Google Cloud and Hugging Face have announced a strategic partnership aimed at advancing the democratization of artificial intelligence (AI) development. The collaboration, initiated months after Google’s substantial investment in Hugging Face, seeks to synergize the strengths of both companies to propel the open-source AI ecosystem forward.

The joint effort allows developers to harness Google Cloud’s robust infrastructure for all Hugging Face services, unlocking the potential for training Hugging Face AI models seamlessly on Google Cloud. This development was disclosed in a joint news release issued by the companies on Thursday, January 25.

The partnership focuses on empowering developers by enabling them to utilize Google Cloud’s AI-optimized infrastructure, including powerful compute capabilities, tensor processing units (TPUs), and graphics processing units (GPUs). This facilitates the training and deployment of open models, empowering developers to create innovative generative AI applications.

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, emphasized, “This partnership ensures that developers on Hugging Face will have access to Google Cloud’s purpose-built AI platform, Vertex AI, along with our secure infrastructure, which can accelerate the next generation of AI services and applications.”

The collaboration extends support for Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) deployments, offering developers the flexibility to train models using their infrastructure. This is complemented by the scalability provided through Hugging Face-specific Deep Learning Containers on GKE.

Notably, Google’s involvement in Hugging Face’s $235 million funding round last August underscored its commitment to fostering advancements in AI. The valuation of Hugging Face at $4.5 billion showcased the industry’s recognition of its innovative contributions.

As the partnership unfolds, it aligns with the broader trend of major tech players, including Microsoft and Amazon, intensifying their investments in cloud capabilities to meet the rising demand for AI applications.

The significance of this collaboration was reiterated by Clement Delangue, CEO of Hugging Face, who stated, “With this new partnership, we will make it easy for Hugging Face users and Google Cloud customers to leverage the latest open models together with leading optimized AI infrastructure and tools from Google Cloud, including Vertex AI and TPUs, to meaningfully advance developers’ ability to build their own AI models.”

This alliance promises to enhance the accessibility and impact of generative AI, marking a milestone in the journey towards making AI technologies more inclusive and user-friendly for developers worldwide. Stay tuned for further announcements as the partnership unfolds in the coming quarters.