AI Agents and the Cyborg Within: Redefining Customer Experience at Oracle

Oracle held its annual Analyst Summit earlier this week and, yes, artificial intelligence, and particularly agentic AI, was front and center throughout the two-day event. But for me it felt a bit different from many of the industry events I've checked out so far this year.  Here are a few things that stood out to me:

• Oracle's control of the "bare-metal" infrastructure layer and data center placement strategy is foundational to its long-term ability to add AI to everything in a way that positively impacts customers over the long haul.
• This approach, on top of its core database foundation and breadth/depth of applications and vertical solutions, gives Oracle a pretty significant data/AI one-two punch.
• Taking a longer-term approach to getting AI into their customers' hands seems even more legit when you think about the stability of the executive leadership team, including:

• Steve Miranda - executive vice president of application  development (32 years at Oracle).
• Rob Tarkoff - executive vice president and general manager of Oracle CX (7 years).
• Rob Pinkerton - senior vice president of Oracle CX (almost 9 years across two tours of duty).
• Katrina Gosek - vice president of product management, Oracle CX (13 years).
• Jeff Wartgow - vice president of product management, Oracle CX Service (11 years).

Not only are these folks experienced, they know what they're doing and know how to present it in a way that's easily understandable. As a group they aren't afraid to bring some personality and humor into it...and a bunch of rocks and broken glass thanks to Wartgow. And, believe me, that is something that anybody who attends a bunch of these events knows is sorely lacking.

In addition to the formal program, I had an opportunity to hang out by the boat that won an America's Cup a few years back and chat it up a bit with Pinkerton. At last year's analyst event, he talked about one of the things he liked most about generative AI: his ability to argue with it.  I wanted to see how things have changed on this front from a year ago and how agentic AI has come into focus, from both a personal perspective as well as Oracle CX's product strategy. Check out the clip below along with an edited transcript from our conversation. And definitely check out why Pinkerton says agentic AI has him feeling a bit more like Arnold Schwarzenegger these days.

Edited Transcript

Rob Pinkerton: For those of us who work in technology it is just a time to enjoy what is happening with this stuff right now. We've been through big tectonic technology shifts with .com and mobile. This is just extraordinary.  I literally now think that I am a cyborg. Like I mean, a cyborg is a human who has enhanced powers through technology. I don't mean like wearing Meta Glasses and taking pictures, and replacing my head. I do that, too. But I just mean, like, the way I have integrated this capability into everything that I do. And it's it's making me more able. I'll give you an example. I'm a gamer. I like to play video games. It got even better when I had kids, but as I got older I just couldn't keep up. I mean these games are daunting.

Now I wait until like all the walk-through guides come out. My kids tell me how to play, and there's a new game out called "Expedition 33" to download. It's hard; it's immersive; it's amazing. But I'm just playing there with my little ChatGPT Audio on, and it's already synthesized all the walk-throughs. This game's been out two days, I think, and I'm just talking through it, trying to figure it out because, you know, as you get older, you get less patient to go collect things and figure things out.

It's enabling me to stay ahead of my kids, right? And it's not just that, right? It's every single thing that we do. You have this little buddy that can add some sort of value.

And personally, I'm just trying to use it in everything just to experiment. I have no idea where this thing is going in some regards, but I feel like a cyborg, like literally, in my video game world. As I walk around. It's in Zoom meetings, in regular meetings, just with talking with people. I had a  contractor at the house and we're trying to figure something out. I was like, how do we pull back this intelligence so quickly? It's amazing and it's just fun. We should just enjoy it.

Brent Leary: It sounds like a lot has changed since last year when you were just yelling at it. So how does thatfeed into what you do here at Oracle, from a CX perspective?

Rob Pinkerton: We just feel like we're ready for the moment at Oracle. Right now AI is still emerging. It's very much an infrastructure question for most companies. They're trying to figure out how to get their data in shape. They're trying to figure out how to get their power capacity, their compute capacity, the infrastructure layer.

We haven't even gotten to what are the winning platforms, what are the winning use cases. For us, it takes a lot of pressure off because we're also an infrastructure company. Right. And we're actually doing really well as a business, as an infrastructure company. And we've thought through the entire enterprise strategy. It's taken some pressure off.

When it comes to AI, where everyone's trying in the CX space, trying to come up with the killer app we're talking to companies about the next five or 10 years, and we're talking about the end to end customer experience. We're talking about customer experience from an enterprise perspective, not from a department-by-department perspective, which is sort of how the market is right now.

And so that's made it easier for us to kind of enjoy the moment, really become a long term strategy partner to our customers, think through this stuff across the entire customer experience.

Brent Leary: From the last quarter of last year to now, it seems like it's been all about agentic. Right. So how does that fit into what you guys do?

Rob Pinkerton: Some of that is just the evolution of the language around how we learn to talk about this stuff. It's all so new. We're not even sure what words to use to talk about it. And I think, agentic tech is a good proxy for even what I was talking about with my video games.

It's like I have an agent. They're helping me solve any problem. They help me become a better cyborg sort of thing. The same is true with all of our customers. They're trying to figure this stuff out. An agent feels like the right proxy. It's also a more complex paradigm to think about in terms of deploying technology.

That's how we've been architecting, you know, with embedded AI for all of our customers through the Fusion architecture, through how we're bringing all of our software to market. We're having a lot of fun with this. We're in the moment. And I think our customers are too.

Perplexity's take on our conversation (based on the transcript)

AFGM with Rob Pinkerton at Oracle Analyst Summit
## Key Points from "AFGM with Rob Pinkerton at Oracle Analyst Summit"

**AI Evolution: From Generative to Agentic**
- Last year, the focus was on generative AI, with Rob recalling how he enjoyed arguing with AI during shopping, highlighting the novelty and interactive nature of early generative models.
- This year, the conversation shifts to agentic AI, reflecting the rapid evolution in AI terminology and capabilities.

**Personal Integration of AI**
- Rob describes feeling like a cyborg due to the seamless integration of AI tools (like ChatGPT) into daily life, from work meetings to personal tasks such as gaming.
- He shares a story about using AI to help navigate a new video game, illustrating how AI has become a real-time assistant that enhances his abilities and keeps him competitive, even with his kids.

**AI’s Impact on Work and Customer Experience**
- At Oracle, Rob emphasizes that AI is still in an emerging phase, with most companies focusing on foundational infrastructure: organizing data, ensuring compute capacity, and preparing for future use cases.
- Oracle’s strength lies in its infrastructure and enterprise-wide approach, positioning itself as a long-term strategic partner rather than chasing short-term killer apps.
- The company’s focus is on enabling end-to-end customer experience across the enterprise rather than siloed departmental solutions.

**Agentic AI and Oracle’s Strategy**
- The shift to agentic AI is seen as both a linguistic and technological evolution, representing a move toward AI agents that can act on behalf of users to solve problems and automate tasks.
- Oracle is embedding AI across its software stack, including launching an agent studio to help customers build and deploy AI agents.
- The approach is described as fun and experimental, with Oracle and its customers enjoying the process of innovation.

**Customer Readiness and Data Importance**
- The ability for companies to take advantage of agentic AI depends heavily on their data maturity; having clean, standardized, and accessible data is crucial.
- Oracle’s heritage as a database company gives it an advantage in helping clients prepare their data for AI-driven transformation.
- Companies already following Oracle's architectural strategy are well-positioned, while others might need to catch up in terms of data management and integration.

**Final Thoughts**
- The conversation ends on a light note, reinforcing the idea that anyone can become a cyborg by embracing AI in daily life.
- The overall tone is optimistic, emphasizing the excitement and fun of being part of this technological shift, while acknowledging the foundational work still required for many organizations.

## Most Important Sections of the transcript

**1. AI Evolution: From Generative to Agentic**
- The conversation highlights the rapid shift in AI focus, from generative AI last year to agentic AI this year. Pinkerton discusses how the language and understanding of AI are evolving quickly, with agentic now representing AI agents that actively assist users in solving problems and automating tasks[1].

**2. Personal Integration of AI**
- Pinkerton shares how AI tools like ChatGPT have become seamlessly integrated into his daily life, making him feel like a cyborg. He gives a practical example of using AI to help him navigate complex video games, demonstrating how AI enhances both work and personal activities[1].

**3. Oracle’s AI Strategy and Customer Experience**
- Pinkerton explains Oracle's approach to AI as primarily infrastructural at this stage. Oracle is focusing on helping companies prepare their data and computing infrastructure for future AI applications, rather than just chasing immediate killer apps. The company's strategy is to enable end-to-end customer experiences across the enterprise, not just within individual departments[1].

**4. Agentic AI and Oracle’s Product Development**
- Oracle is embedding AI across its software stack and has launched an agent studio to help customers build and deploy AI agents. This reflects Oracle's commitment to making AI practical, accessible, and fun for its customers, while also positioning itself as a long-term strategic partner[1].

**5. Data Readiness and Customer Maturity**
- The ability of companies to leverage agentic AI depends heavily on their data maturity. Pinkerton emphasizes that having well-organized, standardized data is critical for achieving meaningful AI results. Oracle's heritage as a database company gives it an advantage in guiding clients toward data readiness for AI transformation[1].

**6. Optimistic and Experimental Tone**
- The conversation maintains an upbeat, experimental tone, encouraging both Oracle and its customers to enjoy the process of AI innovation and integration, while acknowledging that foundational work is still ongoing for many organizations[1].

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These sections collectively capture the document’s main themes: the evolution of AI concepts, the integration of AI into daily and enterprise life, Oracle's strategic approach, and the central importance of data readiness in AI success.