Cloud Pod continues to explore and deliver accurate information and deep insights on the latest updates and developments in cloud technology. This episode explores some exciting advancements from leading cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Microsoft’s renewed commitment to responsible AI usage.
As a sponsor of this week’s Cloud Pod, we at Foghorn Consulting support their mission to bring timely news about cloud computing and AI. We also provide services for GCP, AWS, and Microsoft Azure.
We begin with AWS, which has introduced a game-changing feature called Amazon EC2 Instance Connect. Previously, you needed bastion hosts to tunnel SSH/RDP connections to instances with private IP addresses. But this created additional costs and management overhead. Amazon EC2 Instance Connect now supports SSH and RDP connectivity without the need for a public IP address. You can now remotely connect to your instances in private subnets via EIC endpoints without public IPv4 addresses.
The EIC endpoint combines AWS IAM-based access controls to restrict access to trusted principles and network-based controls such as security group rules. It also provides an audit of all connections via the AWS Cloud trail to further strengthen your security.
Another noteworthy AWS update is the RDS Custom for SQL Server. With the recent update, as discussed, you can now use your SQL server installation media when creating an instance. This recent AWS update helps you save on costs associated with migrating database management to RDS custom.
AWS is also providing a solution for Temporary Elevated Access Management (TEAM) that integrates with IAM Identity Center, allowing customers to manage temporary elevated access to their multi-account AWS environment.
Shifting our focus to Microsoft, we discussed their commitment to responsible AI usage. Microsoft renews its pledge and commitment to its AI Customer, which includes being transparent about how AI is used, providing customers with control over their data, building fair and accountable AI systems, investing in research for good use of AI, collaborating with governments and regulators for responsible AI policies, and educating people to use AI safely and responsibly.
These commitments show Microsoft’s dedication to using AI for the benefit of its customers and society as a whole.
In the realm of GCP, we discussed Google’s cautionary stance on using code generated by Bard, an AI tool. Google cautioned its employees against using code generated by Bard. Google believes Bard could generate undesired code suggestions resulting in buggy software, which contradicts the idea that developers can increase their productivity by using AI tools like Bard.
Google believes that such an AI ban will save developers from spending more time fixing complex and bloated software. Interestingly, Google’s DeepMind AI lab is against the establishment of a US government agency focused on regulating AI. It argues that the responsibility should be shared among different departments, with NIST overseeing and guiding policies and issues.
As part of its latest cloud services, Google has announced that Dataform is now available for public use. Dataform is a tool that enables data teams to develop, vision, and deploy SQL pipelines in BigQuery. With Dataform, data practitioners can develop new tables faster, ensure data quality, and operationalize their pipelines with minimal effort, making data more accessible across their organization.
Learn more about Google Cloud Services from our team of experts at Foghorn.
As the AI race continues among tech giants, Google has introduced Secure AI Framework, which is a set of principles and practices aimed at guiding the development and deployment of secure AI systems. The framework is based on three pillars: responsible AI development, robust AI systems, and secure AI systems. The main goal of the framework is to help Google build safe, reliable, and trustworthy AI systems, as well as to comply with applicable laws and regulations.
However, some experts are skeptical of cloud and AI providers and would like to see consequences if they break their own form.
Be sure to tune in for next week’s episode of The Cloud Pod, sponsored by Foghorn Consulting.
