With human prompt-driven generative AI taking the zeitgeist by storm in products like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALL-E, it was only a matter of time before Google joined the fray.
“Developers and businesses can now try new APIs and products that make it easy, secure and scalable to start building with Google’s best AI models through Google Cloud and a new prototyping environment called MakerSuite,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO from Google Cloud, in one blog post (opens in new tab).
He also said new generative AI features in Google Workspace would help users better create and to collaborate on content.
Google’s AI Investments
While Microsoft chose to invest in OpenAI (twice even) to bring ChatGPT to its Bing search engine, Google has developed its own solutions for Google Cloud and Google Workspace customers.
google docs already automatically generates summaries for documents, and Smart Compose in Gmail already predicts names of recipients and other words.
The biggest development for businesses, however, is that the apps are being dragged into line with ChatGPT’s proprietary feature set, allowing them to process prompts like “Vacancy for a regional salesperson” or “Vegetarian pasta recipe” and turn them into text.
Only “select” developers currently have access to the Google Cloud tools in private preview, though it promises a waiting list will open soon. The same goes for Google Workspace’s new generative AI features, which will only be available to “a limited number of trusted testers” in the coming weeks.
And maybe it’s a good thing that Google seems to be taking the time to get its AI implementation for Workspace right, given that Bing’s implementation of ChatGPT threatened users to Microsoft stepped in.
So, despite that “code red” in December 2022Isn’t it quite true that Google Cloud, a subsidiary of the tech giant with an annual run rate (ARR) of about $29 billion, is chasing the tail end of a trend or getting caught in an arms race with its main competitors.
Kurian did to announce (opens in new tab) in February 2023 (particularly following Microsoft’s own announcement of its partnership with OpenAI) that Google invested more than $300 million in Anthropic – an AI startup made up of several former OpenAI senior executives, but claims that the similar investments “have been going on for years ” have occurred.
The ultimate goal, with that investment, is to provide Anthropic’s chatbot, Claude, with Google Cloud infrastructure.