Cloud Wars Live with Bob Evans

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I unpack how flexibility and competition are reshaping the AI ecosystem.

Highlights

00:08 — One of the most important tech partnerships in the past decade has undergone a radical shake-up. I'm talking about Microsoft and OpenAI, the two companies have revealed new terms for their partnership agreement in a joint statement.

00:38 — "Today, we are announcing an amended agreement to simplify our partnership and the way we work together, grounded in flexibility, certainty, and a focus on delivering the benefits of AI broadly. This new agreement frees both companies up to pursue opportunities independently while maintaining a relationship."

00:59 — There is an endpoint for the length of time that Microsoft has rights to OpenAI's model. OpenAI is going to benefit massively from wider partner opportunities, but still, there are additional benefits for Microsoft as well.

01:17 — Microsoft will remain OpenAI's primary cloud partner, with products shipping first on Azure. However, OpenAI can now serve all its products to customers across any cloud provider. Microsoft will continue to have a non-exclusive license to OpenAI IP until 2032.

01:54 — Despite the significant alterations, Microsoft will continue to participate directly in OpenAI's growth as a major shareholder. Microsoft will benefit by not having to allocate so many resources, allowing it to focus on areas that align with its evolving business goals.

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At Google Cloud Next in Las Vegas, Cloud Wars Founder Bob Evans sat down with Managing Director for Internal Innovation, KPMG, Aaron Purcell to discuss how KPMG is accelerating AI transformation with Google Cloud. As both a customer and partner of Google Cloud, KPMG offers a unique “client zero” perspective, using Gemini and Vertex AI internally while helping clients do the same. Purcell explains why Google’s full-stack AI platform stood out, how governance and speed can coexist, and why employee familiarity with consumer AI tools is changing enterprise adoption faster than ever before.

KPMG’s AI Playbook

The Big Themes:

Why Google Won: KPMG evaluated multiple AI providers, but Google Cloud stood apart because it offered what Aaron Purcell called the “full stack.” Instead of piecing together separate providers for models, infrastructure, and agent development, Google delivered an integrated platform that included model creation, cloud services, infrastructure, and a mature agent-building platform through Vertex AI. That end-to-end capability gave KPMG confidence that execution would be faster and more scalable.

Consumer AI Accelerates Enterprise Adoption: One of the biggest accelerators for enterprise AI adoption is that employees are already using similar tools at home. Purcell noted that many people already have experience with Google products in their personal lives, making workplace adoption much easier. Tools like NotebookLM and Gemini Enterprise feel intuitive because users recognize the patterns and workflows from consumer applications. Instead of learning entirely new systems, employees translate familiar habits into the workplace. This reduces resistance, shortens training time, and improves confidence.

Keeping Up With Vertical Innovation: Purcell said the pace of AI innovation is no longer a hockey stick. It feels like a vertical line. New capabilities are arriving so quickly that organizations need systems to keep employees informed without overwhelming them. KPMG uses Gemini Enterprise itself as a communication platform, with announcement sections highlighting new features and important updates. They also run office hours, user sessions, and collaborative education efforts to keep professionals current.

The Big Quote: “We’re providing the general user with the ability to create their own agents for personal productivity.”

More from Google Cloud and KPMG:

Learn more about Google Cloud and KPMG and Google Cloud's alliance.

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In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I compare AWS’s impressive quarter with the even faster momentum of its competitors.

Highlights

00:01 — Wanted to talk today a little bit about the Q1 that AWS just had. I think they revealed an awesome acceleration in Q1, but in a competitive sense, it's still falling behind competitors like Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Oracle.

00:36 — After three years, our AI run rate now for AWS is $20 billion, compared to $58 million for cloud in its early years. Jassy emphasized how aggressively AWS is pushing into AI and highlighted four key reasons behind this acceleration.

02:05 — AWS revenue grew 28% to $37.6 billion, its highest growth in 15 years. However, Google Cloud is growing at 63%, Microsoft at 29%, and Oracle at 44%, with all three showing stronger backlog growth.

02:55 — A couple things can be true at the same time. AWS had a strong quarter and happy customers, but on a competitive basis, it ranks last in growth rate, backlog size, and backlog growth among hyperscalers.

03:52 — AWS remains strong in a massive market with many customers, but compared to competitors, it has the smallest and slowest-growing backlog. Those are the facts on the ground today in the cloud market.

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In today’s Cloud Wars Minute, I break down how hyperscalers reached a staggering $2 trillion backlog and what it means for the future of AI infrastructure.

Highlights

00:03 — The hyperscaler market (the four big companies that are helping to shape the world with the power of AI), their backlog has now hit $2 trillion. So not just their recent revenue, talking about future commitments, contracted business not yet recognized as revenue: $2 trillion. Talk about some responsibility.

01:21 — So you see Microsoft’s backlog almost doubled: $627 billion. Oracle’s up a whopping 325% to $553 billion. We’ve got Google Cloud with a huge jump, 93%, $462 billion, and AWS, very nice number, but relative to the others it is not quite up to snuff at 49%, $364 billion.

02:25 — So I think AWS is doing a good job; it’s just its competitors are doing a better job — higher growth. All in all, this rolls up to more proof: this is the cloud AI market, the greatest growth market the world has ever known.

02:52 — Google Cloud, on its revenue side, 63% growth, and then by far its fastest growth backlog number here, 93%. This is a red-hot company, not just for the last few months — this backlog shows a huge number coming forward.

03:39 — This is a fantastic time to be a customer in this business because you’ve got unbelievable demand. The competition from these companies is showing they’ve got to continue to innovate as rapidly as possible and give their customers more choice.

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In this episode of the AI Agent & Copilot Podcast, Cloud Wars Founder Bob Evans, is joined by James Lennox, Director of Product, Microsoft, who shares his perspective on AI transformation, enterprise adoption, and the evolving human-AI relationship. Recorded live at the 2026 AI Agent & Copilot Summit NA, Lennox explores how tools like Copilot and Work IQ are reshaping productivity, governance, and innovation across industries.

Key Takeaways

Delegation is the New Productivity Model: Lennox underscores a fundamental shift: “I can delegate those long-running tasks to AI.” This evolution allows humans to move away from repetitive execution and focus on strategic, creative, and decision-driven work. With platforms like Work IQ acting as the “brain behind Copilot,” organizations gain end-to-end visibility into business processes. This changes not just efficiency, but the very nature of work — humans become orchestrators rather than operators, dramatically increasing output and impact across roles.

Governance is the Gateway to Scale: One of the biggest blockers to AI adoption isn’t capability, it’s control. Lennox notes organizations ask: “How do I have the governance and oversight to roll this out at scale?” Tools like Microsoft Agent 365 aim to solve this with “full observability, full control, full security.” Without trust frameworks, AI remains experimental. With them, it becomes operational. This highlights that enterprise AI success depends as much on infrastructure and policy as it does on innovation.

AI is Universally Applicable Across Industries: Lennox observed leaders from diverse sectors, manufacturing, healthcare, and food services, all exploring AI adoption. “There is so much broad applicability…to real business process automation.” This reinforces that AI is not industry-specific but function-specific. Whether it’s document processing or supply chain optimization, AI can integrate into virtually any workflow, making it a universal transformation layer rather than a niche tool.

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