Snowflake Cortex AI: Delivering Business Value with the Latest Features

What is Cortex AI? 

Cortex AI is Snowflake’s native AI solution that provides built-in tools and machine learning within your existing data environment. This means there is no need to worry about data security or managing multiple systems as everything runs securely where your data already lives. It also opens the door to powerful use cases like sentiment analysis, text summarization, and natural language querying, enabling teams to quickly turn data into actionable insights. 

What’s New in 2025

1. Faster Performance with AISQL

Cortex AISQL allows users to ask questions in natural language, providing an optimized query in real time. It supports querying across both structured and unstructured data, including audio, images, and files such as PDFs and Word docs. This allows you to ask questions with your data like: “What were the top performing products last month?” and Snowflake will generate the corresponding SQL query automatically.

2. Snowflake Intelligence

Snowflake Intelligence makes it easier for teams across your business to ask questions and get answers, with no technical background required. Users can interact with their data using everyday language, removing the need to rely on SQL or existing dashboards. Snowflake Intelligence enhances responses by offering suggested follow up questions, summarizes, and visual explanations. It is also context-aware which means it can interpret vague or incomplete questions and still return useful results. 

3. Data Science Agent

The Data Science Agent is designed to support technical users by automating repetitive steps in the machine learning workflow. It can assist with tasks like data preparation, feature engineering, and model training, reducing the manual effort required to get models in production. By streamlining repetitive tasks, the agent allows data scientists to focus more on high-impact analysis and model refinement. It is a practical way to accelerate projects without sacrificing quality or control. 

4. Multimodal Support

Multimodal support expands what’s possible in Cortex AI by allowing users to work with and analyze different types of data (text, images, audio, documents), at the same time. For example, this means you can analyze consumer product reviews alongside their corresponding photos. It removes the need to handle each data type separately, making complex analysis more efficient. 

5. AI Observability

AI Observability brings visibility and control by helping teams monitor performance, track usage, and debug issues within Cortex AI. It provides information on how models are being used, what questions are being asked, and how they’re performing over time. This is extremely useful for maintaining accuracy, catching issues early, and ensuring compliance standards are being met. 

Delivering Business Value

• Faster Decision Making: With tools like AISQL and Snowflake Intelligence, teams can move from raw unstructured data to actionable insights in minutes
• Lower Technical Barriers: No steep learning curve required as Cortex AI is accessible and beneficial to every team member.  
• Cost Savings: Native tools like Cortex AI eliminate the need for third party and custom infrastructure. 
• Better Governance: Data never leaves your Snowflake instance, and all AI activity can be audited and monitored. This is especially useful for compliance heavy industries. 

Snowflake Cortex AI is a powerful way to bring AI directly to your data, without the technical hurdles. Whether you’re just exploring AI or looking to embed it into your analytics workflows, Cortex helps you quickly move from idea to impact. 

Interested in what Snowflake Cortex AI can unlock for your business?

Zirous can help you access your data, plan your AI strategy, and get your team up and running with Snowflake. To learn more and get in touch, visit: https://www.zirous.com/zirous-and-snowflake/