We went to Google Cloud Next 2026
Here's what the future of agentic AI looks like.
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Summary
At this year's Google Cloud Next, the future of agentic AI was in sharp focus. Google CEO Sundar Pichai summed it up succinctly during his keynote:
"The conversation has gone from 'Can we build an agent?' to 'How do we manage thousands of them?'"
In 2026, brands have evolved from AI adoption to AI transformation. Orchestration, governance, and agents that run real workflows against enterprise brand and business data is the new normal—and it’s exciting.
What Happened at Google Cloud Next 2026?
Model announcements and progress updates on compute power were made, as expected. But there were also some surprises: Google announced important steps in supporting cross-platform AI innovation. Knowledge Catalog and Lakehouse will soon enable teams to instantly query data stored in AWS or Azure configurations, reducing the need for large-scale data migration and supporting the wider adoption of GCP agentic workflows.
These steps forward show how the agentic future is quickly becoming a reality. Now that organizations have moved beyond questions about the viability of enterprise AI, they can start reaping the rewards.
Showcased at the Google AI Design Workshop: The Kraft Heinz Success Story
A major highlight of our time at Next was seeing our work featured in the Google AI Design Workshop, where we showcased the real-world impact of TasteMaker, the AI-powered platform we built for Kraft Heinz.
While a 2025 MIT study found that 95% of enterprise AI initiatives do not deliver ROI, leaving organizations in “pilot purgatory,” Kraft Heinz has successfully bridged that gap. By deploying a custom-built AI-powered platform across 100+ brands and global markets, they compressed a traditional eight-week marketing process into just eight hours.
The results shared during the workshop demonstrate the value of AI Solutions to address content needs. In Kraft Heinz example, these are the outcomes:
8 weeks → 8 hours: Total content production cycle compressed.
70% adoption: High team engagement with the new agentic tools.
75% faster Time to Market: Rapid deployment for personalized campaigns.
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Agentic AI is Driving Real Results
At Next, the APPLY team met with companies across industry verticals to showcase TORQ AI, our enterprise agentic accelerator built on Google Cloud that equips marketing and innovation teams to deliver brand-approved assets at scale.
With TORQ AI, brands can reduce production times from weeks to hours and deliver significant cost savings with agentic workflows that people actually use.
"The organizations that bridge this divide over the next 12 months will do more than lead their industries; they will redefine them." Dr. Ali Alkhafaji, CEO at APPLY.
A Tailored Solution for High-Velocity Industries
As agentic AI becomes table stakes, brands need a purpose-built solution that solves real business problems, not vague promises of efficiency improvements. TORQ AI is designed specifically for the unique pressures of these key verticals:
CPG & Retail: Compressing innovation cycles from months to weeks so teams can test packaging and positioning in real-time.
Sports: Capturing live, platform-ready content and turning 'moments' into owned media while the audience is still watching.
Media: Validating complex rights and licensing rules at the point of generation to reduce legal risk.
Built for Your Business
Unlike generic tools, TORQ AI is not a strategy framework—it is a foundation you can build from. It lives inside each client’s own Google Cloud environment, connecting directly to existing systems and owned data. This ensures that AI-generated content reflects what the business actually knows about its audience, not what an external algorithm assumes.
As our leadership noted at Next, the biggest barrier to AI isn't ambition, it's execution. TORQ AI was built to close that gap by getting organizations up to full speed in 30 days with no prior AI expertise required.
To find out how TORQ AI can help your brand power creativity and innovation at scale, visit applydigital.com/ai/torq-ai/ or contact our team of experts today.