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Google DeepMind develops a ‘solidly amateur’ table tennis robot

Brian Heater — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 16:14:43 +0000

During testing, Google DeepMind's table tennis bot was able to beat all of the beginner-level players it faced.

YouTube is testing a feature that lets creators use Google Gemini to brainstorm video ideas

Aisha Malik — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 22:15:13 +0000

YouTube is testing an integration with Google Gemini to help creators brainstorm video ideas, titles and thumbnails. The Google-owned company announced the launch of the new Brainstorm with Gemini feature in a video posted to its Creator Insider channel. A YouTube spokesperson told TechCrunch that the feature is available to select creators as a part […]

Made by Google 2024: How to watch Google unveil the Pixel 9, a new foldable and more

Brian Heater — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 19:10:25 +0000

Made by Google 2024 kicks off at 10 a.m. PT on August 13. Get ready for a slew of new hardware, including the Pixel 9 and a new foldable.

This Week in AI: OpenAI’s talent retention woes

Kyle Wiggers — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 17:05:00 +0000

Hiya, folks, welcome to TechCrunch’s regular AI newsletter. This week in AI, OpenAI lost another co-founder. John Schulman, who played a pivotal role in the development of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot platform, has left the company for rival Anthropic. Schulman announced the news on X, saying that his decision stemmed from a desire to deepen […]

Mechanical Orchard, led by ex-Pivotal CEO, scores $50M round led by Alphabet’s GV

Kyle Wiggers — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 16:43:55 +0000

Digital transformation — the process of transforming outdated apps and processes with cloud technologies and digital workflows — can be a risky undertaking. In 2023, Harvard Business Review reported that while 89% of large companies have a digital and AI transformation underway, they’ve only captured 31% of the expected revenue uplift and 25% of anticipated […]

Google Assistant lives to automate another day

Brian Heater — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 20:16:38 +0000

With new Pixel devices just over the horizon, Assistant’s days on Android may still be numbered. For the time being, however, it still has a place on the home.

Made by Google 2024: Pixel 9, Gemini, a new foldable and other things to expect from the event

Brian Heater — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 17:58:08 +0000

Google unveiled the Nest Learning Thermostat 4 and Google TV Streamer. It's expected to announce four Pixel devices, including the Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro.

Chromecast is dead. Meet Google TV Streamer

Brian Heater — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 15:35:21 +0000

Google revealed its newest set-top streaming box, Google TV Streamer, which will replace the Chromecast. It doubles as a smart home hub.

Breaking up Google would offer a chance to remodel the web

Natasha Lomas — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 14:54:43 +0000

Just for a minute, as we digest the information that Google has been found to operate an illegal monopoly, can you imagine a web without Google? An internet without Google Search, Chrome, Gmail, Maps and so on would — very obviously — be a different place. But would such a change have implications for utility […]

After nine years, Google’s Nest Learning Thermostat gets an AI makeover

Brian Heater — Tue, 06 Aug 2024 13:45:56 +0000

It’s no coincidence that the new Learning Thermostat arrives as Google is amping up work on its generative AI model, Gemini.

Google loses massive antitrust case over search, will appeal ruling

Kyle Wiggers, Rebecca Bellan — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 20:27:00 +0000

Google will appeal a U.S. District Court judge’s opinion Monday that found the technology giant acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search. The decision from Judge Amit P. Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is a major defeat for Google that could alter the way it does business […]

Character.AI CEO Noam Shazeer returns to Google

Ivan Mehta — Fri, 02 Aug 2024 17:52:09 +0000

In a big move, Character.AI co-founder and CEO Noam Shazeer is returning to Google after leaving the company in October 2021 to found the a16z-backed chatbot startup. In his previous stint, Shazeer spearheaded the team of researchers that built LaMDA (Language Model for Dialogue Applications), a language model that was used for conversational AI tools. Character.AI co-founder Daniel […]

Google brings Gemini-powered search history and Lens to Chrome desktop

Ivan Mehta — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Google Thursday said that it is introducing new Gemini-powered features for Chrome’s desktop version, including Lens for desktop, tab compare for shopping assistance, and natural language integration for search history. Years after introducing and evolving Google Lens on mobile, the feature is finally coming to desktop. Rolling out to users across the world in the […]

Google Cloud expands its database portfolio with new AI capabilities

Frederic Lardinois — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Google's new features include Gemini in BigQuery and Looker to help users with data engineering and analysis.

Google Cloud now has a dedicated cluster of Nvidia GPUs for Y Combinator startups

Maxwell Zeff — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 13:00:00 +0000

Google Cloud is giving Y Combinator startups access to a dedicated, subsidized cluster of Nvidia graphics processing units and Google tensor processing units to build AI models. It’s part of Google Cloud’s effort to cozy up with promising early-stage AI startups, in hopes some of them will evolve into massive, compute-hungry businesses. “We want to […]

Google releases new ‘open’ AI models with a focus on safety

Kyle Wiggers — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 22:25:16 +0000

Google has released a trio of new, “open” generative AI models that it’s calling “safer,” “smaller” and “more transparent” than most — a bold claim, to be sure. They’re additions to Google’s Gemma 2 family of generative models, which debuted back in May. The new models, Gemma 2 2B, ShieldGemma and Gemma Scope, are designed […]

Google Maps announces new features and somehow none of them are ‘pause navigation’

Sean O'Kane — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 21:52:04 +0000

Look, we’ve all been there. You’re on a road trip and you pull off the highway for some food or fuel. And then Google Maps starts (rudely) yelling at you to get back on the road. The company has all the money and AI chips in the world and yet the app can’t just chill […]

It took some serious nerve for Wiz to walk away from Google’s $23B offer

Ron Miller — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 19:19:28 +0000

For one thing, Wiz could have seen Google’s offer as validation that it's better off staying independent.

UK antitrust body probes Google’s ties with AI rival Anthropic

Paul Sawers — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 11:23:31 +0000

The U.K.’s antitrust regulator has revealed an early-stage probe into Google’s ties with Anthropic, after the Alphabet subsidiary invested in its U.S. AI rival over several rounds. While it’s not at the stage of being an official investigation yet, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is inviting stakeholders and other “interested parties” to comment ahead […]

Dear Google, who wants an AI-written fan letter?

Anthony Ha — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 19:09:27 +0000

The first time I saw Google’s latest commercial, I wondered, “Is it just me, or is this kind of bad?” By the fourth or fifth time I saw it, I’d stopped wondering. It starts innocuously enough, with a father talking about how much his daughter loves Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (she “might even be the world’s number […]