If you're choosing a business management system right now, you've probably already heard this one: “that'll be in Odoo 20.” Don't base your decision on it. Ask what works today instead, and ask for a verifiable example.
I'm Gábor Glázer. I work on Odoo implementations. I'm not going to predict what's in Odoo's next major version. I'll walk through what's worth asking your vendor, and show what a verifiable answer to a question like that looks like.
What's officially known — and what's just speculation
I checked Odoo's official conference page. It lists OXP 2026 in Brussels, 24–26 September. No release date for the next major version is listed there.
The further promises floating around about database architecture and approval workflows — I found those in partner blogs, not in an official announcement. I'm not saying they're false. I'm saying they're unverified, and that's something you should know before a purchasing decision.
I'm drawing this line sharply because I'm about to give you numbers of my own in the sections below. The fair thing is to show you first where the line sits between what I know and what I've only heard.
What to ask your vendor if they promise AI
If you're choosing an Odoo partner right now, four questions will get you most of the way. None of them is designed to catch anyone out. Their purpose is simple: find out whether your vendor actually uses what they're recommending to you, in their own company.
- Which version do you run in your own company? Not at your clients' sites — in your own day-to-day work.
- Which AI features have you turned on, and which have you left off? The reasoning behind what's turned off often tells you more than the list of what's turned on.
- Did you build custom development on top of it, or are you using the out-of-the-box features? Either is fine — it just needs to be said plainly.
- If the built-in AI sends data to an external provider, what do you recommend to a client for whom that isn't acceptable?
Whoever answers these concretely is worth continuing the conversation with. Whoever points to the next version, ask them what works today instead.
In the sections below, I'll show you the level of detail you can reasonably expect in an answer, using data measured from my own live system on 7 August 2026.
What a verifiable answer looks like
As of 7 August 2026, twelve out-of-the-box AI modules whose name starts with an AI label were installed on my own live Odoo 19 system. One further stock module that adds AI support runs under a different name; the counting detail is in the FAQ below. The twelve cluster around five areas: document handling and accounting, sales, an internal knowledge base, the website, and the core system.
I left three stock AI modules turned off. All three belong to live customer-support chat. I don't currently run customer-facing live chat, so there's nothing for them to serve.
A feature list alone doesn't say much on its own. It says more when a vendor also shows you what they left off, and why.
Don't take any number on faith — not even mine
The number twelve isn't an eyeballed estimate. I queried the system for the list of installed AI modules, and the flawed query returned thirty-three plausible-looking matches, so I checked each one individually.
The search matched the letters “ai” anywhere inside a word, which pulled in every module with those two letters somewhere in its name: email, newsletter distribution, postal mail and the Gmail connector. None of them has anything to do with artificial intelligence.
The lesson here isn't really about me anymore. The broken query didn't return zero — it returned a plausible number. Zero would have stood out, because it looks suspicious. Thirty-three doesn't stand out, because it's large enough to sound credible and small enough to be believable.
That's why I went through the matches one by one, and twelve modules actually met the criteria. If a vendor gives you a number, this question is always fair: where did it come from, and what did you check alongside it?
What I developed for myself — and why I don't offer it as a finished product
The stock modules give you a shared foundation. On my system, alongside configuration and data, three custom pieces of development shape how it actually runs day to day. I use two of them in daily operations: one manages AI settings, the other was built for the downloadable checklist on the website.
The third one is the important part: I connected Odoo's own query interface to my locally hosted, in-house knowledge base. Odoo's built-in AI features work with an external provider. In my setup, a colleague still uses Odoo's familiar interface, but the answer now comes from a system running locally. Same click, different destination for the data.
I don't offer this as a finished product, because it's built on my own knowledge base and my own processes. At another company, the data sources, access rights, and which answers responsibility can reasonably be accepted for would all need to be assessed separately.
Three AI agents, including one expert of my own
In Odoo 19, you can give an AI agent a defined task and access, so it can work on the system's data within the rules you've set. On my system, three agents are active: two are stock, and I created the third myself in June 2026, called “GI Odoo Expert.”
My own Odoo system's agent list. Three agents are running: two are stock — they use an external provider's model — and I set up the third to work against the company's internal knowledge base and a model I run locally. You can see it right there in the image: which agent talks to what.
A colleague can, for example, ask about an invoicing setting inside Odoo's interface, and the answer comes from the internal knowledge base I put together. The difference from a general-purpose chatbot is that this agent works from material that I have personally worked through. It's been running for two months, and by now it's become a working tool.
Permissions, tested in a client environment
I can show you how I built this on my own system. That doesn't automatically mean the same thing will work the same way for you. So in one client's live environment, I also checked whether the assistant respects user permissions.
I requested the same financial summary using two accounts with different permission levels. The account with full access received the summary. The account with restricted access got an error message and saw no financial data at all.
An internal query interface can't be allowed to bypass user permissions. That's something to verify in your own system before any rollout — not assume.
When AI steps outside the conversation
One thing is worth thinking through in advance, because it carries a real risk. In Odoo, an automation rule can trigger an AI feature too, so it can run even when nobody's asking it a question.
In that case, you decide in advance whether the result becomes a suggestion waiting for approval, or something that can modify data directly. If it runs on its own and can write directly, it will also run on bad input, with nobody there to catch it. That's a configuration choice — but one that needs to be made deliberately, not made on the fly.
Let's look at which AI layer actually fits your processes. In a free, no-obligation 30–45 minute call, I'll go through a possible first step with you.
What am I doing in September?
I can answer this one without predicting anything, because it's not about what the system will know in the future. It's about how I work.
I'll wait for the official presentation and read what actually shipped. I test the released version in a separate environment first. Client work runs on my live system, so I don't experiment there during the first weeks after a major version change.
In the test environment, I first check what installs and what works with Hungarian settings. Then I separately verify whether a given feature is usable in Hungarian accounting practice. That typically takes weeks, not days.
Once that's done, I'll write about it — again with numbers, and again with what I didn't turn on. What I won't promise right now is which feature I'll like. I need to see it first.
FAQ
When is the next major Odoo version coming out?
I'm not stating an official release date. OXP 2026 runs 24–26 September in Brussels; I'll examine whatever version actually ships in a separate test environment, and I'll write about it — again, with numbers.
Do you need Odoo Enterprise for the AI features?
For most of them, yes. Of the twelve modules running on my system, ten are Enterprise-licensed, including the built-in query interface — it isn't available on the Community edition. Two are exceptions and are under an open-source licence. The locally hosted knowledge base itself can run alongside Community too, but then not through Odoo's own interface — through a separate access point instead. Which route is feasible in your setup can be clarified during an assessment.
Does our data go to an external AI provider?
Odoo's built-in AI features work with an external provider, so content passed to the AI can end up in external processing. Where data can't go to an external provider, I connected Odoo's query interface to a locally hosted system through my own development instead.
Did you turn on everything that's available?
No. Three stock AI modules are switched off on my system, because I don't have a process for them to serve. Turn on what has a job to do.
Why twelve, and not thirteen?
There's one more stock module running that adds AI support to the contract-signing process. It isn't in the twelve because my query only counted modules whose name starts with an AI label; this one runs under a different name. I'm noting it because that's exactly the point of this article: a number is only as good as the filter behind it.
When was this list measured?
I measured it from my own system on 7 August 2026. Modules can be installed and agents created at any time, so I update the numbers when they change.
Let's look at your setup
The numbers from my own system show the level of detail you can require from a vendor. What matters for your decision is which process AI would actually help in your business, and under what conditions.
Book a free 30–45 minute assessment. We'll pick the first process where a realistic business result is likely, and decide whether built-in AI, a locally hosted setup, or simple automation fits it. We'll take that process forward into a detailed payback calculation.
The assessment is free and no-obligation.
Related reading
If you found this measurement useful, these three articles take it further:
- AI in Odoo: Practical Examples for Growing Businesses — six concrete cases where the AI modules genuinely save time.
- EU AI Act 2026: What It Means for Your Odoo Business in Hungary (and What It Doesn't) — the regulatory side of the permissions and accountability question.
- Odoo Community vs Enterprise: What's the Difference, and Which Does a Hungarian SME Need? — AI agents are an Enterprise feature; that's the next question if you're on Community.
Sources
- Odoo Experience 2026 (OXP) — practical information, Odoo's official conference page: www.odoo.com/event/odoo-experience-2026-9099/page/oxp26-be-practical-information (accessed: 7 August 2026).