Google Cloud has unveiled a series of new AI products and initiatives aimed at bolstering the UK’s technology sector.
The announcements were made at the “Gemini for the United Kingdom” event hosted at Google DeepMind’s London headquarters.
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Google has launched its “groundbreaking” audio generation model, Chirp 3, which is made available on Vertex AI fully-managed, unified AI development platform.
Starting in mid March 2025, the Chirp 3 model will offer HD Voices in 248 distinct voices and 31 languages, the company said.
This technology aims to enhance customer experiences across various applications with its nuanced speech functionality.
Google Cloud is also expanding UK data residency options for its large language model, Gemini 1.5 Flash, to include Google Agentspace.
Planned to be made available in Q2 2025, the Google Agentspace is designed to boost enterprise productivity by providing employees with powerful AI tools for data synthesis and custom agent creation.
It combines the capabilities of Gemini’s advanced reasoning with Google-quality search and enterprise data.
The Google Agentspace also features NotebookLM Enterprise for synthesising information and a branded multimodal search agent for complex queries.
Custom AI agents can also be created to facilitate deep research, content creation, and automation of repetitive tasks, Google Cloud said.
Furthermore, Google Cloud is expanding its AI skilling initiatives in the UK, offering new training and certification programmes at no cost.
The company said that it is preparing the workforce through its on-demand learning platform, Google Cloud Skills Boost.
Google Cloud said it is also deepening its engagement with UK’s AI startup ecosystem by offering up to £280,000 ($364,000) in cloud credits, technical resources, and training to AI startups.
These benefits aim to help startups grow and scale their businesses by leveraging Google Cloud’s global network of experts and resources.
Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said: “Our deep relationship with Google DeepMind enables us to bring some of the world’s most cutting-edge AI technology to our cloud customers, which range from startups to large enterprises.
“We’re uniquely able to provide secure, flexible infrastructure; leading AI models; and an open developer platform that integrates with existing IT investments while maintaining security, privacy, and access controls, to organisations in the UK and around the world.”
In 2024, Google started construction on $1bn (£790m) data centre on a 33-acre site in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, UK.
The data centre will support widely-used digital services such as Google Cloud, Workspace, Search, and Maps.
