Google sets aside $750 million to help partners sell AI agents

In short: Google says it will spend $750 million to help partners, including startups, build and sell AI agents on Google Cloud.

What happened

Google Cloud Next is happening this week in Las Vegas. At the event, Google highlighted a push to attract more AI startups to run their products on Google Cloud (Google’s rented computing service, like renting storage and power instead of buying your own servers).

Google’s biggest announcement was a new $750 million budget aimed at its Cloud partners. Google said the money will help partners sell more “AI agents,” which are AI tools that can take actions for you, like drafting a report, updating a system, or helping a worker complete a task.

Google said this support can cover things like small pilot projects, help from Google engineers, cloud credits (discounts to use Google’s computing), and rebates tied to deploying software for customers.

Google also pointed to a long list of startups using Google Cloud, either as new customers or by expanding their use. TechCrunch named several standouts, including Lovable, Notion, Gamma, Inferact, and ComfyUI. Some of these tools use Google’s Gemini AI models, and some use Nvidia GPUs through Google Cloud (special chips that help AI run faster).

Why it matters

This is another sign that big tech companies are competing to become the “home base” where AI products are built and run. For everyday users, these deals can shape which AI features show up in the apps you use at work or at home, and how quickly those features improve. For startups, discounts and hands-on help can make it cheaper and easier to build products, but it can also make them more dependent on one large provider.

Source: TechCrunch AI