Image Credits:<\/strong> Google<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Google first introduced Firebase extensions, which are pre-packaged solutions for app developers, back in 2019. The service is generally available now and given Google\u2019s focus on all things AI right now, it\u2019s no surprise that the Firebase team \u2014 and the developers who use the platform \u2014 are jumping on this bandwagon, too. Among the new extensions here are image generators, tools for building chatbots on top of the PaLM API and a text summarizer, among others.<\/p>\n

Until last year, Google was working directly with the extension providers that wanted to offer their APIs in the marketplace. Now, it is opening up this project to more providers so that they can onboard themselves, Banks told me.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur main focus with Firebase extensions is to accelerate developers\u2019 creativity and being able to build their applications,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe think by enabling them to that, they will succeed, their applications will succeed \u2014 and as their applications succeed, they will likely scale up. They\u2019ll use more cloud, more Play Services, they\u2019ll use more payment services.\u201d That\u2019s also how Google plans to (indirectly) monetize this service \u2014 not through revenue of profit sharing arrangement but by simply getting more developers into the larger ecosystem of Google services.<\/p>\n

The addition of Python as a supported language in Cloud Functions, too, is somewhat related to this AI play. Python, after all, is the default language for most AI projects and as Banks noted, this will now allow developers in the AI\/ML community to build their own extensions more easily and make them available in the marketplace as well.<\/p>\n

Specifically, Cloud Functions 2nd gen, which is also now generally available, is where Firebase is adding this Python support (in public preview). In addition, Cloud Functions 2nd gen, now offers up to 32 gigabytes of memory and can handle up to 1000 requests in parallel.<\/p>\n