The key change in SQL Server 2025 is native vector support: a vector data type with DiskANN indexing on CPU. This enables semantic search and RAG directly inside SQL Server — no GPUs and no external vector store. You can also call external AI models directly from T-SQL, including Azure OpenAI and Ollama.

On the performance side, Optimized Locking reduces blocking in high-concurrency workloads, while Intelligent Query Processing improves plan stability with better memory and DOP feedback. Backups are faster with ZSTD compression.
For developers, JSON is now a first-class data type, with built-in regex support and real-time change streaming from the transaction log.

Bottom line: SQL Server 2025 brings AI to the data, reduces ETL, and scales better for both OLTP and analytics.
This is a demo session only with minimum theory & lessons from the fields and on-premises solutions!