Google Cloud unveils AI tools to simplify app lifecycle

Google has introduced a series of new AI-driven capabilities for developers and operators through its Google Cloud Platform, focusing on simplifying the application lifecycle.

Brad Calder, Vice President and General Manager of Google Cloud Platform, stated: "Today we're unveiling new AI capabilities to help cloud developers and operators at every step of the application lifecycle." He emphasised that this would involve moving away from infrastructure complexities to an application level approach for design, observation, security, and optimisation.

The developments include enhancements in Gemini Code Assist and Gemini Cloud Assist, highlighting new AI agents specially designed for managing complex workflows and aiding in development tasks within integrated development environments (IDEs). Calder commented: "Putting applications at the centre of your cloud experience, abstracting away the infrastructure complexities of the traditional cloud model is crucial."

The Application Design Center, now available in public preview, aims to assist platform administrators and developers with streamlining the design, deployment, and evolution of cloud applications, ensuring security and reliability while adhering to best practices. It provides functionalities for configuring application templates and enables collaboration through a canvas-style design approach.

The new Cloud Hub service provides users with a centralised management interface for application landscapes. "Cloud Hub unifies visibility and control of your applications," Calder mentioned, outlining its purpose to offer insights into deployments, resource optimisation, maintenance, and support cases.

Additionally, Google Cloud's integration of its App Hub with more than 20 products aims to enhance the application-centric observability capabilities. This includes features like automatic tagging of telemetry and application-aware alerts, as well as the introduction of Cost Explorer for granular cost analysis.

Part of this initiative, Gemini Code Assist, provides AI tools in popular code editors, offering new functionalities such as converting natural language requests into multi-step solutions and facilitating integration with external services. Calder explained: "Gemini Code Assist agents can now help you do all kinds of common developer tasks such as code migration, feature implementation, and code review."

Gemini Cloud Assist aims at facilitating application operations by offering AI-powered assistance throughout the application lifecycle, from design and deployment to troubleshooting and cost optimisation. Calder described the new AI-assisted offerings stating, "Gemini Cloud Assist provides AI-powered assistance across the application lifecycle in the Google Cloud environment."

For cost management, Gemini Cloud Assist will integrate with existing Google Cloud services delivering insights and recommendations to optimise application costs and usage. According to Calder, "Within Cloud Billing, we have already seen over 100,000 FinOps hours saved by our customers using Gemini Cloud Assist cost reports over the past year."

The updates promise to provide developers with a more streamlined cloud application experience, reducing complexity and enhancing productivity with AI-driven automation and management tools."Google's new application-centric cloud powered by AI makes it easier to build and manage the applications that fuel the future of organisations," Calder concluded.