We recently noticed that our Autonomous Database, previously on Oracle Database 23AI, has been updated to Oracle Database 26AI. There was no prior announcement or notification regarding this change.

After reviewing Oracle’s documentation, it appears that 26AI is an incremental update rather than a major version upgrade. Unlike traditional releases, this version adds new AI capabilities on top of Oracle Database 23AI without altering the internal architecture or existing APIs.

As a result, there is no need for application re-certification or complex upgrade steps—the transition is seamless.

Update path summary:

• Oracle Database 19c → 26AI (requires full upgrade)
• Oracle Database 21c → 26AI (requires full upgrade)
• Oracle Database 23AI → 26AI (applies October Release Update)

Essentially, for customers already on Oracle Database 23ai, the transition to 26ai is simple: just apply the October 2025 release update. No major architecture change, no application recertification required. It retains full mission-critical database capabilities, transactional, operational, analytic workloads and can run across environments (Oracle Cloud, other hyperscale clouds, private cloud, on-premises).

Oracle AI Database 26ai announcement: Oracle introduces its AI-native database, Oracle AI Database 26ai

For more detailed information on bug fix and patch release policies and dates, please refer to the Database Error Correction
Support Policy (Doc ID 209768.1) and the Release Schedule of Current Database Releases (Doc ID 742060.1)
Information on upgrade paths can be found in the Database Upgrade Guide for the release you plan to upgrade to. Product
documentation can be found at https://docs.oracle.com in the Oracle Help Center