Google Cloud Unveils Agent Compute Engine to Securely Host AI Agents

Google Cloud introduced Agent Compute Engine, an infrastructure service optimized for hosting artificial intelligence agents, which will roll out in the coming months. The service runs agents inside sandboxed microVMs hosted on stateless appliances, utilizing Google's custom Titan chips to verify firmware integrity. To minimize resource consumption, the system automatically detects when an agent goes idle and shuts the sandbox down until it is needed again. Login credentials used by agents are stored entirely outside the sandbox and retrieved via a separate Agent Gateway service, preventing attackers from accessing sensitive data if a microVM is compromised. “This lets a single physical node host orders of magnitude more living agent microVMs than conventional VMs,” Google Cloud distinguished engineers Ramanathan Venkatapathy and Rohit Jnagal wrote.