI Assistant will automate that for me, and show me the precise results.”

Trailcon offers trailer fleet solutions 24/7, managing 30,000+ assets across North America. It built its Trailcon 360 application using Oracle APEX with OCI Document Understanding. The application provides customers with real-time analytics on geo-location, telematics, preventative maintenance, and other key indicators, as well as the ability to download and integrate invoices seamlessly to replace manual processes.

“We can process over 3,000 invoices every month with an 87% accuracy rate. Oracle APEX and OCI enables the IT Solutions team at Trailcon to continue to be agile and keep providing the data services our customers can rely on,” said Giovanni Cani, vice president, IT delivery, Trailcon. “This is far simpler than other low-code solutions, and we’re excited to find out what the upcoming versions of Oracle APEX will bring, specifically around AI capabilities and process optimization.”

“Natcorp provides HR management solutions to more than 600,000 users in Brazil. The combination of APEX and AI is a huge time-saver for our customers—they can simply ask questions in the APEX app and get answers in seconds,” said Igor Sala Cardoso, head of technology and innovation, Natcorp. “This allows HR teams to focus on their core competencies, like their recruitment strategy, while reducing operational costs with AI.”

Oracle APEX is included in Oracle Database and all Oracle Database services including Oracle Autonomous Database, delivering extreme application performance, as well as industry-hardened security, availability, and scalability. For example, when used in conjunction with AI Vector Search in Oracle Database 23ai, Oracle APEX offers a way for developers to combine semantic search for documents, images, and other unstructured data with searches on private business data.

“There’s low code and there’s low code done right,” said Ron Westfall, research director, The Futurum Group. “With the latest introduction of APEX 24.1, Oracle has deftly demonstrated how GenAI can enable developers to create hardened, mission-critical applications with ease. Coming off a series of consecutive innovations and strategic announcements—such as Oracle Database 23ai and Oracle Database@Google Cloud—APEX 24.1 continues to demonstrate Oracle’s open and collaborative approach to clouds and application development.”

New AI enhancements in Oracle APEX include:

• APEX AI Assistant: Enables the creation of valid SQL statements from a natural language user prompt. APEX AI Assistant remembers SQL syntax, so developers don’t have to and automates the writing of SQL queries. It explains existing code and suggests code bug fixes that can be adopted with a simple click, freeing developers from routine coding tasks.
• Create App Assistant: Enables the creation of new application blueprints from a natural language user prompt that specifies desired attributes and capabilities. This simplifies the development of new applications and allows developers to focus their energy and resources on creating unique, bespoke application features rather than underlying code.
• Conversational AI dialogs: Enables end-users to “converse” with their applications in natural language through an out-of-the-box conversational interface that developers can easily add to their applications. As a result, developers can provide a richer in-app experience without the need to build generative AI or natural language processing components from scratch.