Las Vegas may be known as the city of sin, but in the world of tech it’s also the land of conferences. Taking over the Mandalay Bay resort this week was Google Cloud Next, Alphabet’s chance to show off the latest in its cloud strategy and – naturally – AI tools.

AI agents, in particular, have been a focus this year as Google Cloud looks to meet surging customer demand with infrastructure and software innovations for AI inference.

What story has Google been looking to tell at the event? And what’s the reality behind it?

In this episode, Jane speaks to Rory about some of the key talking points at Google Cloud Next 2026.

Read more:

• 'The goal for this year will be to automate all security processes': Google Cloud is betting on Wiz to usher in a new era of AI security
• Google expands Gemini Enterprise, consolidates Vertex AI services to simplify agent deployment
• Google Cloud announces eighth-generation TPUs, boasting AI training and inference leaps
• Google Cloud Next 2026: all the live updates as they happen
• Google Cloud Next 2026 is a chance to demonstrate Google’s unique advantages