Oracle, the software company, has recently announced that it is adding generative artificial intelligence (AI) features across its corporate software lineup. The move will increase competition with Microsoft and other technology firms to sell the technology to businesses.

Oracle's cloud-based software offerings are central to many businesses in running their finances, supply chains and human resources departments, and the Austin, Texas-based company said that the new features are designed to save time for those people by generating reports, summarising complicated data or drafting job descriptions, among other tasks.

For Oracle, a late comer to the cloud computing market, the features are a core part of its efforts to catch up to corporate software rivals such as Microsoft, which is also trying to woo business with its "Copilot" AI features. Oracle has spent billions of dollars on Nvidia chips and partnered with Cohere, an AI start founded by ex-Google employees.

Unlike consumer apps such as ChatGPT where users simply type requests directly to a chatbot, Oracle has identified about 50 different features where the AI system has been tuned to handle specific tasks, such as writing up a product description in a catalogue based off data in a company inventory system, or summarising a long chain of back-and-forth price negotiations with a supplier. In all cases, a human employee reviews the AI-generated information before it becomes final.

Oracle does not plan to charge extra for the new features.