Google just updated Gmail's "Help me write" feature with a new "Polish" option across web and mobile. Users can jot down rough notes, and Gemini will instantly turn them into a formal draft ready for review with one click. The rollout also adds convenient mobile shortcuts on Android and iOS for Gemini Workspace and Google One AI Premium subscribers.
Google just rolled out three helpful updates to AI Overviews to smooth out its rocky search experience. Users can now save specific generated answers to revisit later, tap a "Simpler" button to get concise explanations, and view right-hand website links on desktop. The feature is also expanding to six new countries, including the UK, Japan, and India.
Google just rolled out its flagship text-to-image model, Imagen 3, to all U.S. users via ImageFX alongside a detailed research paper. While users praise its photorealistic textures and crisp typography, the model's ultra-strict safety guardrails are already triggering frustration over blocked harmless prompts.
OpenAI just took back the #1 spot on the LMSYS Chatbot Arena leaderboard with its updated ChatGPT-4o model, edging past Google's Gemini-1.5-Pro-Exp with a 1314 score. Tested anonymously across over 11,000 community votes, the new checkpoint shows noticeable gains in coding (up 30+ points) and hard prompts, and developers can already call it in the API.
Google just introduced 4 new AI-powered accessibility upgrades across Pixel and Android devices. Pixel's Guided Frame now lives directly in camera settings with better subject focus, while the Magnifier app can search for real-world text on menus or signs. Foldables like the Pixel 9 Pro Fold gain a dual-screen Live Transcribe mode, alongside 7 new languages for Live Caption.
Google just launched the Pixel 9 series, powered by the custom Tensor G4 chip and up to 16GB of RAM. The lineup is the first to run multimodal Gemini Nano on-device, unlocking generative tools like Pixel Studio, Pixel Screenshots, and conversational Gemini Live.
Google is rolling out its Gemini-powered "Take notes for me" feature to Meet over the coming weeks, letting workers stop scrambling to write minutes. Workspace admins can configure access in the Admin console right now. The tool is tied to Gemini Enterprise, Education Premium, or the $10/month AI add-on.
Google just unveiled the 4th Gen Nest Learning Thermostat, bringing a slimmer bezel and AI-powered micro-adjustments to home climate control. The pebble-shaped device analyzes user habits alongside live outdoor weather to quietly tweak the temperature. It is currently available for preorder at $279.99, shipping on August 20.
Google just slashed Gemini 1.5 Flash pricing, cutting input costs by 78% to $0.075 per million tokens and output by 71% starting August 12. The update also rolls out text tuning to all developers via AI Studio and the Gemini API, alongside native multimodal understanding for image-heavy PDFs.
Google just introduced the Google TV Streamer, a faster 4K streaming box that officially replaces the Chromecast. The device doubles as a smart home hub and leans on Gemini technology to curate recommendations, write season breakdowns, and generate ambient screensaver art.
Reddit just announced plans to test AI-powered search pages later this year, placing summaries and community recommendations right at the top of results. The feature combines in-house tech with third-party models. After licensing its data to OpenAI and Google, Reddit is finally putting AI to work on its own product.
A YouTube creator just filed a class-action lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging the company secretly transcribed millions of YouTube videos to train ChatGPT and GPT-4 without consent, seeking over $5 million in damages. With high-quality web text rapidly drying up, video transcripts have become a crucial data well—and now, the latest front in AI copyright battles.
Nvidia has reportedly delayed its next-gen Blackwell B200 chips by at least three months due to a design flaw discovered late in production. Massive shipments to heavyweights like Microsoft, Meta, and Google are now pushed into early next year. Nvidia says production will still ramp in the second half, but declined to comment on rumors.
Google just pulled its "Dear Sydney" Olympic commercial following days of intense backlash. The ad showed a father using Gemini to write a fan letter for his young daughter to her track idol, sparking outrage over AI replacing authentic human emotion. Google claimed it was only meant to illustrate early drafting, but viewers felt it completely missed the point.
Google just brought back Character.AI co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas to join DeepMind, alongside signing a non-exclusive licensing deal for the startup’s tech. Most staff will remain at Character.AI under an interim CEO, with the startup pivoting toward third-party models. It is another big-tech reverse acqui-hire that regulators are already eyeing closely.
Google just rolled out three AI-powered features for Chrome built on its Gemini models. Desktop users can now tap Google Lens directly from the address bar to select and query web content, while an upcoming Tab compare tool compiles product comparison tables across tabs, alongside natural-language history search.
Google just faced intense backlash over its new Olympics ad for Gemini, titled "Dear Sydney." In the commercial, a father asks the chatbot to write a fan letter to a track star on behalf of his young daughter, prompting viewers to criticize it for outsourcing heartfelt human expression. The outrage highlights a growing public discomfort when tech companies suggest AI should replace authentic creativity and emotion.
Google just rolled out its "About this image" tool to Circle to Search and Google Lens on Android and iOS. Users can now circle any photo on their screen or scan it in the Google app to inspect its web history, metadata, and DeepMind SynthID watermarks for AI generation. Why it matters: fact-checking questionable images is now a one-tap habit across 40 languages.
Google just released Gemma Scope, a massive open-source suite of over 400 sparse autoencoders to help researchers decipher Gemma 2's inner workings. By isolating more than 30 million learned features across layers, the tool functions like a microscope for mechanistic interpretability. Why it matters: Cracking open neural network black boxes is key to catching hallucinations, deception, and safety vulnerabilities before they cause harm.
Google just upgraded the free version of Gemini to its speedier 1.5 Flash model, bringing noticeable latency drops, stronger reasoning, and a 4x context boost to 32K tokens. Responses now include clickable source chips to tackle hallucinations, with file uploads and chart visualization rolling out soon. Why it matters: Google is making its fastest frontier capabilities accessible to everyone without a paywall.
