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Google ‘fixes’ issues with voting search results that weren’t actually broken

Sarah Perez — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 22:00:26 +0000

Google says it has addressed an issue with its search engine that saw it displaying a “where to vote” panel, which includes a map of polling places, for some specific voting-related searches but not for others. The tech giant even used the word “fixed” to respond to the matter, despite the fact that Google Search […]

Google Cloud to make multi-factor authentication mandatory in 2025

Paul Sawers — Tue, 05 Nov 2024 16:35:19 +0000

The move to enable the MFA security feature comes hot on the heels of major data breaches at cloud giants, like Snowflake.

Why Wiz really turned down Google’s $23B offer

Cody Corrall — Sat, 02 Nov 2024 20:15:00 +0000

Welcome back to Week in Review. This week, we’re coming at you right off the heels of TechCrunch Disrupt! If you missed it, we’re highlighting conversations from Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg, and Disney star turned space CEO Bridgit Mendler. Of course, we’ve got news from the rest of the tech world […]

Indonesia blocks Google Pixel sales after ban on iPhone 16

Manish Singh — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 06:13:31 +0000

Indonesia has banned sales of Google Pixel smartphones for failing to meet domestic content requirements, days after blocking Apple’s iPhone 16 in Southeast Asia’s largest phone market. The Indonesian Ministry of Industry said Google’s phones cannot be traded until they comply with rules requiring 40% local content in smartphones sold in Indonesia. Google must obtain […]

Google Maps is getting new AI features powered by Gemini

Aisha Malik — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 17:08:25 +0000

Google Maps is getting new features powered by Gemini, Google’s generative AI model. On Thursday the company announced incoming updates that will allow Google Maps users in the U.S. to tap into AI to help them find new places to visit and answer questions about different locations. The platform is also getting enhanced navigation features […]

Google’s Gemini API and AI Studio get grounding with Google Search

Frederic Lardinois — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Starting today, developers using Google’s Gemini API and its Google AI Studio to build AI-based services and bots will be able to ground their prompts’ results with data from Google Search. This should enable more accurate responses based on fresher data. As has been the case before, developers will be able to try out grounding […]

This Week in AI: A preview of Disrupt 2024’s stacked AI panels

Kyle Wiggers — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 17:05:00 +0000

Hiya, folks, welcome to TechCrunch’s regular AI newsletter. If you want this in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. This week, the TechCrunch crew (including yours truly) is at TC’s annual Disrupt conference in San Francisco. We’ve got a packed lineup of speakers from the AI industry, academia, and policy, so in lieu of my […]

Google says its next-gen AI agents won’t launch until 2025 at the earliest

Kyle Wiggers — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 21:14:25 +0000

Google won’t ship tech from Project Astra, its wide-ranging effort to build AI apps and “agents” for real-time, multimodal understanding, until next year at the earliest. Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed the timeline in remarks during Google’s Q3 earnings call Tuesday. “[Google is] building out experiences where AI can see and reason about the world […]

Google-backed Open Cloud Coalition launches to lobby European lawmakers

Paul Sawers — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Europe has a new lobbying body, one with a self-stated mission to “improve competition, transparency and resilience” in the cloud computing sector. The Open Cloud Coalition (OCC) counts 10 members at launch, the most notable of which is Google, supported by international and local cloud providers Centerprise International, Civo, Gigas, ControlPlane, DTP Group, Prolinx, Pulsant, […]

Microsoft accuses Google of ‘shadow campaign’ to influence cloud regulation in Europe

Paul Sawers — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 20:30:37 +0000

The European cloud wars are heating up. Microsoft has accused its old foe Google of waging a clandestine war against the Azure cloud company, to curry favor with policymakers and antitrust authorities in Europe. In a blog post today, Microsoft deputy general counsel Rima Alaily preempted the imminent launch of a new lobby group called […]

Google expands AI Overviews in Search to more than 100 countries

Aisha Malik — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 16:27:46 +0000

Google Search’s AI Overviews, which display a snapshot of information at the top of the results page, are beginning to roll out in more than 100 countries and territories, the company announced on Monday. Google first launched the feature in the United States in May before slowly rolling out to additional regions. Google says AI […]

Google Calendar gets a design refresh, dark mode

Ivan Mehta — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 05:42:15 +0000

Google is revamping Google Calendar’s web interface in line with its Material Design 3 guidelines, and adding support for dark mode. The update applies to controls like buttons, dialogs and sidebars that are more “modern and accessible,” the company said. Screenshots on the Google Workspace blog show that buttons and dialogs now have rounded edges, […]

Google adds new disclosures for AI photos, but it’s still not obvious at first glance

Maxwell Zeff — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 19:15:06 +0000

Starting next week, the Google Photos app will add a new disclosure for when a photo has been edited with one of its AI features, such as Magic Editor, Magic Eraser, and Zoom Enhance. When you click into a photo in Google Photos, there will now be a disclosure when you scroll to the bottom […]

UK competition regulator to investigate Alphabet’s investment in Anthropic

Paul Sawers — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 14:23:50 +0000

The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching a formal probe into Alphabet’s investment in AI rival Anthropic. The investigation comes three months after the CMA confirmed it was inviting “interested parties” to comment on Alphabet’s various investments in Anthropic, which includes a reported $300 million early last year followed by another reported $2 billion. The probe […]

Google releases tech to watermark AI-generated text

Kyle Wiggers — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 15:38:14 +0000

Google is making SynthID Text, its technology that lets developers watermark and detect text written by generative AI models, generally available. SynthID Text can be downloaded from the AI platform Hugging Face and Google’s updated Responsible GenAI Toolkit. “We’re open-sourcing our SynthID Text watermarking tool,” the company wrote in a post on X. “Available freely to developers […]

Google replaces executive in charge of Search and advertising

Aisha Malik — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 18:23:01 +0000

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Thursday that Prabhakar Raghavan, the executive in charge of the company’s search engine and ads products, is leaving his role. Longtime Google executive Nick Fox will replace Raghavan, who will now take on the role of chief technologist. “Prabhakar has decided it’s time to make a big leap in […]

Google’s NotebookLM now lets you guide AI-generated audio conversations, launches business pilot

Jagmeet Singh — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Google's NotebookLM has updated Audio Overviews with the ability to focus on a specific topic in the given content and has introduced a NotebookLM Business pilot program for organizations.

Google will now help you find the cheapest flights available for your trip

Aisha Malik — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Google is introducing a new feature that will help you find the cheapest flights for your next trip. The company announced on Wednesday that it’s adding a new “cheapest” tab on Google Flights. Up until now, Google has displayed what it considers the “best” options at the top of the results based on both price […]

Google adds new features for Pixel along with Android 15 rollout

Ivan Mehta — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Google is rolling out Android 15 today to Pixel devices. It is also adding new features through the October Pixel drop, including improved low-light photography on Instagram and support for underwater photography and video. Android 15 updates Android 15 has a private space feature that lets you hide and lock apps behind a separate PIN […]

Google supercharges Shopping tab with AI and personalized recommendation feed

Aisha Malik — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 13:00:00 +0000

After bringing generative AI to Search in 2023, Google is supercharging its Shopping tab with the technology. The company announced on Tuesday that it will use AI to help users shop for products based on exactly what they’re looking for. It also launched a new scrollable feed of personalized, shoppable products. Now, when you search […]