Google’s annual cloud conference kicked off in Las Vegas, showcasing a heavy emphasis on artificial intelligence across various product lines and services. Here’s a breakdown of the key announcements:
Google Vids: AI-Powered Video Creation Enters the Workspace
- Google Vids simplifies video creation for businesses, leveraging AI for editing, writing, and production. Users can now create professional-looking videos directly within familiar Google Workspace tools like Docs and Sheets, eliminating the need to switch between applications. Real-time collaboration with colleagues further streamlines the process, allowing teams to work together seamlessly on video projects.
AI for Developers: Tools to Help Build and Deploy AI Models
- Vertex AI Agent Builder streamlines the creation of AI customer service agents, using Google Search for reliable answers.
- Gemini in Databases offers a suite of AI tools for building, monitoring, and migrating app databases.
- Gemini Code Assist, Google’s answer to GitHub Copilot, provides AI-assisted code completion.
Security Meets AI: New Tools to Protect Businesses
- Google is harnessing the power of generative AI to enhance its security offerings, unveiling a suite of intelligent tools designed to protect businesses from evolving threats. Threat Intelligence leverages AI to analyze massive datasets of potential malware and malicious code, helping security teams identify and neutralize threats more efficiently. Chronicle, Google’s cloud-based security telemetry platform, now incorporates AI-powered insights to assist with threat investigations and incident response. Additionally, the Security Command Center benefits from AI-driven anomaly detection, enabling security professionals to proactively identify and address potential security breaches.
Nvidia Blackwell Platform Coming to Google Cloud
Great news for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads! Early 2025 will see the arrival of Nvidia’s next-generation Blackwell platform on Google Cloud. This powerful addition boasts support for the high-performance Nvidia HGX B200, ideal for tackling demanding AI and HPC tasks. The platform will also include support for the GB200 NBL72, specifically designed for training large language models (LLMs). To ensure optimal performance for these graphics-intensive workloads, Google has confirmed that the GB200 servers will be liquid-cooled.
Google Workspace Gets Smarter and Starts Charging for Some Advanced AI Features
Google Workspace is receiving a wave of AI-powered upgrades designed to boost productivity and streamline workflows. Here’s a closer look at some of the key enhancements:
- Smarter Email: Gmail users can now leverage AI through voice prompts to trigger the “Help me write” feature on the go. Additionally, a new feature helps transform rough email drafts into polished and professional messages.
- Enhanced Collaboration: A new feature in Google Sheets allows users to set up custom alerts triggered by changes in specific fields, keeping teams informed of critical data updates. For Docs users, the introduction of tab functionality enables better document organization, allowing users to consolidate information within a single document instead of relying on multiple linked documents or scattered Drive searches.
- AI-Powered Meetings and Security (add-on features): Google is venturing into monetization of some its advanced AI features within Google Workspace. For a monthly fee of $10 per user, businesses can access an add-on package that provides AI-powered assistance for meetings and document security. This includes features like automatic note-taking and meeting summaries, along with real-time translation capabilities supporting 69 languages. The add-on security package offers additional benefits for admins, helping them safeguard sensitive Google Workspace content with enhanced security measures.
- Expanded Generative AI Capabilities:
- Imagen 2, Google’s image generation tool within Vertex AI, boasts new features like inpainting for filling in missing image elements and outpainting for extending existing images creatively.
- Google Cloud unveils its first custom-built Arm processor, Axion, designed to deliver superior performance and power efficiency for AI workloads compared to competitors’ offerings.
More to come from Google Cloud Next 2024….
