299: We Predict Next, for Next Week’s, Next-Level Google Next Event. What’s Next?

Welcome to episode 299 of The Cloud Pod – where the forecast is always cloudy! Google Next is quickly approaching, and you know what that means – it’s time for predictions! Who will win this year’s Crystal Ball award? Only time and the main stage will tell. Join Matthew, Justin, and Ryan as they break down their thoughts on what groundbreaking (and less groundbreaking) announcements are in store for us. 

Titles we almost went with this week:

• OpenAI and Anthropic join forces? 
• Its 2025, and AWS is still trying to make Jumbo packets happen
• Beanstalk and Ruby’s Updates!! They’re Alive!!!
• Google Colossus or how to expect a colossal cloud outage someday.
• The Cloud Pod gives an ode to Peter

A big thanks to this week’s sponsor:

We’re sponsorless! Want to get your brand, company, or service in front of a very enthusiastic group of cloud news seekers? You’ve come to the right place! Send us an email or hit us up on our slack channel for more info. 

AI Is Going Great – Or How ML Makes All Its Money  

02:27 OpenAI adopts rival Anthropic’s standard for connecting AI models to data

• OpenAI is embracing Anthropic’s standard for connecting AI assistants to the systems where the data resides.  
• By adapting Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol or MCP across its products, including the desktop app for ChatGPT.  
• MCP is an open source standard that helps AI models produce better, more relevant responses to certain queries. 
• Sam Altman says that people love MCP and they are excited to add support across their products and that it is available today in the Agents SDK and support for the ChatGPT desktop and Response API is coming soon.
• MCP lets models draw data from sources like business tools and software to complete tasks, as well as from content repositories and app development environments. 
• We found two helpful articles that may help demystify this whole concept. 

MCP: What It Is and Why It Matters – by Addy Osmani

Meet MCP: Your LLM’s Super-Helpful Assistant!

• • Justin particularly loves Addy Osmani’s blog, as they start out with a simple ELI5 on understanding MCP. We’re going to quote verbatim: 

• “Imagine you have a single universal plug that fits all your devices – that’s essentially what the Model Context Protocol (MCP) is for AI. MCP is an open standard (think “USB-C for AI integrations”) th