BIRD-Interact, explained: the conversational text-to-SQL benchmark

What is BIRD-Interact? BIRD-Interact is an independent benchmark that tests how well AI systems complete database tasks through conversation. It evaluates whether a system can clarify a vague request, explore the database schema, write correct SQL, and handle a follow-up question. The full benchmark contains 600 tasks across 22 PostgreSQL databases. Of the 600, 410 tasks are business questions and 190 are management operations, including creating tables, updating records, and deleting data. Executable tests check whether the SQL produces the intended results or database changes. It was built by the BIRD Team and Google Cloud, and the benchmark paper was published at ICLR 2026. The original BIRD benchmark evaluates text-to-SQL: how well a system translates a question into a correct database query. Its tasks require understanding database values and using supplied external knowledge, such as domain definitions, to interpret the request. BIRD-Interact adds a dynamic exchange. The initial request may be ambiguous, and relevant knowledge may be missing, so…