This week at Google I/O, the AI story changed subject — from capability to price. Gemini 3.5 Flash, the economy tier of Google's new lineup, now outperforms last year's flagship at under half the cost, with Google claiming companies could save more than $1B a year by shifting 80% of their workloads to it. In the same five days, Google, Anthropic, and Salesforce all shipped agent platform infrastructure, signalling that the real lock-in is no longer the model — it's the orchestration layer you build on. This episode unpacks the full stack Google launched, what the platform race means for your roadmap, and the four questions to bring to your next planning session.
Highlights:
- Gemini 3.5 Flash outperforms last generation's flagship at under half the price — the cost-to-deploy calculation just changed.
- Google launched a complete agent stack at I/O: desktop orchestration, developer tools, personal assistant, and $190B in infrastructure.
- Agent platform lock-in is replacing model lock-in — Google, Anthropic, and Salesforce all shipped agent infrastructure in the same five days.
- Anthropic is closing a $30B funding round, making it the most valuable AI startup in the world.
- The AI roadmap question shifted this week: not "is it good enough?" but "how much will we save when we move?"
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Future Bytes is your go-to podcast for practical insights on AI. Hosted by VP Group AI Magnus Oxenwaldt, each episode offers deep-dive guest interviews or weekly AI news, delivered in concise 5 – 10 minute episodes.
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