--- title: SQL Server 2025: AI-Ready Wherever You Run It | daily.dev description: SQL Server 2025, generally available since last November, adds AI features built directly into the engine along with 40 new engine-level improvements.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/sql-server-2025-ai-ready-wherever-you-run-it-epmc1xgp8 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: SQL Server 2025: AI-Ready Wherever You Run It | daily.dev og:description: SQL Server 2025, generally available since last November, adds AI features built directly into the engine along with 40 new engine-level improvements.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/sql-server-2025-ai-ready-wherever-you-run-it-epmc1xgp8 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/ePmC1xGp8.png og:image:alt: SQL Server 2025: AI-Ready Wherever You Run It og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # SQL Server 2025: AI-Ready Wherever You Run It **[Microsoft Developer](https://daily.dev/sources/microsoftdeveloper)** · 24 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary SQL Server 2025, generally available since last November, adds AI features built directly into the engine along with 40 new engine-level improvements. Developers can declare AI model definitions in T-SQL, generate vector embeddings, build indexes, and run filtered vector searches without a separate vector database. A built-in RAG pattern lets stored procedures call chat completion models and log interactions with ledger tables. The release also adds optimized locking to reduce blocking from lock escalation, a native JSON data type with indexes, regular expression support in T-SQL, change event streaming to Azure Event Hub, Data API Builder with MCP server support, and the ability to run SQL Server on sovereign clouds via Azure Local with Foundry Local for on-premises AI models. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I do vector search and embeddings directly in SQL Server 2025 without a separate vector database? SQL Server 2025 lets you declare a model definition with a T-SQL command pointing to any embedding model (local, cloud, or on-premises) via a secure REST call. You store embeddings in a native vector data type column, build an index for fast search, then generate an embedding for an incoming prompt and compare it against the stored vectors, with existing WHERE clauses used to filter results. _Developers evaluating in-database vector search over external vector stores can track SQL Server's AI feature set on daily.dev._ ### What does optimized locking do in SQL Server 2025 and how does it fix lock escalation blocking? Optimized locking is a database option that uses a transaction lock based on row versioning instead of locking exact pages and rows, so concurrent updates to different parts of a table no longer collide. It resolves blocking caused by lock escalation, where a large update (e.g. updating 10,000 rows) locks the whole table and slows down unrelated queries. Combined with accelerated database recovery and read-committed snapshot isolation, it can make an application effectively lock free. _Teams tuning SQL Server concurrency issues can follow locking and performance updates like this on daily.dev._ ### What is Data API Builder (DAB) in SQL Server and can it work as an MCP server? Data API Builder (DAB) is a tool that automatically exposes SQL Server views, stored procedures, and tables through REST or GraphQL APIs without writing connection or query code, and it handles security using existing database roles. With a simple JSON configuration, a DAB application can also be transformed into an MCP (model context protocol) server, letting AI agent clients securely call stored procedures as tools against the database. _Developers wiring databases into MCP-based agent workflows can keep up with tools like DAB on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [New T-SQL AI Features are now in Public Preview for Azure SQL and SQL database in Microsoft Fabric](https://daily.dev/posts/new-t-sql-ai-features-are-now-in-public-preview-for-azure-sql-and-sql-database-in-microsoft-fabric-x0vb8r1z1) · DevBlogs · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [AI meets SQL Server 2025 on Ubuntu](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-meets-sql-server-2025-on-ubuntu-mobi47bby) · Ubuntu · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Building Scalable AI on Enterprise Data with NVIDIA Nemotron RAG and Microsoft SQL Server 2025](https://daily.dev/posts/building-scalable-ai-on-enterprise-data-with-nvidia-nemotron-rag-and-microsoft-sql-server-2025-4iimndq1v) · NVIDIA Developer · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#backend](https://daily.dev/tags/backend), [#azure](https://daily.dev/tags/azure), [#rag](https://daily.dev/tags/rag), [#microsoft-sql-server](https://daily.dev/tags/microsoft-sql-server), [#vector-search](https://daily.dev/tags/vector-search) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/sql-server-2025-ai-ready-wherever-you-run-it-epmc1xgp8) ```json 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