Google Cloud Next 2024: All the announcements in one place

Google Cloud Next 2024 has unveiled a slew of exciting advancements that are set to revolutionize the way we use technology. From cutting-edge AI and machine learning enhancements to significant updates in data analytics, cloud infrastructure, and security, this event has something for everyone in the tech space. Here's a quick rundown of what's new:

Vertex AI Workbench and Vertex AI Agent Builder simplify AI model training and chatbot creation.
Expanded access to AI models like Gemini 1.5 Pro, offering multimodal capabilities and handling up to 1 million tokens of context.
BigQuery and Datastream connector enhancements for more efficient data management.
NVIDIA Blackwell chips and Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) for improved cloud infrastructure.
Workspace innovations in Google Meet and Gmail for better collaboration.
Wide-ranging generative AI model access on Vertex AI, including Claude 3 and Imagen 2.0.
Introduction of the AI Hypercomputer with TPU v5p, boosting AI model training efficiency.

These updates are designed to make our work with technology easier, smarter, and safer, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in app development, data analysis, and security. Whether you're developing new software, managing data, or ensuring cyber security, Google Cloud Next 2024's announcements offer the tools and insights needed to stay ahead in the tech game.

AI and Machine Learning Enhancements

Vertex AI Workbench - A new tool that helps you make, train, and use machine learning models easier. It comes with features to help you keep track of your data, experiments, and how your models are doing.
Expanded access to models - Now, there's more access to big models for understanding and generating text, images, videos, and recommendations, including the latest Gemini 1.5 Pro model.
Vertex AI Agent Builder - This lets you make chatbots without needing to code, using the latest tech to understand and use natural language.

Data Analytics and Management

BigQuery updates - Now supports searching through huge amounts of data, as big as exabytes, and works faster with big datasets.
Datastream connector - Lets you move data in real time from databases like Oracle and MySQL right into BigQuery and Cloud Storage.

Cloud Infrastructure and Security

NVIDIA Blackwell - A new type of computer chip designed for cloud jobs, good for AI/ML, analyzing data, and making graphics.
Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) - Brings Google Cloud's tools into your own data center. Works with Anthos for using multiple clouds together.
Gemini in Threat Intelligence - Helps find and understand online threats by automatically figuring out who and what is involved, and spotting weird behavior.

Workspace Innovations

Google Vids - Uses AI to summarize meetings and suggest important points in Google Meet.
Automatic translations - Now, you can get captions in different languages in Meet, and soon, you'll be able to translate messages in Chat.
Gmail updates - Adds helpful features like reminders, the ability to take back an email you just sent, and better search to find what you need faster.

Generative AI Momentum

Generative AI models like Gemini and Claude are opening up new doors for businesses. At Google Cloud Next 2024, there were exciting updates about making these powerful tools more available.

Broadening Access to Gemini 1.5 Pro

Google introduced Gemini 1.5 Pro, an updated version of its AI model. Here’s what’s new:

It can handle up to 1 million tokens of context, which means it can process a lot of information at once, like an hour of video or a really long book.
It’s got multimodal capabilities, meaning it can understand and work with audio, video, images, text, and more, all at the same time.
It’s now available for a test run on Vertex AI.

Gemini 1.5 Pro can do some pretty neat things now, like:

Watch a video of a game and give tips on how to get better
Create detailed reports from videos, images, and text
Make summaries of big legal documents easier to understand with audio

Expanding Model Choices on Vertex AI

Google Cloud also shared that there are more AI models to pick from on Vertex AI:

Claude 3 from Anthropic is ready for everyone to use
CodeGemma - A new version of Gemma that’s really good at understanding and generating code
Imagen 2.0 - Now you can turn text into images, even animated ones
Digital watermarking from DeepMind's SynthID helps tell if an image was made by AI

With more models available, developers can find the best fit for their projects.

Leveraging the AI Hypercomputer

The AI Hypercomputer is like the engine behind all these AI advances. It uses special hardware and software to make training and using AI models more efficient.

The newest piece of this puzzle is TPU v5p, which is now ready for everyone. It’s way more powerful than before, making it quicker and cheaper to train AI models.

Big AI companies and Google Cloud users are already using this tech for their projects. As more people get to use these powerful models, the AI Hypercomputer is key to making sure there’s enough computing power to go around.

Customer Success Stories

Here's how some big companies are using Google Cloud's new AI tools to change the way they work:

Mercedes-Benz Speeds Up Innovation

Mercedes-Benz is making the most of Google's AI in several ways:

They've created a smart sales assistant to make shopping better for customers.
They're using AI to help their call center teams work more efficiently.
They've improved how their website talks to visitors.

Mercedes-Benz is also planning to work with Google to add Gemini models to their cars' talking systems, making drives more tailored to each person.

Uber Makes Work Easier with AI Agents

Uber is using AI agents to help their team do more, faster:

Summarization tools make it easy to catch up on what customers have said before, so support teams can get the gist without reading everything.
Context-based recommendations bring up useful info from past chats to help solve problems quicker.

These tools are helping Uber's team give top-notch help by making their job easier.

Palo Alto Networks Boosts Security

Google and Palo Alto Networks have been teaming up since 2018 to fight off cyber threats. They're planning to use Gemini-powered AI and Palo Alto's security tech to give security teams a head start on stopping attacks.

By using Google's latest AI for quick insights and Palo Alto's strong defense tools, companies can block threats before they happen and respond faster if they do.

Conclusion

The Google Cloud Next 2024 event showed us what's next for cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI). With new tech like the NVIDIA Blackwell chip and the latest AI models, such as Gemini 1.5 Pro, we're looking at some exciting future possibilities.

For people who visit daily.dev and work in technology, it's important to keep up with these updates. Knowing how tools like Vertex AI work can inspire new ideas for using AI in your projects.

And for those involved in handling data, keeping things secure, or working together in teams, these updates from Google Cloud open up new opportunities. Adding features like automatic translations or AI-powered meeting summaries can make work easier. Plus, having more models to choose from on Vertex AI means you can tailor AI solutions to fit your needs better.

Google Cloud's main goal is to provide technology that helps people make a difference. Whether you're developing self-driving cars, creating personalized healthcare, or improving how businesses run, the advancements from Google Cloud Next 2024 help us get closer to these goals.

Which update are you most excited to try in your work? Share your thoughts with us!