All Data and AI Weekly #242-18 May 2026
( AI, Data, Agentic AI, Cortex Code, NiFi, Iceberg, Polaris, Streamlit, Python, Java, SQL, MCP, LLM, RAG, Cortex AI, AISQL, Search, Unstructured Data )
Tim's Corner: Document AI Gets Smarter, Summit is Two Weeks Away
Welcome to issue 242! This week Snowflake shipped AI_CLASSIFY for documents in public preview - automatically categorize PDFs, DOCX, CSVs and more using simple SQL for intelligent document routing. Cortex Search Auto-Suspend entered preview to cut costs on idle services. Per-function AI privileges went GA giving admins fine-grained control over which roles can call specific AI functions. CHECK Constraints with Error Tables landed so you can stop cleaning up bad data after the fact. Microsoft Copilot Studio got a Snowflake Cortex integration via MCP. Perplexity AI added a native Snowflake connector. Snowpark Connect history UI entered limited access. And the community delivered guides on multitenant Cortex Agents, adding chat to any website, and Semantic View patterns as a Cortex Code skill. I published a new blog on Building Real-Time Multimodal AI Agents and a preview video for my Summit talk. Summit is TWO WEEKS away - register now! Let's dig in.
Tim's Content
Building Real-Time Multimodal AI Agents with Snowflake
Tim's new blog on building real-time multimodal AI agents using Snowflake's new video and audio preview capabilities.
Blog: Building Real-Time Multimodal AI Agents with Snowflake Preview
Summit Preview Video
Watch Tim's preview of his Snowflake Summit 2026 talk on NiFi and Agents.
Video: Summit Preview - NiFi and Agents
Snowflake Summit 2026 - Tim is Speaking!
I'll be speaking at Snowflake Summit 2026 on NiFi and Agents. The Summit is TWO WEEKS away - this is your chance to join 10,000+ data professionals in San Francisco for the biggest data and AI event of the year. Check the session catalog:
Multimodal AI is Out!
Tim's LinkedIn post on the multimodal AI launch: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7457517682158993408/
New SNACK-AI Repositories
- SNACKAI-CoCo-piups-breakout-garden - Raspberry Pi UPS breakout garden sensor monitoring with SNACK-AI
- SNACKAI-CoCo-NanoSensorGarden - NVIDIA Nano sensor garden IoT project with Cortex Code
- SNACKAI-CoCo-PremiumViews - Premium views and analytics built with Cortex Code
- SLACKAI-CoCo-JetsonEdge - Edge AI on NVIDIA Jetson with Cortex Code and SNACK-AI
- SNACKAI-CoCo-SnowflakeSummit2026Agenda - Summit 2026 session agenda explorer built with Cortex Code
- SNACKAI-CoCo-CortexAITraining - Cortex AI training materials and examples built with SNACK-AI
- SNACKAI-CoCo-AIGovernance - AI governance patterns built with Cortex Code and SNACK-AI
- SNACKAI-CoCo-FindDataNearby - Location-aware data discovery built with Cortex Code
- SNACKAI-CoCo-SpringSnowGhost - Spring ghost detection with Cortex Code and SNACK-AI
- SNACKAI-CoCo-AIQueries - AI query builder with Cortex Code
- SNACKAI-CoCo-PolyMarket - Prediction market analytics with Cortex Code
- SNACKAI-CoCo-VPSCalculator - VPS cost calculator with Cortex Code
Upcoming Events: Catch Tim Live!
- May 19: Build a Multi-Engine Stack on Snowflake Storage for Iceberg and Horizon Catalog - Virtual Hands-On Lab
- May 20: Budapest Data and AI - Budapest, Hungary - Tim Virtual speaking
- May 21: Data for Breakfast Encore - Virtual
- May 26: Predictive Spatial Analytics: Turn Location Data into Actions - Virtual
- May 27: From Raw to Reliable: Build AI-Powered Data Quality Pipelines with Cortex Code - Virtual Hands-On Lab
- May 28: Build Your First Agentic ML Pipeline with Natural Language - Virtual Hands-On Lab
- June 2-5: Snowflake Summit 2026 - San Francisco, CA - Join me, I will be speaking on NiFi and Agents.
- June 4: Conf42 Database DevOps - SQL Automation Operations - Virtual
Past Events (Catch the Replays):
Snowflake Dev Day (In-Person): https://www.snowflake.com/en/dev-day/in-person/
All Snowflake Events: https://www.snowflake.com/about/events/
Snowflake Summit 2026 - San Francisco, June 2-5
The biggest event of the year is TWO WEEKS away! Snowflake Summit 2026 returns to San Francisco June 2-5. Anthropic's Daniela Amodei joins the keynote, 500+ sessions, 200+ partners.
Agentic Enterprise Announcement: Snowflake Expands Intelligence and Cortex Code
Register now: https://www.snowflake.com/summit/
Featured: AI_CLASSIFY for Document Classification (Public Preview)
The AI_CLASSIFY function now accepts documents as input, enabling automatic categorization of PDFs, DOCX, CSV and more using simple SQL. Streamline document intake and intelligently route content - contracts, invoices, reports - into the right downstream workflows.
Release Notes: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/release-notes/2026/other/2026-05-13-ai-classify-document
Documentation: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/sql-reference/functions/ai_classify
Featured: CHECK Constraints with Error Tables
Snowflake CHECK Constraints with Error Tables let you stop cleaning up bad data after the fact. Define data quality rules at the table level and capture constraint violations in error tables for investigation rather than rejecting entire loads.
Read more: Snowflake CHECK Constraints: Stop Cleaning Up Bad Data
Cortex AI & Agents
Per-Function AI Privileges (GA - May 13)
Grant per-function privileges for Cortex AI Functions using USE AI FUNCTION <name>. Fine-grained control over which roles can call specific AI functions instead of blanket access.
Release Notes: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/release-notes/2026/other/2026-05-13-use-ai-function-per-function-privileges
Documentation: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/user-guide/snowflake-cortex/aisql#use-ai-function-name-per-function-privileges
Cortex Search Auto-Suspend (Preview - May 11)
Configure a Cortex Search Service to auto-suspend its serving compute after query inactivity and resume on new queries. Reduces serving costs on idle services. Minimum: 1800 seconds (30 min).
Read more: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/release-notes/2026/other/2026-05-11-cortex-search-auto-suspend-preview
Integrating Microsoft Copilot Studio with Snowflake Cortex via MCP
Connect Microsoft Copilot Studio agents to Snowflake Cortex using MCP (Model Context Protocol) for enterprise AI agent interoperability.
Don't Trust the LLM with Tenant Isolation: Multitenant Cortex Agents
How to build multitenant Cortex Agents on Snowflake with proper tenant isolation - ensuring LLMs can't cross data boundaries.
Add a "Talk to Your Data" Chat to Any Website
Add a Snowflake Cortex-powered chat interface to any website for natural language data exploration.
Perplexity AI Snowflake Connector
Perplexity AI adds a native Snowflake app connector for AI-powered search and analysis directly on your Snowflake data.
Connector: https://www.perplexity.ai/hub/products/app-connectors/snowflake
Cortex Code Semantic View Patterns Skill
Official Snowflake Solutions skill for semantic view patterns in Cortex Code CLI.
GitHub: https://github.com/Snowflake-Solutions/cortex-code-skills/tree/main/skills/semantic-view-patterns
Snowflake Platform Updates
Sensitive Data Entitlement Report (Preview - May 13)
Generate a Sensitive Data Entitlement report to view who can access sensitive data in your account. Creates a view listing users with access control roles and privileges on tables containing sensitive data.
Organization Usage: Secrets and Tri-Secret Secure Views (May 12)
New ORGANIZATION_USAGE premium views for visibility into secrets and Tri-Secret Secure customer-managed key history across all accounts.
Snowpark Connect History UI (Limited Access)
Snowpark Connect gets a history UI in Snowsight for monitoring Spark job execution history.
Documentation: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/LIMITEDACCESS/snowpark-connect/snowpark-connect-history-ui
Snowpipe Streaming High Performance Getting Started
Updated guide for getting started with Snowpipe Streaming high-performance ingestion.
Documentation: https://docs.snowflake.com/en/user-guide/snowpipe-streaming/snowpipe-streaming-high-performance-getting-started
pg_lake (Snowflake Labs)
pg_lake - Snowflake Labs' tool for syncing PostgreSQL data to Snowflake via Iceberg tables.
GitHub: https://github.com/Snowflake-Labs/pg_lake
From the Community: Medium & Blogs
- Building Real-Time Multimodal AI Agents with Snowflake - Tim Spann on multimodal AI agent patterns with Snowflake's new video/audio preview
- Integrating Microsoft Copilot Studio with Snowflake Cortex via MCP - Connect Copilot Studio agents to Snowflake via Model Context Protocol
- Don't Trust the LLM with Tenant Isolation - Building multitenant Cortex Agents with proper data boundaries
- Add a "Talk to Your Data" Chat to Any Website - Embed Cortex-powered chat for natural language data exploration
- Snowflake Just Killed Its Own Notebooks - Community perspective on Snowflake's notebook evolution
GitHub: Snowflake Labs & Community
- pg_lake - Sync PostgreSQL to Snowflake via Iceberg
- cortex-code-skills/semantic-view-patterns - Semantic View patterns skill for Cortex Code
- hunk - Modern data development toolkit
- RuView - AI-powered code review and analysis
- Velonus - Performance monitoring and analytics
- agentmemory - Memory management for AI agents
- inspect_ai - UK Government AI inspection and evaluation framework
Developer Tools & Resources
- Ratty Term - Terminal emulator and tools
- Tailscale Pricing - Zero-config VPN mesh networking for teams
SNACK-AI: The 2026 Pattern
As we look forward in 2026, SNACK-AI is the architectural pattern for powering AI applications at any scale - from mobile phones and robots to massive enterprise clusters.
SNACK-AI integrates:
- Snowflake Platform
- NiFi (Apache)
- Apache Iceberg
- Cortex AI (Agents/Search/MCP)
- Kafka (Apache Kafka)
Deep Dive into SNACK-AI:
- Read: SNACK-AI: The 2026 Pattern (Medium)
- Code: Official SNACK-AI GitHub Repository
- Weekly Context: SNACK-AI Overview
Thanks
https://sessionize.com/tspann
https://github.com/timothyspann
Generated with Cortex Code for All Data and AI Weekly - May 18, 2026