Cloud Next ‘24 wrapped up last week and we were happy to participate to share how you can use Firebase and Google Cloud to build and run modern AI-enabled apps with speed, quality, and safety. We had fun connecting with many of you across over 20 different Firebase sessions, lightning talks, demos, workshops, and of course, the Firebase booth at the Innovators Hive in the expo hall. If we met you there during the conference last week, thank you for stopping by!
We also announced a few product updates at Cloud Next. Read on to learn more about these features and catch up on the sessions we held.
Firebase Product Updates from Next
Firestore Vector Search Support and Extension
We recently launched a preview for vector search embeddings for Firestore, which is now also available in Firebase!
Vector embeddings provide a way to represent words and sentences into machine-searchable, numeric representations. You can now add your data in Firestore as vector embeddings so you can conduct semantic search on your data. This allows you (or your users) to perform natural language queries that become vector searches across your entire Firestore application data, turning it into a rich, searchable knowledge map that your users or app can interact with to create entirely new experiences. This helps you easily add features like AI-powered product recommendations or chatbots to your apps.
Check out the blog post for details on how to get started using Firestore vector search using one of the supported SDKs. You can also use this feature with popular orchestration frameworks like LangChain and LlamaIndex.
We also recently launched the Vector Search with Firestore extension, which allows you to automatically convert your data into vector embeddings in Firestore whenever a new write is committed to a document. It also allows you to conduct natural language queries directly from your client apps. Use the extension to add vector search into your app with just a few clicks.
New Vertex AI SDKs for Firebase in Private Preview
We announced a private preview of the new Vertex AI SDKs for Firebase, supporting Kotlin, Swift, Dart, and JavaScript. The SDKs let you access the latest generative AI models from Vertex AI via the Gemini API directly in your mobile and web apps, rather than server-side. These SDKs are built specifically for use with mobile and web apps, offering security options against unauthorized clients as well as integrations with other Firebase services.
Sign up for the waiting list to try them out.
Public Preview of Gemini in Firebase
Gemini in Firebase, now in public preview, delivers AI-assistive capabilities for Firebase developers. It can help quickly answer your questions about Firebase features, generate code snippets for Firebase integrations, and offer troubleshooting support to improve app quality and shorten your troubleshooting process.
Give it a try yourself in Firebase console.
Watch Sessions from Firebase at Next
If you weren’t able to make it to Cloud Next this year, we’ve got you covered – we’re bringing the Firebase content to you.
Build real-world apps with Flutter, Firebase and Gemini
Learn how to harness the power of Flutter, Firebase, and Gemini to build a dynamic, real-world application from scratch. You’ll see first hand how Firebase’s Firestore and Storage streamline data management and media handling and much more!
Use Firebase for faster, easier mobile application development
Watch this session to learn how Firebase can be a catalyst for faster, more efficient app development. We’ll show you how Firebase’s prebuilt backend services – including authentication, databases, and storage – eliminate boilerplate code and server headaches so you can focus on crafting superior user experiences. You’ll learn how Firebase supports rapid prototyping and iteration, and how Firebase’s intuitive tools and APIs democratize mobile development, making it easy for you to get started even if you’re not a mobile app development specialist.
Supercharge app development and developer productivity with generative AI
Discover the power of gen AI in boosting developer productivity and innovation. Through in-depth demos, we’ll showcase how to use gen AI to enhance developer productivity across the software development lifecycle. You’ll also learn how to easily build production-grade gen AI applications using Google Cloud technologies and your favorite ecosystem tooling. We’ll share the latest releases and features across many of your familiar developer products such as Firebase, Gemini, and more.
What’s next?
We’re excited to share with you how Firebase and GCP work together to help you rapidly create, release, monitor, and optimize AI-powered features with Google’s latest AI technology. If you missed out this year, we hope to catch you at a future Next event in a town near you and we hope to see you soon at Google I/O!
As always, you can stay up to date on the latest news and best practices on using all Firebase products by subscribing to our YouTube channel, following our blog or following us on Twitter and LinkedIn.