News/Google
Google Launches Project Oscar To Bring AI Agents to Open-Source Software Development
Project Oscar is an open-source platform from Google that enables software product teams to create AI agents for managing issues and bugs throughout the software development lifecycle: AI agents can range from developer agents to planning, runtime, and support agents, interacting through natural language without requiring code changes. The platform is currently geared towards open-source projects but may be released for closed-source projects in the future. Real-world application in Go: Google's open-source programming language Go has deployed an AI agent through Project Oscar to help manage the project's large scale and complexity: The Go project has over 93,000 commits and...
read Jul 16, 2024The Pixel 9 Pro May Include 1 Year of Google’s Premium AI Chatbot, For Free
The upcoming Google Pixel 9 Pro smartphone may come with a generous AI-focused gift for buyers - a year of free access to Gemini Advanced, Google's premium AI chatbot service. Key details from decompiled code: A deep dive into the code of the latest Google App beta revealed telling details about the Pixel 9 Pro's potential Gemini Advanced offer: A line of code explicitly states that the "Pixel Pro gives you access to a 1-year subscription to Gemini Advanced, our most capable AI model with priority access to new features, at no cost to you." In contrast, another code snippet...
read Jul 15, 2024Google’s Gemini Caught Scanning Private Documents
Google's Gemini AI caught scanning private Google Drive documents without user consent, raising privacy concerns amid the tech industry's AI push. User discovers Gemini AI scanning private files: Kevin Bankston, a Senior Advisor on AI Governance, took to Twitter to share his experience of Google's Gemini AI automatically summarizing his tax return stored in Google Drive without his permission: Bankston was surprised to find that Gemini had ingested and summarized his private document, despite not explicitly asking for this feature. The incident raises serious questions about the extent of control users have over their sensitive information and Google's handling of...
read Jul 12, 2024Google’s AI Robots Learn from Videos, Hinting at Transformative Applications
Google's AI robots are making significant strides in learning by watching videos, demonstrating the potential for transformative applications of advanced language models like Gemini 1.5 Pro in robotics. Video training enables robots to navigate and complete tasks: By watching video tours of designated areas, Google's RT-2 robots equipped with the Gemini 1.5 Pro AI model can learn about their environment and carry out requests at their destination: The AI's long context window allows it to process extensive information simultaneously, enabling the robot to absorb details from the video to complete tasks based on its learned knowledge. In practical tests within...
read Jul 12, 2024Google’s Gemini-Powered Robot Navigates Offices, Follows Complex Commands
Google DeepMind has unveiled a chatbot-powered robot capable of navigating an office environment and following complex verbal and visual instructions, demonstrating the potential for large language models to enable more intelligent and useful physical machines. Gemini chatbot upgrade enables advanced robot capabilities: Google DeepMind's robot leverages the latest version of the company's Gemini large language model to understand commands and navigate its surroundings: The robot can parse complex verbal instructions like "Find me somewhere to write" and lead a person to an appropriate location, such as a whiteboard. Gemini's ability to handle video and text input, combined with pre-recorded video...
read Jul 11, 2024Google and Samsung Partner to Bring Advanced AI to Galaxy Devices
Google and Samsung join forces to power advanced AI capabilities on Galaxy devices, setting the stage for a more intelligent and intuitive user experience. Key Takeaways: The partnership between Google and Samsung brings Gemini AI features to Galaxy devices, enabling seamless integration of AI assistance into everyday smartphone interactions: Gemini AI can now read and respond to content displayed on the phone's screen or within a video being watched, providing contextual information and engaging in relevant conversations. New Circle to Search features enhance the user's ability to quickly access information and perform searches based on the content they are currently...
read Jul 10, 2024Google’s Gemini Live AI Poised to Rival Apple with Advanced Features, Leak Suggests
Google's Gemini Live AI is poised to rival Apple Intelligence with advanced background mode and app integration capabilities, according to a recent leak. Key features of Gemini Live: The leaked code suggests that Gemini Live will offer a seamless, natural conversation experience on mobile devices: A "background mode" will allow users to continue conversations with the AI while using other apps or even when the screen is locked, effectively turning interactions into phone call-like experiences. Users will be able to quickly access Gemini Live from their lock screen and utilize extensions for first-party services like Google Maps, Google Flights, Google...
read Jul 9, 2024Google Gemini Upgrades: Always-On AI, Lock Screen Features, and Accuracy Challenges
Google Gemini's upcoming app upgrades aim to make the conversational AI more seamlessly integrated into users' daily lives. Background mode for uninterrupted chats: The Gemini app will allow users to continue their chats while using other apps or even when the screen is locked, ensuring that the AI assistant is always available: Users will be able to quickly ask questions or respond to Gemini through a persistent notification at the top of the screen, without having to switch between apps. Stopping the conversation will be simple, either by saying "stop" or by tapping on the notification. It remains unclear whether...
read Jul 9, 2024YouTube’s AI “Erase Song” Tool Aids In Copyright Claims and Empowers Creators
YouTube introduces AI-powered "Erase Song" feature to remove copyrighted music from videos without disrupting the rest of the audio, offering creators more options to deal with copyright claims and maintain video monetization. Key takeaways from the new feature: When a video receives a copyright claim for music, YouTube will offer editing options in YouTube Studio, including the enhanced "Erase Song" tool powered by AI. The AI-based tool allows for precise identification and removal of copyrighted songs, leaving the rest of the video's audio intact. Previously, creators had limited options like muting the entire video or replacing the song, which often...
read Jul 7, 2024Google’s AI Breakthrough Slashes Disaster Response Times, Saving Lives
Alphabet's moonshot lab X has developed an AI breakthrough that dramatically speeds up disaster response times, potentially saving lives in the aftermath of catastrophic events like wildfires and floods. The challenge: Tagging thousands of aerial photos is a critical but time-consuming task for first responders: After a disaster, drones and aircraft capture numerous images of affected areas, but these photos lack metadata about their precise locations, making it difficult to quickly determine where help is most needed. Manually tagging the photos has been necessary but can delay the National Guard's response by up to 12 hours, precious time when lives...
read Jul 5, 2024YouTube’s AI Erase Song Tool Simplifies Copyrighted Music Removal for Creators
YouTube enhances 'Erase Song' tool for more efficient removal of copyrighted music: YouTube is updating its Erase Song feature with a new AI-powered algorithm that can more accurately identify and remove copyrighted songs from videos while leaving the rest of the audio intact. Key improvements and options: The updated tool offers creators two choices when removing copyrighted music: Erase Song: This option will only remove the copyrighted song, allowing voiceovers and other audio elements to remain. Mute All Sound: This will mute all audio in the sections containing the copyrighted song. Simplified process for creators: When a creator receives a...
read Jul 4, 2024Apple’s AI Privacy Strategy and How It Stacks Up Against Android
Apple's AI privacy approach sets a new standard, while Android offers a "hybrid" model: Apple Intelligence introduces a unique AI architecture focused on on-device processing and a new Private Cloud Compute (PCC) system, aiming to protect user data even when leveraging cloud capabilities. In contrast, Android devices like Samsung's Galaxy range employ a "hybrid AI" approach, handling some processes locally but relying on the cloud for advanced features, potentially exposing data to more risks. Key differences between Apple's and Android's AI privacy strategies: Apple's PCC is designed to mask data origins and prevent access by anyone, including Apple, which the...
read Jul 4, 2024Google’s AI Surge Threatens Its 2030 Net-Zero Goal as Emissions Soar
Google's greenhouse gas emissions surge as AI investments grow, casting doubt on 2030 net-zero target. Emissions on the rise: Google's greenhouse gas emissions have increased significantly in recent years, driven largely by the company's investments in AI and associated infrastructure: Total emissions reached 14.3 million tonnes of carbon equivalent in 2023, a 48% increase from 2019 levels and a 13% rise since last year. Energy-related emissions, primarily from data center electricity consumption, rose 37% year-on-year and now represent a quarter of Google's total greenhouse gas emissions. Supply chain emissions, which account for 75% of the company's total emissions, also increased...
read Jul 4, 2024Illinois Launches AI-Powered Portal to Revolutionize Youth Mental Health Support
Illinois's BEACON portal, developed in partnership with Google, aims to revolutionize youth mental health support by breaking down agency silos and streamlining access to services. The project's leader shared key insights and learnings from the development process with Government Technology. Addressing the youth mental health crisis: The BEACON portal is a direct response to the alarming rise in youth mental health challenges in Illinois, exacerbated by the pandemic and workforce shortages: According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 61.8 percent of Illinoisans aged 12 to 17 who have depression did not receive any care in 2021. The fragmented nature...
read Jul 3, 2024Google Simplifies AI Disclosures in Political Ads Amid 2024 Election Concerns
Google is simplifying the process for political advertisers to disclose AI-generated content in their ads, as concerns mount over the use of AI in the lead-up to the 2024 US presidential election. Automated disclosures for AI-generated political ads: Google will now automatically generate disclosures for political ads that contain AI-generated content, making it easier for advertisers to comply with disclosure requirements: Advertisers can now select an "altered or synthetic content" checkbox in their campaign settings, which will trigger Google to automatically include an in-ad disclosure. The automated disclosures will appear in feeds, YouTube Shorts on mobile devices, and in-stream ads...
read Jul 3, 2024AI-Generated Spam Plagues Google News, Outranking Original Reporting
A recent Google search for "adobe train ai content" revealed that an AI-generated spam article plagiarizing WIRED's original reporting was outranking the legitimate story in Google News results. Despite Google's recent algorithm changes and spam policies aimed at improving search quality, the prevalence of AI-generated spam in news results remains a significant issue. Key details of the AI spam article: The spammy website, Syrus #Blog, had copied WIRED's article with only slight changes to the phrasing and a single hyperlink at the bottom serving as attribution: The plagiarized content appeared in 10 other languages, including many that WIRED produces content...
read Jul 3, 2024Google’s AI Emissions Surge Threatens Net-Zero Goal, Raises Sustainability Concerns
Google's AI-driven emissions increase raises concerns amid net-zero goals: Google's greenhouse gas emissions rose 13% last year, largely due to the increasing energy demands of artificial intelligence (AI), despite the company's aim to become carbon neutral by 2030. AI adoption poses challenges for emissions reduction efforts: The rapid growth and integration of AI into Google's products is driving up the company's energy consumption and associated emissions, making it more difficult to meet its sustainability targets: Google's data center electricity consumption grew by 17% last year, accounting for 7-10% of global data center electricity usage. Since 2019, Google's total emissions have...
read Jul 3, 2024Google AI for Pixel: Uniting AI Into Promising and Questionable Features
Google is reportedly uniting existing and new machine learning features into a collection called Google AI for Pixel, which may include both promising and questionable innovations in the anticipated Pixel 9 smartphone, according to an anonymous insider. Key features under the Google AI umbrella: The tech giant plans to bring together current and upcoming AI capabilities, with a focus on enhancing user experience while maintaining privacy: Circle to Search and the Gemini AI assistant will be moved under the Google AI collection. "Add Me" is a new feature that may enable users to add themselves to group photos they were...
read Jul 2, 2024Google Pixel 9’s AI Screenshot Feature: Balancing Convenience and Privacy Concerns
The Google Pixel 9 is set to introduce a new "Google AI" feature that could enhance screenshot search capabilities while being less invasive than Microsoft's controversial Recall tool: Key Differences from Microsoft Recall: Google's AI-powered screenshot feature will only process manually captured screenshots, making it less concerning than Microsoft's Recall, which automatically captures user activity: Microsoft delayed the rollout of Recall on Windows 11 after security experts raised privacy concerns about the feature's automatic data collection. Google's version will only use screenshots that users take themselves, potentially mitigating some of the privacy issues associated with Recall. Enhanced Screenshot Search and...
read Jul 2, 2024Google Ditches Infinite Scroll, Embraces AI-Powered Search in Transformative Shift
Google pivots from infinite scroll as AI ushers in next era of search, with implications for user behavior, monetization strategies, and the battle between tech giants. The end of infinite scroll and the birth of AI-powered search: Google is phasing out continuous scrolling of search results, introduced in 2021 to mirror social media feeds, in favor of serving results faster and requiring users to explicitly request additional pages: Desktop users will be able to directly navigate to specific search result pages or click "Next" to see the next page, while mobile users will soon see a "More results" button at...
read Jul 2, 2024Anthropic Considers Partnerships with Google and Meta, Raising Concerns About Industry Consolidation
Anthropic, an AI research company founded by former OpenAI employees, is considering partnerships with tech giants Google and Meta, potentially giving them access to its advanced AI models as they race to catch up to OpenAI's GPT-4. Key aspects of the potential deals: The discussions highlight the complex dynamics in the rapidly evolving AI industry, where collaboration and competition often intertwine: Anthropic is considering licensing its AI models to Google and Meta, which could help these companies accelerate their AI development efforts and narrow the gap with OpenAI. The potential partnerships underscore the value of Anthropic's AI technology, particularly its...
read Jul 1, 2024Character.AI Mulls Deals with Tech Giants Amid Intensifying AI Chatbot Competition
Chatbot startup Character.AI is considering potential deals with tech giants Google and Meta amid increasing competition in the AI chatbot space: Early success and hype: Character.AI had a strong start, attracting millions of users with its engaging, persona-based chatbots that offered a fun and unique conversational AI experience compared to larger rivals. Founded in November 2021 by former Google AI pioneers, the startup quickly gained traction, with users drawn to its hyper-realistic roleplay chatbots mimicking anime characters, TV personalities, and historical figures. Just four months after securing $150 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz and others at a $1 billion...
read Jul 1, 2024Google and Apple’s AI Showdown: The Race to Dominate the Future of Tech
The rivalry between tech giants Google and Apple is heating up as both companies race to dominate the AI landscape and gain a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving industry: Google's early Pixel event fueled by AI: Google's surprise announcement of a Pixel hardware event in August, two months earlier than usual, is likely driven by the company's desire to showcase its AI advancements and stay ahead of the competition. The Vergecast podcast hosts David Pierce and Nilay Patel speculate that the early event is primarily due to "AI reasons," underscoring the growing importance of artificial intelligence in the tech...
read Jul 1, 2024Google Partners with Data Giants to Enhance AI Reliability and Minimize Hallucinations
Google partners with Thomson Reuters, Moody's, and others to provide AI with real-world data, aiming to minimize hallucinations and increase trust in AI models for enterprise customers. Reputable third-party data sources: Google is partnering with Moody's, MSCI, Thomson Reuters, and Zoominfo to provide qualified data within Vertex AI, allowing developers to leverage high-quality data and expertise to ensure AI outputs meet their standards: These data sources will be available in Vertex AI starting next quarter, offering a way for businesses to ground their AI responses in trustworthy data. The partnership enables customers to leverage Google's models and the partner's data...
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