Google Cloud Predicts Five Key AI Trends Shaping Business in 2025

Google: AI agents, multimodal AI, enterprise search will dominate in 2025

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More If 2024 was all about experimentation, 2025 will truly be the year enterprises scale AI, according to a new trends report from Google Cloud out today. Notably, sophisticated multimodal AI will support ever more complex tasks, AI agents will be embedded across enterprise and internal search engines will unlock critical business insights. Interestingly, Google identified these trends by using NotebookLM to analyze data from a previous research study, pulled out the fastest-growing AI topics in Google Trends and plugged in third-party research and insights. "Moving forward, you'll see different agents talking to different agents, almost to the point where we all go to sleep at the end of the evening, and there's a series of tasks and things and actions that are happening behind the scenes," Oliver Parker, VP for global generative AI go-to-market at Google Cloud, told VentureBeat. Enterprises will move from chatbots to multi-agent systems AI agents are able to work autonomously (or semi-autonomously) and perform multi-step processes. According to Capgemini, only about 10% of large enterprises are already using AI agents -- but 82% plan to integrate them in the next three years. Google identifies six types of AI agents: However, Parker pointed out, having many agents taking on many processes across many functions can create a bit of chaos, which will give rise to new platforms, he predicts. "Being able to have a single canvas for managing and enabling your agents is where we think there's going to be a huge opportunity," he said. This will lead to "agentic governance," or the need for an agentic layer that supports "different agents that are going everywhere and working across all these different systems." Multimodal AI brings AI comprehension to the next level, allowing models to decipher and process a range of data sources including not only text, but images, video and audio. Several leading vendors and cutting-edge startups already offer highly-capable multimodal tools -- for instance, Google's own Gemini 2.0 Flash, Mistral's Pixtral 12B or Cohere's Embed 3. Google predicts that the explosion of multimodal AI will support complex data analysis and lead to greater grounding and more personalized insights. Along with this, enterprises will be multi-model as they adopt AI. Parker pointed out that conversations have transitioned from enterprises adopting a single model to deploying many for different use cases. "It's not just an OpenAI model," he said. "It's also Gemini, it's Anthropic, it's Mistral, it's Cohere, it's Llama." It's been a fast evolution over the past 12 months, Parker noted. Enterprises have moved beyond just looking at models to analyzing different platforms and laying out AI and AI agent roadmaps. While much of the focus to this point has been on development, the goal in 2025 will be getting gen AI capabilities into the hands of enterprise users. "The first half of 24 was heavy, heavy experimentation, but without a lot of production," said Parker. Now, enterprises are beginning to move into production, although it's not yet scale production (more of that will come in 2025). "These are typically trends you see over several years," he said. "We've just seen them very compressed over a 12 month period. It's breathtaking." We will finally unlock the power of enterprise search Enterprise search -- supported by internal search engines that query specific enterprise data -- will only become more intuitive with AI, Google predicts. It will no longer just be keyword-based queries; employees will be able to use images, audio, video and conversational prompts to quickly access internal data. This will allow for more advanced and intuitive searches, Parker pointed out, and gen AI can process different data formats such as documents, spreadsheets and multimedia. "It's not just search, it's search plus conversational AI," said Parker. "People's jobs are really about finding information and bringing it together to be able to get insights and take actions." He noted that many organizations have different information siloed across different applications -- whether a coding system, Jira, Confluence, Box, or platforms like SharePoint or Service Now. AI search can quickly move across these to bring data together. "These systems of reasoning are able to search across enterprise systems," he said. "So how do you query and find out what's happening across your organization, across all your systems, and then start to apply agents to take action on it?" Yes, here, too, AI agents will play a big part. "We're seeing a confluence of conversational and agent-based capabilities combined with search inside organizations," said Parker.

5 ways AI will shape businesses in 2025

Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos, but don't worry, you can download it and watch it with your favorite video player! From personalized recommendations on your favorite streaming service to AI-powered agents that help you plan your day, artificial intelligence is already changing our lives. And for businesses, it's about to get even bigger: 2025 will be a pivotal year as AI transforms how companies operate, compete and innovate. Today Google Cloud dropped its 2025 AI Business Trends Report -- here's a look at five key trends shaping the future of business. Multimodal AI processes information from text, images, audio and video. It allows for more intuitive interactions and significantly improves the accuracy of AI outputs. This human-centric approach to AI is essential for businesses in an increasingly data-rich world. For example, in financial services, this could involve analyzing market commentary videos and considering non-verbal cues, like tone of voice and facial expressions, alongside the spoken words for a more nuanced understanding of market sentiment. In manufacturing, multimodal AI can analyze sensor data like noise and vibrations to proactively address maintenance needs. As AI agents become more popular in businesses, they'll be able to manage complex workflows, automate business processes and support employees. Imagine customer agents providing support with a consistent experience across channels -- in person, online and mobile. Employee agents will be able to streamline internal processes; creative agents will enhance design and production skills. Enterprise search systems -- internal search engines for companies -- are no longer limited to keyword-based queries. People will now be able to use images, audio, video and conversational prompts to quickly access and use internal data. Financial institutions can tailor internal knowledge searches to specific employee roles, while retailers can allow customers to find products using natural language and images. In healthcare, AI can power intuitive search that understands complex medical terminology. AI-powered solutions are changing the customer experience, in part by anticipating customer needs and helping businesses stay connected to their customers. This translates to increased revenue, efficiency and brand loyalty. Imagine personalized recommendations and AI-enhanced search that understands customer intent. In retail, AI will be able to create personalized shopping experiences and customer support across all shopping channels -- online, in store or mobile. Manufacturers will use AI to improve production and customer service. In 2025, AI will help bolster defenses, identify and combat threats, automate manual security tasks and accelerate response times. However, this also leads to an "arms race" between defenders and attackers, as adversaries leverage AI for more sophisticated attacks. Organizations must proactively address this challenge. Financial institutions can use AI to detect counterfeit documents, and manufacturers can use it to keep data safe and identify potential risks. We also predict that the media and entertainment industry will use AI to combat deepfakes and misinformation. Check out the report and the Google Cloud blog for more information on Google Cloud's 2025 AI business trend predictions. And if you want to learn more about building generative AI into your business, visit our YouTube channel.