The ongoing Google Cloud Next 2024 conference in Las Vegas has been a specter of announcements of AI-driven tools.
The event, whose overarching theme is the integration of generative AI capabilities across Google’s cloud platform and productivity suite, will run through April 11.
This year’s event was an explicit declaration of purpose: Google Cloud is placing generative AI at the center of its cloud and productivity offerings, aiming to revolutionize business operations.
Here is a summary of what’s been announced so far at the event, with more likely to come from the tech giant.
Google Vids: Revolutionizing Video Creation with AI
One of the most talked-about announcements was Google Vids. Integrated into the familiar Google Workspace suite, Vids is an AI-powered video creation tool similar to OpenAI’s video generator, Sora. Google Vids allows users to generate videos simply by providing natural language instructions.
Vids leverage existing assets like text documents, images, and audio libraries, alongside user prompts, to automate scripting, filming, editing, and even basic production elements.
Imagen 2: From Image Generator to Short Video Clips
Building on the success of its image generation model released in 2022, Google has unveiled Imagen 2 at the Cloud Next event. This iteration pushes the boundaries of generative AI by creating short video clips from textual descriptions.
Before now, Imagen could only generate images from a text prompt. However, this latest tweak will help users generate short video snippets. Google claims Imagen 2 will be suitable for generating video snippets for marketing, advertising, and social media content. All users need to do is feed the tool with product descriptions or campaign messages.
Code Assist: Challenging GitHub’s Copilot
Developers are not forgotten at Cloud Next 2024 as Google launched Code Assist, its highly anticipated response to the GitHub Copilot tool for developers.
Code Assist harnesses the power of large language models to understand natural language commands. Code Assist will help developers write code, analyze existing codebases, and optimize code structure using plain English instructions.
Despite the obvious challenges with AI coding assistants, Code Assist is expected to reduce development time and streamline the coding process, allowing developers to focus on solving complex problems instead of getting bogged down in syntax.
AI Meets Security and Databases
Google is integrating its AI capabilities into core cloud infrastructure offerings, starting with security and databases. New AI features within Google’s cloud security suite enable real-time threat detection and mitigation through natural language interactions. With this, security analysts can describe suspicious activity, and AI-powered tools can analyze data logs, identify potential threats, and suggest appropriate responses.
Similarly, Google’s Gemini AI assistant is now integrated with its database products. Users can interact with Gemini through natural language queries, gaining deeper insights into database performance, optimizing resource allocation, and managing data infrastructure more efficiently. This conversational approach to database management empowers technical and non-technical users to unlock the full potential of their data.
This litany of announcements signals Google’s intent to compete with established AI powerhouses like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Meta. While these generative AI tools looked impressive at unveiling, their real-world impact remains to be seen. Only time will tell how effectively these tools translate to practical applications and tangible benefits for businesses and developers.