impact
Published June 14, 2023 Author
Our AI research makes Google Cloud solutions faster, simpler, and more efficient
Google Cloud enables organizations to transform into digitally smarter businesses. We offer cloud computing, data analytics, and the latest artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools.
We use AI research to improve these solutions for Google Cloud customers around the world.
Our research facilitates the use of AlphaFold, a breakthrough AI system designed to decipher written documents, increase the value of wind energy, and better predict protein structures. .
Expanding product innovation across Document AI
From cuneiform tablets to the printing press, countless ways to share written knowledge have been developed throughout history. Modern documentation varies by country, language, and industry, making it difficult to extract and use that information, especially at scale.
Google Cloud’s Document AI enables users to extract and query digital, printed, or handwritten information contained within documents such as invoices and tax forms.
Before Document AI, industries looking to use AI tools for document understanding required vast amounts of training data for proper performance. However, this data is often unavailable, incomplete, or lacks proper annotation, hindering the widespread adoption of AI.
We worked with the Google Cloud Document AI team to develop an innovative machine learning model that requires 50-70% less training data than other models to parse documents such as utility bills and purchase orders.
We’re also working on improving Document AI’s performance in languages with small datasets. By doing so, we can help more customers across industries and geographies take advantage of the benefits of Document AI.
Increasing the value of wind energy
As part of our efforts to leverage AI to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030, we partner with Google Cloud Professional Services to advance the wind energy sector and help build a carbon-free future for everyone. .
Wind farms are an important source of carbon-free electricity, but their output can fluctuate depending on the weather. To balance supply and demand on the power grid, utilities rely on energy generation forecasts. If operators can commit to selling a certain amount of electricity based on next-day forecasts, they can get better prices.
We worked with Google Cloud to help develop custom AI tools to more accurately predict wind power output. The tool was trained on weather forecasts and the customer’s historical wind turbine data. An additional model recommends the amount of energy a utility can commit to supplying the grid one day in advance.
ENGIE, a global energy and renewable energy supplier, is currently piloting this technology in Germany. If the pilot is successful, ENGIE may apply the technology across Europe. Making wind energy more economically attractive and improving its reliability will encourage the adoption of renewable energy. It’s a win for everyone.
Making AlphaFold easier to use with Vertex AI
Developing a new machine learning model involves many stages, from design to deployment. Good data infrastructure is also required. To support data scientists and businesses, Google Cloud built Vertex AI, a single platform for accessing machine learning tools at every stage of development.
After releasing our breakthrough AlphaFold system that accurately predicts the 3D structure of proteins, we now make it available in Vertex AI. Scientists working in fields as diverse as drug discovery and combating plastic pollution are now using AlphaFold predictions to track experiments, optimize hardware choices, and manage it all at scale. Now you can run your workflows more easily.
In 2022, we expanded the AlphaFold protein structure database to include nearly every cataloged protein known to science. We’ve partnered with Google Cloud to host this huge database and make bulk downloads of over 200 million proteins available. With billions of structures already downloaded, the database quickly became an essential tool for the scientific community, sparking a new wave of advances in biology.
