Google Cloud Next 2026: Businesses Are Moving Into the ‘Agentic Era’

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian opened the conference with a unified vision for agentic artificial intelligence.

Teta Alim is the managing editor of HealthTech. Teta previously worked as a digital journalist in Washington, D.C.

Google Cloud unveiled its latest vision for the next phase of agentic artificial intelligence with key product announcements and customer success stories.

“Over the last year, we didn’t just see adoption, we saw transformation,” said CEO Thomas Kurian as he first took the stage for the opening keynote during Google Cloud Next 2026 in Las Vegas. “You have moved beyond the pilot. The experimental phase is behind us. And now the real challenge begins: How do you move AI into production across your entire enterprise?”

He noted that organizations should consider a unified stack to drive the most value out of AI, which should not be pieced by “fragmented silicon and disconnected models,” from the chips to the models trained on business-specific data to built-in security.

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In a video message, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, shared that the tech giant has increased its total capital expenditure to about $185 billion in 2026 from $31 billion just four years ago.

“As we move into the agentic era, we are taking this to the next level. We are making big investments now and for the future,” Pichai said.

He added that, internally, Google has been using its own products to generate code, streamline cybersecurity threat intelligence and stand up multiagent developer and marketing workflows.

“There’s a lot of change happening, and it can feel like we are in the messy part of the innovation cycle. But we are starting to see the foundational building blocks coming together, unlocking a new wave of innovation,” Pichai said.

Some of the new products Google Cloud announced Wednesday include Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform, upgraded AI-specific chips and advanced features in Agentic Data Cloud. Demonstrations of Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform emphasized its approachability for nontechnical users.

“Intelligence plus automation must deliver value. To make this work, you need context and action,” Kurian said. “Intelligence comes from your data, automation is driven by agents. To solve this equation at scale, you need a complete, integrated system.”

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Erica Chuong, manager of applied AI forward deployed engineering at Google Cloud, walked through an example of a potential workflow for a global furniture retailer. The Gemini Enterprise platform offers a “single pane of glass” to view business-specific and Google-built AI agents. A multiagent setup helped Chuong relaunch less popular products based on current interior design trends, mockup marketing assets and collaborate with web developers to create an updated page on the website.

“Companies aren’t just redesigning workflows, they’re turning their everyday employees into AI builders, empowering them to solve their own hardest problems,” Kurian said after the demonstration.

Businesses Share Their Success Stories With Gemini Enterprise

Virgin Voyages, an adults-only cruise line with headquarters in Plantation, Fla., shared details about the rollout of its customer-facing AI agent “Rovey.”

“It’s going to allow our crew to feel confident with any question they’re asked. For sailors, Rovey is a personal concierge to maximize the value that they get out of their vacation,” said Billy Bohan Chinique, vice president of global brand marketing and AI transformation at Virgin Voyages.

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Even with possible connectivity issues that come from being on the high seas, the organization said that it ensured data resiliency at the core of the project with Google Distributed Cloud Edge. The future outlook is to guide a customer’s journey through the entire suite of the brand’s offering, from booking a Virgin Atlantic flight to a stay at a Virgin Hotels location.

On the retail side, Walmart has deployed Gemini Enterprise internally to help store and supply chain team leaders, equipped with a Google Pixel Pro Fold smartphone, to connect to business data more quickly to better serve customers. Earlier this year, the company announced its plans to roll out a customer-facing tool integrated with Gemini to enhance the shopping experience.

These were just a handful of success stories that Google Cloud shared on stage, with many more to highlight throughout the conference.

Courtesy of Google