Google bets on AI agents

Google used its Cloud Next conference in Las Vegas on April 22 to make AI agents the center of its enterprise sales pitch. (reuters.com) Alphabet Chief Executive Sundar Pichai told investors and customers that agents — software that can carry out multi-step tasks with limited human input — are now a main path for turning Google’s artificial intelligence spending into revenue. Google also introduced Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, which it said combines model, agent, orchestration, security and operations tools in one system. (reuters.com) (cloud.google.com) Google Cloud said the new platform is an expansion of Vertex AI and is designed to build, scale, govern and optimize agents. At the same event, Google added an Agent Marketplace and Agent Gallery inside Gemini Enterprise so employees can find and request third-party agents from partners including Accenture, Oracle and ServiceNow. (cloud.google.com 1) (cloud.google.com 2) The company paired the product launch with money. Google Cloud announced a $750 million fund for its 120,000-member partner ecosystem to help consulting firms, software vendors and channel partners build and deploy agentic artificial intelligence for joint customers. (finance.yahoo.com) (prnewswire.com) That fund is aimed at a familiar enterprise bottleneck: most large companies do not buy raw models and wire them up alone. They rely on firms such as Accenture, Deloitte, KPMG, McKinsey and PwC to package software, data access, security controls and change management into projects that can survive procurement and compliance reviews. (bloomberg.com) (prnewswire.com) Google is also using itself as a case study. Pichai said on April 22 that 75% of Google’s new code is now generated by artificial intelligence and reviewed by engineers, up from 25% in late 2024; he also said one recent code migration ran six times faster with AI agents. (businessinsider.com) (msn.com) Google’s pitch lands in a cloud market where Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google are all trying to move customers from chatbots to software that can take actions across business systems. Google said nearly 75% of Google Cloud customers now use its AI products, and 330 customers processed more than 1 trillion tokens over the past 12 months. (cloud.google.com) The architecture is shifting with the sales model. Google is bundling chips, models, data tools, security controls and agent software into a single stack, while also opening distribution to outside partners through its marketplace and gallery. (cloud.google.com 1) (cloud.google.com 2) Google’s bet is that enterprise customers will pay less for a standalone chatbot and more for software that can actually finish work. Cloud Next showed how the company wants that work — and the channel that sells it — to run through Google. (reuters.com) (cloud.google.com)