News/Google
Illuminate is Google’s new AI podcasting tool — here’s how it works
Google's latest AI innovation in podcasting: Google Illuminate is a cutting-edge AI tool designed to revolutionize the podcasting landscape by generating conversational content from diverse sources. Illuminate leverages Google's advanced Gemini AI model, boasting a 2 million token context window, which is twice the capacity of competing systems. The tool can process and synthesize information from text, video, and audio inputs to create AI-generated podcasts. Currently, Illuminate's focus is exclusively on scientific research available on arxiv.org, a free science portal maintained by Cornell University. How Illuminate works: Users can generate AI-powered podcasts through a straightforward process that involves searching for...
read Oct 17, 2024National Archives adopts Google Gemini AI for employees
National Archives embraces AI for efficiency and accessibility: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is actively exploring and implementing artificial intelligence technologies to enhance its operations and public services. AI initiatives and employee concerns: NARA has introduced several AI-related projects, sparking both excitement and apprehension among its staff. In June, NARA presented "AI-mazing Tech-venture," showcasing Google's Gemini AI as a productivity tool for employees. The agency plans to launch "Archie AI," a public-facing chatbot, in December. Some employees have expressed concerns about AI's role in archiving, citing potential risks to historical accuracy and institutional trust. NARA previously banned...
read Oct 17, 2024Google Shopping’s AI now tempts you to spend more
AI-powered enhancements revolutionize Google Shopping: Google has unveiled a significant update to its Shopping platform, integrating advanced artificial intelligence features to transform the online shopping experience for users. Key AI-driven features: The update introduces several intelligent tools designed to streamline product research and decision-making for consumers. An AI-powered brief now provides a concise summary of key considerations for user searches, offering a quick overview of important factors to consider. The platform now categorizes search results into relevant groupings, making it easier for users to navigate through options. Intelligent product recommendations aim to simplify the research process, potentially reducing the time...
read Oct 17, 2024Google’s Gemini AI to receive major image generation upgrade
Google Gemini's image generation set for a major upgrade: Google is working on improving its Gemini AI's image generation capabilities, addressing a key limitation in the current system. Gemini's image generation, powered by Imagen 3, currently only produces square images with a 1:1 aspect ratio. Users have expressed frustration with the lack of flexibility in image dimensions, as cropping is the only available option to alter image sizes. Upcoming feature revealed in beta code: Android Authority has uncovered evidence of new image resizing options in a recent Google app beta. Code from the 15.41.34.29.arm64 beta version of the Google app...
read Oct 16, 2024Android users get free access to Google’s Gemini AI assistant
Gemini Live expands accessibility: Google has made its conversational AI assistant, Gemini Live, freely available to all English-speaking Android users, marking a significant expansion in the accessibility of advanced AI technology. Previously exclusive to Gemini Advanced subscribers at $20 per month, Gemini Live is now integrated into the Gemini mobile app for Android at no cost. The feature supports six languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Hindi, catering to a diverse global user base. Users can access Gemini Live by updating their Gemini app and looking for the waveform icon at the bottom left of the app screen. Enhanced...
read Oct 16, 2024AI weather reports expand to more Pixel devices
Google expands Pixel Weather app availability: The new Pixel Weather app, initially exclusive to the Pixel 9 series, is now rolling out to older Pixel devices as part of the October 2024 Pixel Feature Drop. Key features of the updated app: A revamped interface with a gradient background that adapts to current weather conditions Customizable layout with repositionable widgets for wind speed, sunrise/sunset times, AQI, and more Redesigned home screen weather widgets for quick forecast checks AI Weather Report powered by Gemini, offering actionable insights for daily planning Weather Map feature showing rain forecasts for select cities in the US,...
read Oct 15, 2024YouTube is testing AI-powered comment replies
YouTube Tests AI-Powered Comment Reply Suggestions: YouTube is experimenting with a new feature that uses artificial intelligence to suggest replies for creators responding to comments on their videos. The feature is currently in a small-scale testing phase, indicating YouTube's cautious approach to implementing AI-driven tools. The test is exclusively available on YouTube's mobile app, suggesting a focus on enhancing the platform's mobile user experience. This AI-enhanced feature aims to streamline the interaction process between creators and their audience, potentially saving time and encouraging more engagement. Potential Benefits for Creators: The introduction of AI-suggested replies could significantly impact how creators manage...
read Oct 15, 2024Google Shopping unveils personalized product feed with AI summaries
Google's Shopping Overhaul: Personalization and AI Take Center Stage: Google is introducing significant updates to its Shopping platform, aiming to create a more tailored and user-friendly experience for consumers. Personalized 'For You' Feed: Google Shopping is introducing a personalized product feed, initially on mobile devices, to enhance user engagement and discovery. The new feature appears at shopping.google.com, presenting users with a carousel of recently viewed items for quick access to previous searches. Scrolling down reveals recommended products and in-line videos based on user interests, leveraging recent searches and YouTube viewing history. Users can refine recommendations by using a "thumbs-down" button...
read Oct 14, 2024Google inks deal for nuclear power from Kairos Power
Google embraces nuclear power for AI advancement: Google has entered into an agreement with Kairos Power to source nuclear energy, marking a significant step in the tech giant's efforts to support the growing energy demands of artificial intelligence technologies. The agreement with Kairos Power, a nuclear technology company, aims to provide Google with clean and reliable electricity to power its AI operations. This move underscores the increasing energy requirements of AI technologies and their impact on grid infrastructure. AI's growing energy appetite: The rapid advancement and widespread adoption of AI technologies are creating unprecedented demands on electrical grids, necessitating new...
read Oct 14, 2024The Gemini Nano AI model will run on your phone — here’s what’s inside
Gemini Nano: Google's AI model for smartphones: Google has introduced Gemini Nano, its smallest AI model designed to run directly on smartphones, offering enhanced text-based tasks and the ability to understand images and audio. Gemini Nano operates on-device, providing faster response times and improved privacy compared to cloud-based AI models. The model excels at various text-based tasks and can process both visual and audio inputs, making it versatile for multiple smartphone applications. Key features and functionalities: Gemini Nano brings a range of AI-powered capabilities to supported devices, enhancing user experience across various applications. Gboard Smart Reply utilizes AI to generate...
read Oct 13, 2024Google drops Lens shortcut from ‘Circle to Search’ feature
Circle to Search loses Google Lens shortcut: Google has removed the Google Lens icon from the Circle to Search feature, potentially streamlining the user interface but removing a convenient shortcut for users. The change was first noticed by 9to5Google and has now been widely rolled out to users. Previously, the Circle to Search UI included a text search field, Google app shortcut, voice search icon, Google Lens icon, song search button, and translation button. The updated UI now lacks the Google Lens icon, eliminating the two-step access to Google Lens from anywhere on the phone. Impact on user experience: The...
read Oct 13, 2024Gemini side panel in Chrome tops users’ AI wishlist
The Gemini integration dilemma: Google's slow and scattered approach to integrating Gemini AI features into Chrome's desktop version is causing frustration among users seeking a more seamless and intuitive experience. Chrome's desktop version currently offers AI features that are difficult to access and use, including manual steps for summarizing web pages, hidden custom AI themes, and a "Help Me Write" tool that only appears with right-clicks on text fields. The lack of a unified interface for Gemini features contrasts sharply with Microsoft's Copilot integration in Edge, highlighting a missed opportunity for Google to enhance user experience in the world's most...
read Oct 12, 2024Google’s AI allows satellites to see through clouds
AI's dual role in environmental monitoring and climate impact: Google's Cloud Score+ demonstrates the potential of artificial intelligence to revolutionize environmental monitoring, while also highlighting the energy-intensive nature of AI technologies. Google researchers have developed Cloud Score+, an AI-powered system that provides clearer, more detailed satellite images of remote ecosystems often obscured by clouds. The technology uses video AI to score every pixel of satellite images, allowing researchers to select only the highest quality pixels for visualization and analysis. Cloud Score+ has been successfully applied in Ecuador's Imbabura Province, a UNESCO Global Geopark, to improve understanding of the region's assets...
read Oct 10, 2024How to use Gemini AI to create better images
Google Gemini's Image Generation Upgrade: Google has enhanced its Gemini AI with Imagen 3, offering improved image generation capabilities for both free and paid users. Imagen 3 promises higher-quality images with crisper details, more vibrant colors, and fewer imperfections compared to its predecessor. The upgrade includes better text integration, more photorealistic renderings, and diverse artistic styles. Google DeepMind's evaluation found Imagen 3 outperforming competitors like DALL-E 3 and Midjourney v6 in user satisfaction tests. Accessing Gemini's New Image Generation Features: Users can utilize Gemini's enhanced image creation tools through multiple platforms. The Gemini website is accessible via web browsers on...
read Oct 10, 2024Google Gemini AI image generator just rolled out to everyone for free
Google unveils Imagen 3: A new frontier in AI image generation: Google has launched Imagen 3, its most advanced AI image generator to date, making it freely available to all Gemini users on both mobile and desktop platforms. Key features and capabilities: Imagen 3 represents a significant leap forward in AI-generated imagery, offering improved instruction following and reduced visual artifacts compared to its predecessors. The model can generate a wide range of visual styles, from photorealistic landscapes to oil paintings and claymation scenes. Each prompt results in a single 2048x2048 JPEG image, which users can refine through iterative requests. Imagen...
read Oct 9, 2024Why Google’s AI deals may weaken its search monopoly defense
DOJ proposes far-reaching remedies to address Google's search monopoly: The United States Department of Justice has put forward a comprehensive set of remedies aimed at dismantling Google's dominance in the search engine market, signaling a potential major shift in the tech landscape. Key proposed remedies: The DOJ's suggestions encompass a wide range of actions designed to level the playing field in the search engine industry and prevent Google from leveraging its current position to dominate future markets. Sharing search data with competitors, which could potentially erode Google's competitive advantage in search quality and relevance Limiting Google's ability to enter into...
read Oct 9, 2024Google brings AI image generation to Chromecast devices
AI-Powered Wallpapers Come to Google TV: Google has officially launched AI-generated wallpapers for Google TV devices, expanding the creative capabilities of smart home entertainment systems. The feature, announced last month, is now rolling out to Chromecast and other Google TV-enabled devices, as reported by 9to5Google. Users can access this new functionality through the device settings, specifically under Settings > System > Ambient Mode > Custom AI Art. How it works: The AI wallpaper generator offers users multiple ways to create unique, personalized backgrounds for their Google TV devices. Users can describe the image they want, utilizing the AI's text-to-image capabilities...
read Oct 9, 2024Google Photos may soon flag AI-generated images
AI-generated image detection coming to Google Photos: Google Photos is preparing to implement a feature that will help users identify AI-generated images by displaying IPTC metadata, potentially changing how users interact with and understand digital imagery. The upcoming feature, discovered through an APK teardown of Google Photos version 7.3, is not yet live but is expected to roll out in the near future. This development comes as a response to the rapid proliferation of AI-generated images and the growing need for transparency in digital media. Key metadata elements: The new feature will likely showcase specific IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council)...
read Oct 9, 2024Gemini will let users make precise edits to generated images
Google Gemini's AI Image Generator Upgrade: Google is enhancing Gemini's AI image generation capabilities in the latest Android beta, introducing new features that allow users to make precise edits to generated images. The upgrade was first reported by Android Authority in the Android beta version 15.40.31.29. The new feature enables users to make small tweaks to images generated by Gemini, such as changing specific elements of the image. In a demonstration, a user was able to generate an image of a dog wearing a hat and sunglasses, then successfully request to change the hat to a birthday hat. Competitive landscape:...
read Oct 8, 2024Google may release a feature to let you fine-tune AI-generated images
Gemini's image editing evolution: Google is enhancing its AI chatbot Gemini with a new feature that allows for more precise editing of generated images, marking a significant advancement in AI image manipulation capabilities. The new feature, discovered through an APK teardown of the Google beta app for Android (v15.40.31.29 beta), enables users to select specific areas of an AI-generated image for targeted editing. This functionality addresses a limitation in the current version of Gemini, where users can only refine images through text prompts without the ability to focus on particular sections. How the new feature works: The precise editing tool...
read Oct 7, 2024Android’s Gemini AI might soon be just a tap away
Google's AI ambitions expanding to Android lock screens: Android 15 QPR1 Beta 2 reveals a hidden feature suggesting Google may introduce a dedicated AI button on the lock screen, potentially linked to its Gemini assistant. The experimental button appears as a pill-shaped icon with a sparkle design, positioned below the fingerprint reader on the lock screen. Currently non-functional, the button's purpose remains unclear, though its sparkle icon is commonly associated with generative AI features and matches Gemini's iconography. This development aligns with Google's aggressive push into generative AI, driven by concerns about maintaining its search dominance amidst the AI boom....
read Oct 7, 2024Google may release new AI feature to prevent phone theft
New Android security features to combat phone theft: Google is reportedly rolling out advanced AI-powered security measures for Android devices in the United States, aimed at protecting users from phone snatchers and thieves. Key features and functionality: Theft Detection Lock: This feature uses machine learning to identify potential phone-snatching incidents, automatically locking the device if it detects someone grabbing the phone and running away on foot, by bike, or by car. Offline Device Lock: Designed to counter thieves who attempt to keep stolen phones disconnected from the internet, this feature automatically locks the screen after an extended period offline. Remote...
read Oct 7, 2024Google stuffs ads into AI search, frustrating users
AI-powered search takes a controversial turn: Google's integration of ads into its AI-generated search summaries marks a significant shift in the company's approach to monetizing artificial intelligence technology while raising concerns about user experience and content quality. Google announced that its AI Overviews feature will now include ads above, below, and within the AI-generated summaries, aiming to demonstrate the technology's revenue-generating potential. This move is designed to address concerns that AI chatbots could potentially reduce search ad revenues, which are crucial to Google's business model. The company is also introducing AI-organized Search results pages for mobile users, starting with recipe...
read Oct 4, 2024Google Lens now lets you search with videos too
Google Lens expands search capabilities with video and voice features: Google has introduced new functionalities to its Lens app, allowing users to search using video and voice commands, enhancing the visual search experience. The update, rolling out in Search Labs on Android and iOS, enables users to record short videos and ask questions about what they're seeing. Google's Gemini AI model processes the video content and user queries to provide relevant responses and search results. The new feature builds upon Google's existing image search capabilities, applying computer vision techniques to analyze multiple video frames in sequence. How it works: Users...
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