Databricks Genie gets a major update. The AI assistant evolves into an autonomous agent that stays active at all times.
Databricks is launching an update for Genie that keeps the agent running permanently in the background with its own compute. Users give it a goal and boundaries. Genie tracks progress, finds missing information on its own and puts a decision to an employee when needed.
Priority inbox
The update builds on Genie One, the AI assistant for all employees that Databricks introduced in June at its Data+AI Summit. Turning conversations into agents and scheduling tasks was already possible then. According to Databricks, the new Genie keeps track of email and Slack on its own, prepares meetings and monitors a quarterly forecast.
Genie spreads its work across multiple subagents that handle tasks in parallel. The app opens on a priority inbox with the items that need attention. Each new notification arrives as a separate unread email. Updates appear in the same thread, with a link back to the Genie app.
Ontology Manager
Genie Ontology, the context layer that Databricks introduced in June, gets more sources. This knowledge graph automatically collects business definitions, metrics, people and processes, so that agents interpret a question in the context of a specific company. For example, Genie knows that a company defines engagement in its web app as a session of at least 30 seconds.
The ontology now also pulls business logic from external BI tools and gets a connector for the organisational structure and reporting lines. In the new Ontology Manager, teams manage that context in one place. The tool also flags frequently requested concepts that have no fixed definition.
Genie Search
Genie Search searches the lakehouse and business apps such as Google Drive, Jira and Confluence, without the data being moved. Databricks cites more than 100 connectors, which are queried live via MCP or loaded through Lakeflow Connect. The access rules of Unity Catalog continue to apply.
By default, Genie works within existing governance: actions stay within the permissions of Unity Catalog. Through Unity Gateway, administrators set approval rules and budgets. They determine which tools Genie may use and set spending caps per team or per user. Every action can be audited.
Genie and Genie Ontology were already generally available to all Databricks customers. The always-on Genie, Genie Search and the Ontology Manager will soon arrive in preview and beta programmes. Databricks has not yet given a date.