Search giant Google has launched its PaLM API alongside various AI enterprise tools that are meant to help businesses generate text, code, videos, images and even audio from natural language prompts.
PaLM is a large language model (LLM) that’s similar to OpenAI’s GPT series or Meta’s LLaMA models. And similar to GPT-4, PaLM can carry out and execute various text generation and editing tasks.
Google has also revealed that it will give developers API-level access to PaLM, allowing them to build their own apps and manage workflows. And to make it easier for developers to train PaLM in executing specific tasks, Google is also launching a new app called MakerSuite.
Google introduces MakerSuite
“Developers and businesses can now try new APIs and products that make it easy, safe and scalable to start building with Google’s best AI models through Google Cloud and a new prototyping environment called MakerSuite,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud.
In addition, “We’re introducing new features that help people harness the power of generative AI to create, connect and collaborate.”
MakerSuite will allow developers to quickly prototype ideas and over time, will have features for prompt engineering, synthetic data generation and custom-model tuning — all supported by robust safety tools.
As part of its PaLM API, Google is also looking to boost its AI by integrating PaLM’s generative capabilities into Gmail, Google Docs and more of its services that are used by billions of people around the globe.
“As we’ve experimented with generative AI ourselves, one thing is clear: AI is no replacement for the ingenuity, creativity, and smarts of real people,” said Johanna Voolich Wright, vice president of products at Google Workspace.
The AI battle continues
Microsoft recently announced Copilot, a GPT-4 powered AI that it says will change the way we work with many impressive features for its Microsoft Azure service. And now Google is responding with its very own AI by promising that users will soon be able to generate email drafts, replies and even summarise text using PaLM.
Images, audio, and video created using the AI engine will be available to add to Slides, with better autocomplete coming to Sheets and new backgrounds and note-generating features also coming to Meet.
“Sometimes the AI gets things wrong, sometimes it delights you with something offbeat, and oftentimes it requires guidance,” said Google.
Despite being at the forefront of AI research at some point, the search giants have been rather sluggish in keeping up with the competition.
Google also adds that select developers can access the PaLM API and MakerSuite in Private Preview and users should stay tuned for the waitlist.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
