Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian on AI Competition, Agents, And Tariffs

Thomas Kurian is the CEO of Google Cloud Platform. He joins Big Technology Podcast to discuss how AI is changing the competitive balance in cloud services and why he believes Google has a chance to win. We also discuss the various use cases Google customers are finding for GenAI in the technology's early days, and whether the agent buzz is real. Finally, towards the end of the conversation we touch on tariffs and their impact on the cloud services business. Tune in for a wide ranging conversation with Google's top guy on cloud computing. Chapters 00:00 The Rise of Google Cloud Platform and AI 03:00 AI's Role in Cloud Adoption 06:01 Competitive Landscape of Cloud Services 09:04 Google's AI Models vs. Competitors 11:58 DeepMind's In-House Advantage 14:57 Reasoning Capabilities in AI 17:53 Cost of AI Training and Inference 20:53 Open Source vs. Proprietary Models 33:08 Innovative AI Solutions in the Workplace 34:49 Integrating AI into Google Workspace 37:11 The Current State of AI Adoption 41:49 Transformative Use Cases of AI in Enterprises 44:58 The Role of Agents in AI Technology 49:04 Impact of Tariffs on AI Development 52:09 Google Cloud's Sales Transformation 55:40 Future of Cloud Workloads