If you’ve been researching recently released generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Bard and wondering how to create comparable experiences for your company, the Generative AI App Builder, or Gen App Builder in brief, is here to lend a hand.
Google’s recent generative AI offering, launched in March 2023, is one of the industry’s first AI-assisted no-code application development tools for enterprise use. It also signals a dev culture shift, at a time when 92% of programmers are using AI tools.
What is the Google Gen App Builder?
The Google Generative AI App Builder or Gen App Builder is a no-code/low-code tool that leverages search expertise, Google’s foundation models, and conversational AI technologies to help developers as well as AI professionals create enterprise-grade generative AI applications.
The platform includes built-in search and messaging features for developers who want a simple setup process. There are customizations and advanced features for search architects who intend to personalize and develop multimodal capabilities. There is also a “build your own search” option with sophisticated model training, refining, and embedding for AI professionals who would like to create their own searches on top of the search platform.
Contrary to most current developer offerings, the Gen App Builder includes an orchestration layer. It simplifies the complexity of integrating multiple business applications in order to deliver a seamless, positive user experience. The tool includes workflows for routine tasks such as enrollment, ingesting data, and personalization. This helps both the creation and deployment of apps.
Unpacking the Technology Behind Google Gen App Builder: How Does it Work?
At its foundation, Gen App Builder works by collecting your organization’s large, complex datasets. It extracts data from websites, documents, and transactional systems such as invoicing and inventory and also from emails and text conversations. The idea is to improve application user, client, and employee experiences.
Using the tool, developers can create AI-powered applications that can aggregate information from multiple sources and offer user responses. Importantly, it performs all these tasks using only the data you provide, making it appropriate for business use cases.
For example, Gen App Builder can help build a virtual agent app for retail use cases. If a customer contacts the agent to alter an order, he/she/they can assist them in moving to a different product. Customers don’t even have to share the new product’s name; they can simply submit an image, and the agent will walk them through the process.
The App Builder equips the agent with a wide variety of intuitive capabilities that would be extremely difficult to code using traditional methods. It can offer consumers usage recommendations. It can even assist them in completing the transaction with a conversational user interface.
Several sectors and use cases, covering everything from consumer goods or public utilities to banking and internal enterprise applications like intranets, could hugely benefit from these features.
Key Features You Can Expect from Google’s App Builder
The solution offers the following key features:
1. No-code application development environment
Users can develop custom business applications despite writing code using Gen App Builder. The platform’s attractive visual interface, along with drag-and-drop features, make it easy for individuals to conceptualize and create applications. Organizations can rapidly build an entire user experience ecosystem ready for integration with their websites and apps — with just a few clicks. It also has templates for data ingestion, onboarding, and customization.
2. A foundation in Vertex AI
Google Cloud’s Vertex AI is its machine learning platform as a service (ML PaaS) solution. Launched in 2021, it helps companies expedite their implementation of AI models. It has a host of powerful features, from a dedicated server for AI system training to “example-based” explanations, which now form the bedrock of the Gen App Builder. In 2023, Vertex AI acquired three new foundational models — Codey, Imagen, and Chirp — to help in code generation, image alterations, and designing of apps that allow users to communicate in their native languages.
3. Support for multiple data formats
In addition to supporting text, Gen App Builder additionally accommodates images and videos. It helps developers create apps that use a mix of text and pictures as inputs to locate material across documents, images, and videos, leading to more engaging customer interactions. Additionally, the app facilitates not only information but also transactions. When necessary, developers have the ability to escalate conversations to a human employee.
4. More human-friendly information experiences
With Gen App Builder, you can create apps that recognize natural language user intent. It displays information along with sources and attribution from an organization’s private and public data. In addition, you have total control over the data the app is able to access and the subject matter or themes you want it to address. As a result, users see only what’s relevant to them, in a language they understand.
5. Conversational experiences powered by Google Search
Gen App Builder’s ability to integrate Google-quality searching with generative AI is one of its greatest strengths. This helps businesses locate the most relevant data when required, with ample room for customization. With no prior coding experience, you can create interactive searching experiences across private and public enterprise data.
6. Better control of AI-based data systems
Tools for the Generative AI App Builder remain in the Google Cloud tenant. This ensures that organizations always retain ownership over where information is kept as well as how or if it will be used. You can explore data-intensive use cases with confidence while conforming to multiple standards and data protection legislation. Google doesn’t archive, read, or leverage customer data beyond an organization’s cloud tenant, guaranteeing compliance for the app.
Example of Gen App Builder in Action
Google has already rolled out a use case that organizations can start using, provided they are on the company’s allowlist. The use case — or solution, as it were – is called the Enterprise Search on Gen App Builder.
It is a Google Cloud offering that enables the rapid creation of generative AI-led search engines for both customers and staff members. Whether you’re looking to boost search quality on your websites or just make it easier for workers to locate internal data, the solution can be deployed quickly. You can also look for search engines that fulfill your access management, data security, and sovereignty criteria.
Conversational AI on Gen App Builder is yet another comparable service that allows you to create chatbots and virtual assistants propelled by generative AI.
Google’s Bold Generative AI Play in 2023
In addition to Gen App Builder, the company has rolled out a number of innovative solutions in the artificial intelligence space, competing with its more established counterparts.
There are options for those who want to interact with and tweak the underlying machine-learning models directly. Generative AI Studio and Model Garden are both components of Vertex AI. Model Garden is the place wherein you examine models on offer to find the one that best fits your use case. The Generative AI Studio lets you interact with models and tailor them to your use case and/or data.
PaLM 2 is Google’s next-generation large language model, which has its foundation in the company’s machine learning and ethical AI research. It employs a “safetyAttributes” function that gauges how noxious, hostile, hurtful, etc., an element of input/output content is and grades it accordingly.
It’s early days yet, but several organizations are benefitting from breakthroughs like these:
- The ‘Explain this Vulnerability’ feature in GitLab employs the Codey model on Vertex AI. It provides developers with a natural language summary of code errors and tips for repair.
- Canva, an online design application, helps its non-English-speaking users by using Google Cloud’s generative AI for translating languages. It’s also experimenting with PaLM technology to convert short video snippets into lengthier, more compelling narratives.
Closing Thoughts
The ability to intuitively interact with complex data across a variety of sources is a game changer for AI practitioners. It will help organizations improve customer service and worker efficiency.
Microsoft has already established itself as the dominant player in this area by collaborating with OpenAI (the organization that’s behind ChatGPT) while making major investments. With Google’s announcement of the widespread availability of its very own generative AI system, users now have the option of choosing the solution that best meets their specific business requirements.
