Google is betting big that AI agents, or autonomous bots that complete tasks with minimal human oversight, will transform how businesses operate. At its Cloud Next conference, the tech giant announced a suite of updates aimed at helping enterprise customers deploy AI agents across their organizations, signaling that the industry is moving beyond chatbots toward systems that can independently handle complex workflows.

What Is Agentic AI and Why Does It Matter?

Agentic AI refers to artificial intelligence systems that can autonomously complete tasks with little human supervision. Unlike traditional AI tools that require constant direction, agents can work independently, making decisions and executing actions across multiple applications. This technology is already transforming coding and workplace automation, with major tech companies placing significant bets on tools designed to automate large portions of business processes.

Google Cloud reports that 75% of its customers already use AI in their businesses, but the company is pushing further by helping them deploy autonomous agents that can handle routine tasks without constant human babysitting. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian emphasized that agentic AI represents the future direction of the company's technology strategy, with a focus on ensuring these systems are secure, connected to internal business systems, and optimized for performance and cost.

How to Deploy AI Agents in Your Organization?

• Use the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform: This behind-the-scenes technology allows businesses to oversee all their AI agents from a central location, providing visibility and control over autonomous systems running across the organization.
• Create Agents Through the Gemini Enterprise App: Employees can design and deploy agents using a new agent designer tool that schedules tasks to run across different applications without manual intervention.
• Optimize with Eighth-Generation TPU Chips: Google's new 8T and 8I processors provide three times the training efficiency and 80% improved memory capacity, enabling companies to run agents at scale without excessive computational costs.

The Gemini enterprise agent platform serves as the central hub for managing all AI agents within an organization. Employees can create and deploy agents through the Gemini enterprise app, which includes a new agent designer capable of scheduling tasks across different applications. This approach allows companies to automate workflows without requiring deep technical expertise from every team member.

What Hardware Powers These Enterprise AI Systems?

Google is also introducing two new eighth-generation TPUs (Tensor Processing Units), specialized chips designed exclusively for heavy-compute tasks like AI development and training. These processors represent a significant leap in computing power compared to previous generations.

The 8T chip is optimized for training efficiency, delivering three times the processing power of Google's seventh-generation Ironwood processor. The 8I chip focuses on inference, or running trained models, and offers an 80% improvement in SRAM (static random-access memory) capacity. A single system using the 8I chip contains approximately 11,152 chips, enabling companies to process massive amounts of data simultaneously.

"Agentic AI is where the company sees AI tech going in the future," stated Thomas Kurian, adding that Google Cloud is focused on making sure customers have AI processes that are secure, connected to internal systems, and "optimize performance, scale and cost of how agents run."

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud

These hardware advancements address a critical challenge in enterprise AI deployment: cost and efficiency. By providing processors specifically designed for agent workloads, Google is making it more economical for companies to run autonomous systems at scale. The improvements in memory capacity and processing power mean organizations can deploy more sophisticated agents without proportionally increasing their infrastructure spending.

The shift toward agentic AI reflects a broader industry trend. Tech companies have embraced agents this year, placing major bets that tools designed for autonomous task completion will fulfill AI's promise of automating significant portions of business operations. Google's announcement positions the company as a serious contender in the enterprise AI space, offering not just software but also the specialized hardware needed to run these systems efficiently.