Enable Vertex AI APIs

This page guides you through the setup process for accessing Vertex AI pre-trained APIs within the Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) air-gapped infrastructure, allowing you to integrate AI features into your air-gapped application. You can find details about the prerequisites and the steps for enabling and deactivating the Vertex AI APIs through the GDC console console.

This page is for application developers within application operator groups who are responsible for optimizing air-gapped applications with AI features. For more information, see Audiences for GDC air-gapped documentation.

Vertex AI on Distributed Cloud includes various APIs that you must enable from the GDC console to let users from your organization interact with ML models and AI capabilities. To learn more about these APIs, see the following documentation:

Generative AI: Learn about Generative AI capabilities and available models.
Online Prediction: Learn about online predictions.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR): Learn about character recognition features.
Speech-to-Text: Learn about speech recognition features.
Vertex AI Translation: Learn about translation features.
Vertex AI Workbench: Learn about Vertex AI Workbench.

Before you begin

Before you begin, check that you've done the following prerequisite steps:

You must have the AI Platform Admin (ai-platform-admin) role to set up access to the Vertex AI APIs. You can contact your Organization IAM Admin or Project IAM Admin to request the role if you don't already have it. Alternatively, you can ask your administrator to enable Vertex AI APIs on your behalf. For information about this role, see Prepare IAM permissions.
Set up the GDC domain name system (DNS). If you haven't set up the DNS, work with your Infrastructure Operator (IO) to complete this prerequisite.
Set up a project to use Vertex AI.
If you bring your own model because you want to use Online Prediction or run artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) notebooks in a GPU environment, make sure to allocate GPU machines for the correct cluster types.

Note: Pre-trained APIs run on a shared service Kubernetes cluster managed by the infrastructure.

Enable pre-trained APIs

You can enable Vertex AI service APIs and models using the GDC console.

After meeting the prerequisites, follow these steps to enable APIs:

Sign in to the GDC console. If you can't sign in, see Connect to an identity provider.
In the navigation menu, click Vertex AI > Pre-trained APIs.
On the Pre-trained APIs page, click Enable on a specific service to enable that API.

Note: The GDC console doesn't display the buttons to enable the pre-trained APIs if you don't have the correct permissions.
In the confirmation dialog, click Enable. A progress message displays.

The enablement duration varies. It might take between 15 and 45 minutes to finish, depending on the state of the cluster.

If you want to view the status of the pre-trained APIs, view the service status and endpoints.

The VAI-A0001 alert (Enabling State Time Limit Reached) triggers if the services take a long time to be enabled. In this case, your IO must review the VAI-R0001 runbook for details.

Deactivate pre-trained APIs

You can deactivate pre-trained APIs using the GDC console.

After meeting the prerequisites, follow these steps to deactivate APIs:

Sign in to the GDC console.
In the navigation menu, click Vertex AI > Pre-trained APIs.
On the Pre-trained APIs page, click Disable on a specific service to deactivate that API.

Note: The GDC console doesn't display the buttons to deactivate the pre-trained APIs if you don't have the correct permissions.
In the confirmation dialog, enter disable in the text field to confirm that you want to take that action. Then, click Disable. A progress message displays.