GOOGLE GEMINI

Google debuts AI model for robotics, challenging Meta, OpenAI

Google DeepMind’s research unit is launching Gemini Robotics, a new version of its AI model focused on creating more skilled and interactive robots. Another model, Gemini Robotics-ER, is designed to enhance spatial understanding and assist robot developers in creating programs using Gemini's reasoning abilities.

DeepSeek dims shine of AI stars

China-based DeepSeek shook up the world of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) early this year with a low-cost but high-performance model that challenges the hegemony of OpenAI and other big-spending behemoths. But then DeepSeek upended the sector with its R1 model, which it said cost just $6 million or so, powered by less-advanced chips.

Generative AI rivals racing to the future

Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene in late 2022, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) models have been vying for the lead - with the US and China hotbeds for the technology. The Tesla tycoon bought Twitter in late 2022.

Meta's winning streak erased as AI rivalry and recession fears hit hard; stock falls 4%

Meta stock dropped over 4 percent on Monday, erasing gains from its record 20-day winning streak. The decline comes amid growing recession concerns following Donald Trump’s comments and rising competition from China’s Artificial Intelligence assistant, Manus. Analysts are assessing the impact of this new AI challenge on Meta’s massive investments in artificial intelligence.

Apple says some AI improvements to Siri delayed to 2026

Apple stated that it is developing a more personalised version of Siri with enhanced awareness of users' personal context and the ability to perform actions within and across apps. However, the company acknowledged that delivering these features is taking longer than expected and anticipates their rollout in the coming year.

IndiaAI’s next act; Trump’s Bitcoin reserve push

The government marked a year of IndiaAI Mission with a compute portal to enable easy access to GPUs. This and more in today’s ETtech Top 5.

Chinese smartphone companies lean on Google for GenAI features

Brands such as Oppo, Xiaomi and Honor have announced deep partnerships with Google Gemini at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, embedding the language model across the user interface to offer fresh use cases to users.

Google leans further into AI-generated overviews for its search engine

The company announced Wednesday that it will feed its Gemini 2.0 AI model into its search engine so it can field more complex questions involving subjects such as computer coding and math.

Google reports scale of complaints about AI deepfake terrorism content to Australian regulator

The Alphabet-owned tech giant also said it had received dozens of user reports warning that its AI program, Gemini, was being used to create child abuse material, according to the Australian eSafety Commission.

Amazon to launch new AI reasoning model 'Nova' this year to take on Meta AI, ChatGPT and Google's Gemini: 10 points

E-commerce giant Amazon is building its own artificial intelligence model that could compete with more established offerings from firms like OpenAI and Anthropic. Amazon's upcoming Nova AI model aims to enhance reasoning capabilities. Nova is a reasoning AI model set to launch in June this year, reports suggest. In December last year, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced the new "Nova" models at a conference in Las Vegas.

Asian-American techie sues US university after rejection by 16 colleges but lands dream job at Google

Stanley Zhong, a self-taught programmer, was hired by Google at 19 after being contacted at 13. Despite his achievements, he faced rejection from 16 out of 18 universities, leading to a lawsuit alleging discrimination against Asian-American applicants by the University of California. The university plans to defend its admissions policies.

Final AI race has begun: Tech giant Google co-founder Sergey Brin tells employees to step up or step out

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has urged employees working on the company’s Gemini AI models to commit to a 60-hour workweek and daily office attendance. In an internal memo, Brin emphasised the need for increased effort as Google competes with OpenAI, Microsoft, and others in the race for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). His stance aligns with a growing trend of tech leaders advocating extended work hours, sparking debates on productivity, burnout, and work-life balance.

‘Don’t Google it, just Grok it’: Elon Musk touts xAI's chatbot

Grok 3, the latest version of xAI’s chatbot, is positioned as a competitor to Google’s AI models, including Gemini. The competition in AI-powered search is intensifying. In December, OpenAI announced that its ChatGPT-powered internet search feature would be available to all users, challenging Google’s dominance.

Xiaomi introduces 15 & 15 Ultra in Barcelona: Here's all you need to know

Xiaomi 15 & 15 Ultra launched in Barcelona. Both the devices feature a Leica Camera Setup. The devices are powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite SOC

Sergey Brin pushes Google’s AI team to the limit, says 60-hour workweeks are the sweet spot to win the AGI race

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has encouraged the AI team to work 60 hours a week to win the race to artificial general intelligence. He emphasized that 60 hours is the optimal productivity level and exceeding it could lead to burnout. Brin's message reflects a corporate trend of employees returning to the office full-time.

Amazon’s Alexa Plus brings new agentic capabilities; leveraging Anthropic's Claude

Amazon has developed a system of “experts” — specialised groups of application programming interface (APIs), capabilities, and instructions that handle specific tasks with precision. It brings new agentic capabilities, allowing it to independently browse the internet and complete tasks without user supervision.

Amazon launches AI-amped version of its Alexa voice assistant

Online retail behemoth Amazon on Wednesday announced a new version of its Alexa voice assistant that is powered by generative artificial intelligence, giving the device more human-like qualities.

Google releases Gemini coding tools for solo developers for free

The tech giant has made accessible its artificial intelligence (AI) coding assistance tool, Gemini Code Assist, to students, freelancers and startups. The open-sourcing of AI got a boost from the success of Chinese startup DeepSeek, which released open-source LLM models.

AI stuns scientists : Superbug mystery solved in 48 hours after decade long research

Google's AI tool, Co-Scientist, stunned researchers by solving a decade-old mystery about antibiotic-resistant superbugs in just 48 hours—something that took scientists years to study. Developed using Google's Gemini 2.0 system, the AI confirmed a unique hypothesis proposed by Professor José R. Penadés and his team at Imperial College London, who theorized that superbugs use virus-like tails to transfer between species. Not only did the AI validate their unpublished findings, but it also proposed four additional valid hypotheses.

ETtech Explainer

ETtech Explainer: Here’s all you need to know about AI agents and their evolving capabilities

Per market research firm Roots Analysis, the global AI agent market could grow from $5.29 billion in 2024 to $216.8 billion by 2035, at a CAGR of 40.15%.

Elon Musk sparks AI rivalry with a meme against ChatGPT and Meta AI as Grok takes centre stage

Elon Musk used a meme from the Madagascar film series with the penguins to promote his company's chatbot, Grok AI. The meme, which hints at Grok AI's potential to outperform competitors like ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, garnered significant online attention and applause. Grok 3 Beta is currently available for free.

Google builds AI 'co-scientist' tool based on Gemini 2.0 for biomedical scientists. Here's what it can do

After quantum breakthrough Willow, Google has now built AI co-scientist tool based on Gemini 2.0 to help biomedical scientists. This new artificial intelligence tool has been designed to help researchers study scientific phenomena more efficiently. Researchers interact with Google’s AI co-scientist through a chatbot interface and users can customize the co-scientist’s output in various ways.