Snowflake is expanding its AI capabilities with the public preview of Cortex Agents, to help retrieve data insights by orchestrating across structured and unstructured datasets. Cortex Agents streamlines agentic application data access and orchestration for more reliable AI-driven decisions by building on top of enhancements to our Cortex AI retrieval services.

AI is proving that it’s here to stay. While 2023 brought wonder and 2024 saw widespread experimentation, 2025 will be the year that the advertising, media and entertainment industry gets serious about AI's applications. But it’s complicated: AI proofs of concept are graduating from the sandbox to production, just as some of AI’s biggest cheerleaders are turning a bit dour.

We’ve all experienced those moments as consumers — receiving an offer for something irrelevant or being addressed by the wrong name. For years now, I’ve received promotional emails and postcards from a global automotive brand addressed to someone named “Leighann Drake.” Neither I nor anyone in my family goes by that name, nor do we own a vehicle from that brand.

The emergence and growing adoption of generative AI and the agreement to and implementation of the EU AI Act uncannily coincided. These two factors have catalyzed an AI renaissance within many enterprises. Yes, companies were already applying AI here and there across their organizations — but responding to the impact of these two exogenous forces required a whole new way of thinking and doing. All of a sudden, all eyes were on AI.

AI is proving that it’s here to stay. While 2023 brought wonder and 2024 saw widespread experimentation, 2025 will be the year that healthcare and life sciences get serious about AI's applications. But it’s complicated: AI proofs of concept are graduating from the sandbox to production, just as some of AI’s biggest cheerleaders are turning a bit dour.

For years, companies have operated under the prevailing notion that AI is reserved only for the corporate giants — the ones with the resources to make it work for them. But as technology speeds forward, organizations of all sizes are realizing that generative AI isn’t just aspirational; it’s accessible and applicable now.

People often ask me, “Why did you join Snowflake, and why did you choose to work on developer productivity?” I joined Snowflake to learn from world-class engineers and be part of the highly collaborative culture. These have been the secret sauce to Snowflake’s rocket-ship growth. Snowflake was embarking on a remarkable transformation of developer productivity, and I had to jump on the rocket ship as it was taking off!

AI is here to stay. While 2023 brought wonder and 2024 ushered in widespread experimentation, 2025 will mark the year that retailers get serious about AI's real-world applications. But it’s complicated: AI proofs of concept are graduating from the sandbox to production even as major AI innovators face competition from newer upstarts. At this point, the pace of AI evolution is outstripping the news cycle.

Generative AI’s potential to drive innovation, improve efficiency and create competitive advantages is enormous. However, the ability to fully realize the benefits of generative AI hinges on one crucial factor: data strategy. “Data Strategies for AI Leaders,” a report co-written by MIT and Snowflake, underscores how organizations must invest in robust data foundations to succeed in the AI era.

Across all industries, generative AI is driving innovation and transforming how we work. Use cases range from getting immediate insights from unstructured data such as images, documents and videos, to automating routine tasks so you can focus on higher-value work. Gen AI makes this all easy and accessible because anyone in an enterprise can simply interact with data by using natural language.