Google’s Cloud Subsequent 2024 occasion takes place in Las Vegas by means of Thursday, and meaning plenty of new cloud-focused information on every little thing from Gemini, Google’s AI-powered chatbot, to AI to devops and safety. Final yr’s occasion was the primary in-person Cloud Subsequent since 2019, and Google took to the stage to indicate off its ongoing dedication to AI with its Duet AI for Gmail and plenty of different debuts, growth of generative AI to its safety product line along with different enterprise-focused updates and debuts.
Don’t have time to catch the Google Cloud Subsequent livestream? That’s OK; we’ve summed up a very powerful elements of the occasion beneath.
Gemini involves databases
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Google calls Gemini in Databases a set of options that “simplify all elements of the database journey.” In much less jargony language, it’s a bundle of AI-powered, developer-focused instruments for Google Cloud prospects who’re creating, monitoring and migrating app databases. Learn extra
Google renews its deal with information sovereignty
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Google has provided cloud sovereignties earlier than, however now it’s centered extra on partnerships reasonably than constructing them out on their very own. Learn extra
Safety instruments get some AI love
Google jumps on board the productizing generative AI-powered safety software prepare with plenty of new merchandise and options aimed toward massive firms. These embrace Menace Intelligence, which might analyze massive parts of probably malicious code. It additionally lets customers carry out pure language searches for ongoing threats or indicators of compromise. One other is Chronicle, Google’s cybersecurity telemetry providing for cloud prospects to help with cybersecurity investigations. The third is the enterprise cybersecurity and threat administration suite Safety Command Heart. Learn extra
Gemini Code Help
After studying about Google’s new Gemini Code Help, an enterprise-focused AI code completion and help software, you could be asking your self if that sounds acquainted. And you’ll be right. TechCrunch Senior Editor Frederic Lardinois writes that “Google beforehand provided the same service underneath the now-defunct Duet AI branding.” Then Gemini got here alongside. Code Help is a direct competitor to GitHub’s Copilot Enterprise. Right here’s why
Nvidia’s Blackwell platform
One of many anticipated bulletins is Nvidia’s next-generation Blackwell platform coming to Google Cloud in early 2025. Sure, that appears so far-off. Nevertheless, here’s what to look ahead to: assist for the high-performance Nvidia HGX B200 for AI and HPC workloads and GB200 NBL72 for giant language mannequin (LLM) coaching. Oh, and we are able to reveal that the GB200 servers shall be liquid-cooled. Learn extra
Google Workspace
Among the many new options are voice prompts to kick off the AI-based “Assist me write” function in Gmail whereas on the go. One other one for Gmail features a method to immediately flip tough e mail drafts right into a extra polished e mail. Over on Sheets, you may ship out a customizable alert when a sure area adjustments. In the meantime, a brand new set of templates make beginning a brand new spreadsheet simpler. For the Doc lovers, there’s assist for tabs now. That is good as a result of, in response to the corporate, you may “manage info in a single doc as an alternative of linking to a number of paperwork or looking out by means of Drive.” In fact, subscribers get the goodies first. Learn extra
Imagen 2
In February, Google introduced a picture generator constructed into Gemini, Google’s AI-powered chatbot. The corporate pulled it shortly after it was discovered to be randomly injecting gender and racial variety into prompts about individuals. This resulted in some offensive inaccuracies. Whereas we waited for an eventual re-release, Google got here out with the improved image-generating software, Imagen 2. That is inside its Vertex AI developer platform and has extra of a deal with enterprise. Imagen 2 is now typically out there and comes with some enjoyable new capabilities, together with inpainting and outpainting. There’s additionally Google’s calling “text-to-live photos” the place you can now create brief, four-second movies from textual content prompts, alongside the strains of AI-powered clip technology instruments like Runway, Pika and Irreverent Labs. Learn extra
Chrome Enterprise Premium
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In the meantime, Google is increasing its Chrome Enterprise product suite with the launch of Chrome Enterprise Premium. What’s new right here is that it primarily pertains to principally to safety capabilities of the prevailing service, based mostly on the perception that browsers are actually the endpoints the place many of the high-value work inside an organization is finished. Learn extra
Gemini 1.5 Professional
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Open-source instruments
At Google Cloud Subsequent 2024, the corporate debuted plenty of open-source instruments primarily aimed toward supporting generative AI tasks and infrastructure. One is Max Diffusion, which is a set of reference implementations of assorted diffusion fashions that run on XLA, or Accelerated Linear Algebra, units. Then there’s Jetstream, a brand new engine to run generative AI fashions. The third is MaxTest, a set of text-generating AI fashions concentrating on TPUs and Nvidia GPUs within the cloud. Learn extra
Axion
We don’t know rather a lot about this one, nonetheless, here’s what we do know: Google Cloud joins AWS and Azure in asserting its first custom-built Arm processor, dubbed Axion. Frederic Lardinois writes that “based mostly on Arm’s Neoverse 2 designs, Google says its Axion situations provide 30% higher efficiency than different Arm-based situations from rivals like AWS and Microsoft and as much as 50% higher efficiency and 60% higher vitality effectivity than comparable X86-based situations.” Learn extra
