Google Cloud Next ’24: Kurian, Pichai, More Talk AI, AI, AI
“Enterprises can do things today that just were impossible with AI before,” said Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian at Google Cloud Next '24 in Las Vegas.
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Google Cloud Next '24 in Las Vegas, April 9.
Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian took the Next ’24 stage on April 9 to kick off a 90-minute keynote.
The event featured an in-depth look at Google Cloud’s AI advancements, as well as customer testimonials from companies including Goldman Sachs, Mercedes-Benz, Uber and Wayfair.
Kurian brought Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, on stage via video to quickly share his views on Google Cloud’s growth in AI.
Last summer, Pichai said, “we were just beginning to imagine how this technology could transform businesses — and today that transformation is well underway.”
To that point, Pichai added, Google Cloud now boasts a $36 billion annual revenue run rate.
“That’s five times the run rate five years ago,” he said.
That momentum has Pichai excited.
“I’m really looking forward to this next chapter and to seeing how AI will help all of you transform your businesses and innovate today and for the future,” he said.
To be sure, AI talk dominated the opening Google Cloud Next '24 keynote.
“Our biggest announcements today are focused on generative AI,” Kurian said. “Customers have quickly gone from experimenting with generative AI to making predictions and are now building generative AI agents,” which he described as “intelligent entities that … help you achieve a specific goal.”
With that in mind, Kurian dove into some insights around Gemini 1.5 Pro, the model he announced earlier on Tuesday.
Consider this: Gemini now supports 1 million tokens. That means, Kurian said, that Gemini 1.5 Pro is “consistently opening up new possibilities for enterprises to create, discover and build using … Gemini’s multimodal capabilities, which can process audio, video and text that leads to advances. Enterprises can do things today that just were impossible with AI before.”
For example, a gaming company could now offer video analysis to support players. Imagine your character is running from the enemy and there’s a car nearby you ignore. Gemini 1.5 Pro might suggest using the car for a getaway. Or an insurance company could combine video images and text to create an incident report and automate the claims process, Kurian said.
Google Cloud next touted its Vertex AI agent builder. The module delivers human-like conversations and interactions; controls and shapes conversations; and features technology that improves response quality.
The cloud provider gave this demonstration to illustrate Vertex AI’s agent capabilities: A woman spots a jacket she likes in a music video. Using Google’s AI-powered search, she finds a local store that has the jacket in stock, in her size. Even so, she calls the store to make sure she can pick up the item today. The AI agent answers the call, knows who the caller is and that she has a coupon, confirms her purchase and asks whether she wants to buy a shirt and boots that complement the jacket. She agrees and the purchase goes through.
Next up, some Google Workspace updates thanks to Gemini.
Aparna Pappu, vice president and general manager of Google Workspace shared the following:
More than 70% of users accept Gemini’s writing suggestions.
More than 75% of people creating images and slides insert Gemini-created versions into their presentations.
Pappu also confirmed Kurian’s earlier introductions of Google Vids. The new platform means anyone can create and personalize videos, and even add voiceovers via Gemini presets, as well as insert stock media.
“This doesn't just help you create videos, it helps you become a better storyteller with a rich, new medium,” Pappu said.
There’s also Imagen 2.0 for advanced text-to-image creation. That’s generally available in Vertex AI. And now in preview, look for text-to-live image. This lets users build animated images — say, a flower unfurling in the morning sun — from a text prompt. And new editing modes in Imagen 2.0 support the removal of unwanted elements and the addition of others.
“When all of these tools come together, it’s a powerful combination,” Pappu said.
For channel partners working in BigQuery and AlloyDB, Gemini now supports vector indexing, meaning that you can query the right data in systems.
There’s also direct access to Vertex AI from BigQuery.
The ability to combine AI models is translating into four times faster performance and proving three times more cost-effective than other data warehouse/AI platforms, said Brad Calder, vice president and general manager of Google Cloud.
For channel partners working in BigQuery and AlloyDB, Gemini now supports vector indexing, meaning that you can query the right data in systems.
There’s also direct access to Vertex AI from BigQuery.
The ability to combine AI models is translating into four times faster performance and proving three times more cost-effective than other data warehouse/AI platforms, said Brad Calder, vice president and general manager of Google Cloud.
GOOGLE CLOUD NEXT — Google Cloud kicked off its Next ’24 event Tuesday with 30,000 people in the keynote audience.
The world’s third-largest public cloud provider is holding its latest annual customer and partner event in Las Vegas this week.
All in all, there were more than 2,500 partners on hand and 400 sponsors in the keynote arena, said Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.
(In case you missed our earlier coverage, check out the news on Google Cloud’s 2024 partners of the year, which include some names very familiar to Channel Futures readers, as well as Kurian’s preview for the major news coming out of Next ’24).
If you didn’t attend in person or watch online, here’s a little hint about what to expect from Next ’24: anything and everything AI — especially around Google Gemini. As Kurian put it to the audience, “Enterprises can do things today that just were impossible with AI before.”
Check out our coverage of Kurian’s Next ’24 keynote in the slideshow above.
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