CoPilot in SSMS? What?!!! I've been working SQL Server long enough to remember when the maintenance plan wizard was fancy! Now Microsoft is stuffing AI into everything -- whether we like it or not. This post is to show you some of what SQL Server 2025 brings, where and how it could help -- and what you should keep an eye on before diving in headfirst.
AI in T-SQL
Caution: Easy to overuse. If every SELECT starts calling out to an AI model, say goodbye to predictable query times (and hello to new invoice surprises).
Copilot
What is it? AI built right into SSMS to suggest queries, troubleshoot, and even generate code.
Why use it? Junior devs can get a leg up writing queries, DBAs can prototype faster. It’s autocomplete on steroids.
Caution: NEVER trust it blindly. Copilot will happily generate a beautiful query that runs for 17 hours and eats your tempdb alive. Think of it like a well-meaning intern -- great for drafts, terrible if left unsupervised.
Native Vector Search
What is it? Vector data types + DiskANN indexes let SQL Server do a similarity search -- find things that feel alike, not just exact matches. Pretty cool, imo.
Why use it? Let’s say you run an e-commerce site. A customer searches for 'red running shoes', but your product catalog has 'scarlet trainers'. A normal text search won’t match. Vector search uses embeddings to understand that 'red' ≈ 'scarlet' and 'shoes' ≈ 'trainers'. Suddenly your results are relevant, rather than incomplete and frustrating.
Caution: Embeddings and vector indexes have overhead for storage and compute. Great for search and discovery, but don’t sprinkle them on every column just because it sounds cool.
Change Event Streaming (CES)
What is it? Real-time event streaming into Azure Event Hubs/Fabric.
Why use it? No more waiting for nightly ETL. Dashboards update within minutes, IoT feeds light up alerts immediately.
Caution: Great for visibility, dangerous if you don’t throttle. Streaming everything 'just in case' is a quick way to set your cloud bill on fire.
Optimized Locking -- I really like this one!
Security Enhancements
What is it? Stronger TLS defaults, tighter identity integration, and instant permission cache invalidation.
Why use it: Compliance teams get faster enforcement. No more 10-minute lag where someone 'revoked' still had access.
Caution: Security is only as good as your process. If your shop’s still sharing SA passwords on Post-it notes, SQL 2025 can’t save you.
Fabric Integration
What is it? Native mirroring into Microsoft Fabric for near real-time analytics.
Why use it? Your CFO finally gets dashboards that are minutes behind production instead of hours or days.
Caution: Great for reporting, but watch schema drift. If you change structures on the OLTP side without planning, Fabric won’t forgive you.
Smarter Query Processing -- another favorite!
What is it? More Intelligent Query Processing tricks — adaptive joins, feedback loops, skew-aware parallelism.
Why use it? That query that used to bomb on 'edge case' parameters now auto-adjusts. Fewer 2AM fire drills.
Caution: Still not magic. IQP doesn’t replace query tuning — it just means SQL Server can dig you out of some holes. Not all.
These are not all of them, by any means, but they are the ones that have gotten my attention. Many of the features are still Preview rather than GA (Generally Available), so behaviors may change. We also have to factor in compatibility level requirements for some of the smarter query processing features which need 170+ to be enabled. This could mean that some of your old queries may misbehave.
I think it's all still pretty new, and new features all bring unknowns. Best to read up on them before jumping in. What's New in SQL Server 2025
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