Are you interested in building generative AI into your apps? When used effectively, generative AI has the potential to transform the way we work and live - speeding up software development, accelerating content creation and discovery, improving customer experiences, and much more.
But understanding how to best use generative AI technology can be a challenge, with questions around which use cases to focus on, how to get started, or which tools to use and how to use them.
AI experts from Google Cloud recently came together during an exclusive Innovators Plus event to address these questions, including how you can put AI apps into production quickly, efficiently, and responsibly using Google Cloud solutions.
In this article, we’ll share key takeaways from the event to give a sneak peek into the benefits and events available to Innovators Plus subscribers, but you can make sure you don’t miss the next one by signing up for Innovators Plus here.
1. Generative AI is a rapidly-evolving field with huge potential to change the way we live and work
Generative AI, or generative artificial intelligence, is a type of machine learning (ML) that learns patterns and structures in training data that can then be used to analyze information and create new content (e.g. text, images, music, audio, and videos).
Many generative AI use cases involve large language models (LLMs), which are ML algorithms that can recognize, predict, and generate human language, and are a part of a broader family of very large ML models called foundation models. Google Bard is an example of a generative chat assistant that relies on an LLM.
Although generative AI is an emerging technology, organizations are already exploring a range of use cases spanning industries and applications.
Trending use cases include accelerating content creation and software development, improving customer service through personalized self-help interactions and chatbots, and unlocking new ways to search, synthesize, and analyze information.
2. Google Cloud offers generative AI products and services that make it easy to get started
To date, it’s been difficult to access generative AI or to customize foundation models for business use cases because managing these large models in production is a difficult task, requiring an advanced toolkit, lots of data, specialized skills, and even more time.
At Google Cloud, we’re committed to making the power of generative AI technology available to our customers - empowering builders, innovators, developers, and doers to use AI in unique, responsible, and productive ways.
With Vertex AI, you can interact with, customize, and embed foundation models into your applications, no ML expertise required. Access foundation models on Model Garden, tune models via a simple UI on Generative AI Studio, or use models directly in a Colab notebook.
Generative AI App Builder or Gen App Builder for short, is the fastest way for developers to build and deploy chatbots and search applications. With step-by-step orchestration tools, Gen App Builder lets developers, even those with limited technical skills, build and deploy gen apps in minutes.
Learn more about these offerings and how to get started here.
3. It’s important to understand the limitations and potential risks of generative AI
Generative AI is still a relatively new and rapidly-evolving technology, with the potential for misapplication, misuse, or unintended consequences. As outlined in “Why we focus on AI,” these consequences can manifest in many ways, from generating or worsening information hazards, to creating or amplifying unfair biases, to creating new cybersecurity risks.
Although generative AI can create value for certain use cases, other needs might still best be addressed by traditional ML methods. To maximize your organization’s investment in AI, prioritize use cases and decide where generative AI can deliver the most value on top of traditional ML and other methods.
If you’re not sure or are looking for expert recommendations, consider booking a one-on-one consultation, included in Innovators Plus. Our team of experts would love to hear about your AI projects.
4. Google Cloud has a unique approach to AI, grounded in responsible AI
When Google Cloud brings new AI advances to our products, we’re committed to delivering transformative capabilities, while also ensuring our technologies include proper protections for our organizations, their users, and society.
Our AI Principles describe our commitment to developing technology responsibly. These principles apply to our latest innovations in generative AI, including:
- Privacy: Ensure you always retain control over where your data is stored and how or if it is used, letting you safely pursue data-rich use cases while complying with various regulations and data sovereignty laws.
- Choice: Our platforms are designed to be flexible to meet organizations’ differing needs, including data and model lineage capabilities, integrated security and identity management services, support for third-party models, support across languages, and more.
- Grounded in factuality: Google Cloud brings together LLMs, search, and conversation and gives you the ability to ground your answers in factuality – both on public search and private corpuses – and to guardrail responses to make sure your conversational bots say the right things at the right time.
- Easy to get started: Rather than needing to be a deep learning expert for every use case, our AI solutions provide out of the box tooling powered by Generative AI.
- Security at scale: All of our generative AI offerings are built atop our Google Cloud infrastructure, which means you automatically inherit your existing user security, data management, and entitlements regimes.
Learn more about Responsible AI practices here.
5. Continual education and hands-on training are the best ways to learn about what’s possible and how to get started with generative AI technologies
Research from CIO Dive finds that seven in 10 executives say their companies are investigating or exploring generative AI. Whether you’re exploring a new career path or directly tasked with how your organization can leverage generative AI technology to improve the business, there’s no better time to grow and validate your AI knowledge.
The no-cost Generative AI learning path is a great place to start. With video tutorials, knowledge check quizzes, and labs, the Generative AI learning path guides you through a curated collection of content on generative AI products and technologies, from the fundamentals of Large Language Models to how to create and deploy generative AI solutions on Google Cloud.
If you run into any questions along the way, take advantage of the AI/ML Q&A forum within the Google Cloud Community. Googlers, developers, and cloud practitioners around the world are ready and willing to help.
References, resources, and next steps
- Generative AI on Google Cloud: Google Cloud’s generative AI solution overview
- Responsible AI practices: Recommended practices to build fairness, interpretability, privacy, and safety into your AI systems
- Trusted Tester Program: Gain early access to emerging Cloud AI technologies
- Customers innovating with generative AI: Discover how organizations are using generative AI technology to solve business challenges and drive innovation
- The Prompt: Weekly article from Google Cloud leaders to keep you informed about the latest updates, observations, and themes around generative AI
- Google Cloud Community AI/ML forum: Ask questions, find answers, and engage with your peers and Googlers on AI best practices, tips, tricks, and troubleshooting
- Seven new no-cost generative AI training courses to advance your cloud career
- Generative AI for developers: YouTube playlist created for developers with tips and tricks on effectively using Google Cloud’s generative AI solutions.
- AI startup program: Get access to startup experts, your cloud costs covered up to $200,000 USD over 2 years, and other benefits
- Innovators Plus: Get access to over 700 labs, skill badges and courses (including many that are specific to AI/ML), a certification exam voucher, and up to $1,000 in Google Cloud credits. You’ll also get access to live learning events and technical briefings with Google Cloud experts, plus 1:1 consultations (talk with us about your upcoming generative AI project!). It’s a $1,500 package for only $299.
Special thank you to Justin Holzwarth ( @JustinH ), Keelin McDonell, and Anand Iyer, for delivering the original content during the Innovators Plus event.