OpenAI models coming to Google Cloud
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The gist
OpenAI and Google Cloud announced OpenAI's frontier models and Codex are coming to Google Cloud's Model Garden.
It puts OpenAI models on all three major US clouds at once.
Background
OpenAI is the AI company behind frontier models and the Codex coding agent; Google Cloud is Google's cloud platform and, per the material, one of OpenAI's most direct competitors. The move follows the April 2026 expiry of OpenAI's exclusive distribution arrangement with Microsoft, which had limited where OpenAI could sell its models. Google Cloud's Model Garden already hosts Anthropic Claude models alongside Google's own Gemini models, and OpenAI already runs ChatGPT and its API on Google's cloud infrastructure — this agreement adds a sales channel to Google's customers.
How it unfolded
- Aug 2025Open-weight OpenAI models were added to AWS for developers, the only OpenAI products available there at the time.
- Nov 2025A $38 billion commitment between OpenAI and Amazon was disclosed.
- Roughly three months after Nov 2025A $50 billion pledge from Amazon to OpenAI was reported.
- Apr 2026OpenAI launched a limited preview of its newest models and Codex on AWS Bedrock, one day after a renegotiated Microsoft deal changed its cloud options; OpenAI's exclusive distribution arrangement with Microsoft expired that month.
- Oct 21, 2026OpenAI and Google Cloud announced OpenAI's frontier models and Codex agentic workflows are coming to Google Cloud's Model Garden, sold through Google Cloud Marketplace.
- Oct 21, 2026Models are rolling out in private preview to select enterprise customers, usable via APIs, with local Codex CLI and Desktop workflows connectable to the Gemini platform for inference.
- Oct 21, 2026General availability is expected "in the coming weeks"; no exact date was published. OpenAI models will also "soon" be available in Google Antigravity and the Gemini Agent.
Who’s saying what
- Official
- OpenAI president and co-founder Greg Brockman called Google Cloud a leading platform for developers building AI agents and said the partnership gives customers more choice in how they use frontier AI.
- Official
- Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said the company wants to give customers a broad selection of models, including OpenAI's, so they can pick the right model for each job for quality and lower costs.
- Party
- AWS CEO Matt Garman said at the AWS launch event that customers had asked for that offering for a long time.
Still unverified
OpenAI and Google have not confirmed which GPT models will come to Google Cloud and Antigravity; 9to5Google said it "stands to reason" that GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol may be included. Neither company has given a public figure for the extra business the AWS arrangement has produced.