Google Fires Back in the AI Race with Powerful New Features and Tools

For a long time, there’s been a common complaint: despite being a tech giant, why has Google seemed so behind in the AI space? Why hasn’t its AI model performed as well as others in the industry? But now it’s becoming clear—Google wasn’t behind, it was just quietly building something big.

With the latest announcements from Google’s Cloud Next event, it’s evident that Google has been working silently but strategically. Their newly released AI model, Gemini 1.5 Pro, is turning heads in the developer community. Many say it performs better than OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo in areas like code generation.

Google Unveils Firebase Studio – A Full-Stack AI App Builder

One of the most exciting announcements for developers and creators is Firebase Studio, Google’s new AI-powered coding tool. This tool lets users build fully functional full-stack applications using natural language prompts.

From the Firebase Studio dashboard, you can create anything from a shopping list reminder app to a full ERP dashboard. You can start instantly with sample prompts or even import GitHub repositories. You also get features like image uploads, workspace management, text tag selection, and environment setup. It’s built to make development faster and more intuitive.

To test it, a shopping list reminder app was created using a simple prompt:
“Create a fully functional shopping list reminder app with all essential features to create and manage shopping lists and items. Make sure the UI is user-friendly.”

Firebase Studio delivered a neat and simple UI, allowing users to add items with quantities, mark items as complete, and delete them. The interface showed total items and their status—simple, clean, and functional.

Advanced Prompting and Feature Enhancement

To further test Firebase Studio’s capabilities, a follow-up prompt was entered:
“Can you please add features like unit selector for item quantity, filters for items, and allow selecting emojis for each item?”

While Firebase Studio generated code quickly, it initially struggled to fully reload and display the enhanced features. However, after a refresh, it resumed normal functionality. The improved version added emoji support, unit selectors, and item filters—though the UI still needed polishing. Still, it demonstrated how powerful Firebase Studio can be with iterative prompting.

Once the app is built, Firebase Studio also provides a QR code to open the app on mobile and an option to publish it via Firebase Hosting. Note that hosting requires a billing account setup, and it’s not completely free.

Vertex AI – Free Access to Google’s Most Powerful AI Models

If you haven’t tried Google’s video generation model Veo or image generation model Imagen 3, now is the perfect time. Through Vertex AI, Google’s developer platform, you can access these advanced tools, along with models like Lyria (for music generation) and Text-to-Speech via TTS-3, all in one place.

While setting up a Vertex AI account is slightly more complex—requiring credit or debit card details—Google provides a generous $300 free trial credit, roughly equivalent to ₹25,000, for experimenting with APIs and building apps.

Once you complete the signup process and set up your payment profile, you’ll get access to the dashboard where you can explore and use all available models. The free trial typically lasts 90 days, making it a great opportunity to build, test, and launch without any upfront cost.

Final Thoughts

Google may have entered the AI race quietly, but it’s now charging forward with powerful tools that rival and, in some cases, outperform its competitors. With tools like Firebase Studio for AI-driven app creation and Vertex AI for developers, Google is not just catching up—it’s setting new benchmarks in the AI landscape.

If you’re a developer, content creator, or just an AI enthusiast, now’s the time to explore what Google has to offer. Try out Firebase Studio, explore Vertex AI, and unleash your creativity with some of the most advanced models available today.