Cloudbench leaders attended the Google Cloud Next 2024 conference in Las Vegas this week and it didn’t disappoint!
The curtains have closed on Google Cloud Next 2024, leaving behind an unmistakable aura of confidence that permeated this year’s event.
As the largest conference ever hosted by Google Cloud, boasting approximately 30,000 attendees, it stands out as a pivotal moment in the company’s journey.
The week unfolded with a flurry of announcements, particularly focused on generative AI, setting an exhilarating pace from day one. Among the highlights was Gemini 1.5 Pro, garnering significant attention for its groundbreaking features. With its unmatched multimodality and an impressive one million token context window, Gemini 1.5 Pro operates at a level deserving appreciation.
While multimodality isn’t entirely new, the scale at which Gemini 1.5 Pro operates is unprecedented. It empowers the model to handle a vast array of tasks that any business might encounter. Examples showcased during keynotes included parsing through every PDF on compliance within an organization, analyzing a company’s entire codebase, and processing the video and audio content of a full day-two keynote.
Gemini 1.5 Pro is amazing
No other offering on the market comes close. While OpenAI’s flagship model, GPT-4 Turbo, can manage 128k tokens, and Anthropic’s leading model, Claude 3 Opus, boasts a 200k context window, extendable to one million upon request, there’s no indication of a general release for such capabilities. Thus, Google’s assertion of being the first to provide inputs at this scale remains unchallenged.
Gemini powers Google Cloud’s latest innovation, Vertex AI Agents, positioning itself akin to Microsoft Copilot in the growing ‘AI economy’. However, Google Cloud’s commitment to extensive customization—each agent trainable or fine-tuned using a business’s proprietary data—clearly demonstrates its dedication to assisting customers with AI-driven tasks.
Throughout the conference, the most notable aspect of Google’s messaging has been its focus on guiding businesses rather than prescribing their journey. This approach underscores Google’s unique strengths and its efforts to establish dominance in the AI landscape.
Customer Choice for AI
Customer choice stood as a central tenet of Google Cloud Next 2024. Throughout keynotes, roundtables, and announcements, the company reiterated its dedication to providing customers with a wide range of AI models via the Vertex AI platform.
Underlining Google Cloud’s commitment to enhancing customer experiences through increased choice, Kurian highlighted discussions with clients who integrate Gemini and Vertex alongside third-party models such as Anthropic’s Claude or Meta’s Llama 2.
The broad spectrum of infrastructure announcements on the conference’s first day complements this objective, offering customers a variety of hardware options tailored to their specific needs.
This strategic shift in Google Cloud’s AI strategy marks a significant victory for the company. While Microsoft heavily relies on OpenAI, Google Cloud is redefining the metrics of success. Rather than striving to be the ultimate authority in AI development, it aims to provide the optimal platform for customers to construct AI solutions.
Google Cloud has long been acknowledged for its substantial AI potential, stemming from its dominant search engine and extensive in-house AI expertise.
By embracing a more open approach, Google Cloud has signaled a shift in the AI landscape, leaving competitors with ample cause for concern. Cloudbench is at the forefront of AI for its midmarket clients and stands ready to be the midmarket Sherpa for AI!
218 Announcements!
Check out the Google Cloud blog recap of the 218 announcements from the conference here.