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☆ Google's 'fastest-growing' moonshot that spun out into an AI earbuds startup aims to ship its first product this year
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-26 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Read previewA team inside X, Google's moonshot factory, was working on a revolutionary hearing device, Business Insider reported in 2021. A few months later, Wolverine's lead, Jason Rugolo, spun the project out of Alphabet and formed a startup named Iyo. Rugolo says the company plans to ship its first product by the end of this year. Rugolo told BI he hired Kraft for a stint at Google X to work on what would become Iyo. Iyo isn't the first X project to fly from Alphabet's nest, and it probably won't be the last.

Persons: —, Google's, Jason Rugolo, Rugolo, Iyo, Lockheed Martin, Sergey Brin, Noah Kraft, Kraft, we're, X Organizations: Service, Business, Lockheed, Horizons Ventures, US, ARPA, Research Projects Agency, Energy, Google, Doppler Labs, Spotify, TED, Wolverine, BI

☆ This is what it looks like when Google dances
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Alphabet reports Q1 earnings surpassing estimates with a 15% year-on-year revenue increase. Google has made significant strides in AI, countering perceptions of falling behind in the field. Parent company Alphabet reported blockbuster Q1 earnings on Thursday that blew past analyst estimates. A 15% revenue bump year over year sent stocks soaring. "This is a new Google," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said on CNBC.

Persons: —, Satya Nadella, Dan Ives Organizations: Google, Service, CNBC

☆ Google just made a huge company shakeup. Here's who's gaining power.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Google is merging more parts of the company in an effort to move faster in AI. Google's DeepMind chief has gained more power, while the head of Pixel will also oversee Android. The changes put more firepower behind some key Google products, and could help it launch faster. CEO Sundar Pichai announced a series of re-orgs in a memo to staff on Thursday, and — surprise, surprise — Google says it's all happening because of artificial intelligence. Pichai said the changes, which include merging different parts of the company, would help Google "simplify decisions" and move faster.

Persons: Google's, —, Sundar Pichai, Pichai Organizations: Google, Service, Research, Business

☆ It's not just you: Reddit is taking over Google
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

In February, Google and Reddit announced a blockbuster deal that would let Google train its AI models on Reddit content. Google said the deal, reportedly worth $60 million, would "facilitate more content-forward displays of Reddit information," leading to some speculation that Google promised Reddit better visibility in exchange for the valuable training data. Per Sistrix data, Reddit is now as visible in top Google Search results as Instagram. Google CEO Sundar Pichai on stage at Google IO 2023 JOSH EDELSON/GETTYGoogle's Reddit deal and its endorsement of Reddit content in Search show how much it sees Reddit as a crucial part of the future of search. AdvertisementYouTube already has heaps of videos offering advice on hijacking Reddit to rise to the top of Google Search.

Persons: —, Semrush, Reddit, It's, Steve Paine, Paine, we've, Danny Sullivan, Prabhakar Raghavan, Sundar Pichai, JOSH EDELSON, Aleyda Solis, Orainti, Glen Allsopp, Solis, Lily Ray, Ray, Perplexity, Steve Huffman Greg Doherty, Sistrix's Paine, Natalie Slater Organizations: Service, Google, Business, Sistrix, YouTube, Amazon, LinkedIn, Getty Locations: SEOs, Reddit, TikTok

☆ Google lays off more employees and moves some roles to other countries
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Several teams across Google's finance and real estate units have been affected, according to two current employees, who said staff had been informed of the cuts this week. One said that the affected teams in finance include Google's Treasury, Business Services, and Revenue Cash Operations teams. AdvertisementA Google spokesperson confirmed the cuts but declined to elaborate on the number of affected staff. "As we've said, we're responsibly investing in our company's biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead," said a Google spokesperson. They said that impacted employees could apply for open roles inside Google.

Persons: —, Ruth Porat, we've, Sundar Pichai Organizations: Service, Google's Treasury, Business Services, Cash, Business, Google, BI Locations: Bangalore, Mexico City, Dublin, India, Atlanta

☆ Microsoft just set the stage for an all-out AI talent war with Google
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AdvertisementMicrosoft is opening a new artificial-intelligence unit in London, putting itself firmly on the turf of its biggest AI rival: Google DeepMind. In the battle for top AI talent, a bigger London presence could be a savvy move for Microsoft. Related storiesLast year, in response to increased pressure from rivals such as OpenAI, Google merged DeepMind with its central AI unit Brain, forming the new Google DeepMind. Meta itself recently lost three top AI employees, while Google has lost a steady stream of employees to OpenAI over the past year. As the Big Tech AI arms race for talent continues to heat up, Google may have to work even harder to stem the bleeding.

Persons: —, Mustafa Suleyman, Suleyman, Jordan Huffman, It's, OpenAI's, Alex Libre, BI's Aaron Mok, Sergey Brin, OpenAI, Mustafa Suleyman's Organizations: Microsoft, Google, Service, Gemini, Meta, who's, Big Tech Locations: London

☆ Alphabet's Verily lays off employees working in one of its science groups
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-22 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Verily, the life sciences group owned by Alphabet, laid off staff this week as part of a restructuring in its molecular sciences group, Business Insider has learned. Verily spokesperson Steven Cooper confirmed the cuts in an email to BI, stating that the affected employees worked on Verily's Immune Profiler project, which studies the human immune system for improving disease management. He declined to share the exact number of employees cut, but one source familiar with the situation said 35-40 people were affected. Verily is in the process of separating from Alphabet's infrastructure, part of a project named Flywheel that BI first reported on in 2021. It has set the end of 2024 as the deadline for detachment, a person familiar with the project told BI.

Persons: Verily, Steven Cooper, Cooper, Stephen Gillett, Andy Conrad, Amy Abernethy, Stat, Myoung Cha Organizations: Business, Apple Health

☆ AI Is Upending Google's Search Business. a Lady Gaga Query Shows How.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Kali Hays | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Search versus SGESince December, Business Insider has plugged the same queries into Google's traditional search engine and its generative AI version to see how information is presented differently. Mark Mahaney, a top internet analyst at ISI Evercore, has been testing SGE alongside generative AI rivals like Perplexity and OpenAI's ChatGPT. Ray has spotted answers in SGE results that are not sourced from websites that rank in the top 100 positions for that query in traditional Search results. Neither query produced any sort of generative AI response — although a search for "common cold" did. They've already got billions of people using Chrome and using Google search," Shmulik told BI.

Persons: It's, Mark Mahaney, Mahaney, SGE, Adweek, Alan Antin, Google's SGE, Gaga's, Gaga, Tiffany, Kali Hays, Google's, Sundar Pichai, Lily Ray, Ray, Mark Shmulik, Bernstein, Susan Orlean, Evercore's Mahoney, we're, Bernstein's, Shmulik, he's, ChatGPT Organizations: Google, Business, Microsoft, Gartner, ISI, New York Magazine, BI, GitHub, LinkedIn, SGE, Bing Locations: SGE, OpenAI

☆ Top websites block Google from training AI models on their data. Nowhere near as much as OpenAI, though.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Google launched a new tool that lets publishers opt out of training Google's AI models. It turns out that all this content has been stored in datasets that are the foundation for training powerful AI models, including those from OpenAI, Google, Meta, and others. Part of Google's response has been to launch a new tool that lets websites block the company from using their content for training AI models. BI asked Originality.ai CEO Jonathan Gillham why Google-Extended is being used less than other AI training data-blockers. It's unclear if the company will launch this fully in the future, or how much different it will be from the traditional Google search engine.

Persons: —, There's, Robots.txt, Jonathan Gillham, Gillham, Axel Springer Organizations: Google, Service, New York Times, CNN, BBC, Business Locations: Chicago

☆ It might be time to rethink the smartphone — for real this time
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Why do phones need apps? At this year's Mobile World Congress, the future of the smartphone and how we connect were firmly under the microscope. Deutsche Telekom and Brain.ai demoed one such instance at MWC: a smartphone with no apps. It's just an idea for now, but it's prompting an interesting question: Why assume the smartphone of the future has apps at all? But the smartphone industry is slumping, and there's a "need to invigorate the upgrade cycle," Milanesi told BI.

Persons: —, Sam Altman, There's, Altman, Jony, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Carolina Milanesi, Milanesi, Tom Butler, I'm, Butler, Lenovo's Butler, it's Organizations: Service, Congress, MWC, Las, CES, Deutsche Telekom, Brain.ai, Qualcomm, Bloomberg Locations: Carolina, PAU, AFP

☆ Google employees just learned they're getting smaller pay bumps this year
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Googlers are finding out how much of a pay bump they're getting this year. AdvertisementIt's the time of year when Google employees discover how much of a pay bump they're getting. Google has reduced the size of the compensation packages it's handing out to staff this year, with some employees even seeing a reduction in their overall pay, they learned this month. Compensation packages are made up of base salary, bonuses, and equity grants. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: — Organizations: Service, Google, Business

☆ New AI and 5G advancements will usher in the era of edge computing on smartphones, autonomous cars, and more
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The AI boom is breathing life into edge computing, which moves data processing away from the cloud. Artificial intelligence is driving us into the era of edge computing — two words you should expect to hear more in the coming months and years. Now they're expanding to edge computing, which refers to moving more of the computation closer to the user (the "edge" of the network). Amazon had eyed edge computing as a billion-dollar business, Business Insider previously reported. Jillian Kaplan, the head of global 5G at Dell, said during an MWC panel that edge computing will be a "huge energy saver."

Persons: —, Jim Poole, Poole, Aly Song, MediaTek, Tom Butler, I'm, Jillian Kaplan, Kaplan Organizations: Service, Tech, 5G, Business, Mobile, Congress, MWC, China, Lenovo, Google, Dell Locations: Barcelona, Equinix, Shanghai

☆ Meta's Facebook Messenger hit with layoffs amid ongoing 'efficiency' push
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Kali Hays | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Meta's ongoing efficiency drive has resulted in another round of layoffs. Messenger, the popular Facebook app, was hit this week with cuts. Messenger, the popular direct messaging app within Facebook, was hit with a round of layoffs this week, according to two people familiar with the company. The cuts at Messenger come after a similar layoff affected some employees working at Instagram, as Business Insider reported. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: —, Instagram, Messenger Organizations: Service, Meta, Facebook, Business, BI Locations: Instagram, Meta

☆ There are growing calls for Google CEO Sundar Pichai to step down
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The slip-up was so bad it sent the company's stock tumbling, and had CEO Sundar Pichai address the troops, calling the situation "completely unacceptable." The debacle has strengthened the narrative that Google is suddenly behind in the AI race, and now there's a growing chorus of voices calling for CEO Sundar Pichai to be replaced. Pichai, who was appointed CEO of Google in 2015, and Alphabet in 2019, has proven a strong peace-time CEO for the company. He's been an effective and steady hand who protects Google's prized search business and deals diplomatically with regulators. Responding to a tweet by Color Health CEO Othman Laraki, who said Google as facing an "unsolvable problem," Mayer defended Google somewhat.

Persons: —, Sundar Pichai, Ben Thompson, Googlers, Mark Shmulik, chatbot, He's, Pichai, Aravind Srinivas, Sundar, Srinivas, Marissa, Marissa Mayer, Othman Laraki, Mayer, They've, Hugh Langley Organizations: Service, Google, Business, Color, Gartner Locations: Silicon Valley

☆ The smart ring era is here and tech companies are fighting for your finger. Will you wear one?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The smart ring era is here. Honor, the mobile business spun out of Huawei, also announced this week that it's working on a smart ring. Avi Greengart, president and lead analyst at Techsponential, told Business Insider at MWC that Samsung's Galaxy Ring "validates the smart ring category." Rumors of an Apple smart ring have been simmering for over a decade — mostly due to a string of patents the company has filed for. There's another good reason tech companies are eyeing smart rings right now, according to IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo: subscriptions.

Persons: —, Prince Harry, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, Jennifer Anniston, Jimmy Kimmel, Smart, they've, Oura, Avi Greengart, Apple, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Jeremy Liew, Liew Apple, Greengart, Francisco Jeronimo, Jeronimo Organizations: Samsung, Service, Mobile, Congress, MWC, Huawei, IDC, Apple, Venture, Business Locations: Barcelona, Cupertino

☆ How Google lost its way
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Hugh Langley | Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

Just two months after Google launched Gemini, its flashy new AI model, the company revealed that it had already built a better version. AdvertisementThen, days later, Google scrambled to explain why its image generation tool spit out racially inaccurate depictions of historical figures. Users have long bemoaned — and researchers recently found — a decline in the quality of Google Search results. The fact that Google is not far and away the self-driving-car leader, it's, like, a total joke," the former Google director said, adding that the problem of Google's lost supremacy is "maybe impossible to solve, frankly." Google now is reminiscent of the Steve Ballmer-era Microsoft, which missed the smartphone, search, and cloud waves and was overtaken by Apple, Google, and Amazon.

Persons: OpenAI, Sora, Sam Altman, Sundar Pichai's, Pichai, —, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Lea Suzuki, Getty Brin, Page, Google, Googlers, Axel Springer, Diane von Furstenberg, Giovanni Giannoni, Michael Avrukin, Vuk Valcic, wouldn't, Patrick Mork, Eric Lehman, Lehman, ChatGPT, Caesar Sengupta, Sengupta, Alexa, Google's, Steve Ballmer, Satya Nadella, Hugh Langley, Lara O'Reilly Organizations: Google, Hollywood, Industry, San Francisco Chronicle, Business, Penske Media, Microsoft, Amazon, The New York Times, Oracle, YouTube, Apple, IBM, Meta Locations: Silicon Valley, Silicon, —

☆ Google is starting to feel like any other business, and staging a comeback won't be easy
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. In today's big story, we're looking at how Google has gone from the tech industry's vanguard of cool to just another boring company . AdvertisementGoogle has long stayed atop Silicon Valley's volatile popularity contest — but the best place to work in tech is starting to feel like any other business , Business Insider's Hugh Langley and Lara O'Reilly write. Bureaucracy, an aversion to risk, and deference to Wall Street over employees — things Google long eschewed — have become the norm. The latest example is the debacle surrounding Gemini — its flashy new AI model that faced backlash for being too "woke."

Persons: —, Rebecca Zisser, Hugh Langley, Lara O'Reilly, Alistair Barr, Sundar Pichai, Hugh, Lara, Mateusz Wlodarczyk, BI's Peter Kafka, it's, David Rosenberg, Gary Shilling, Snowflake's Frank Slootman, Ozgur Hakan Aslan Toyota, Boxabl, Elon Musk, Tesla, Hewlett Packard, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, Jordan Parker Erb Organizations: Service, Google, Business, Gemini, Meta, Big Tech, OpenAI, Corporations, Nvidia, SEC, Universal Music Group, Universal, BI Locations: —, New York, London

☆ Google chief says the company got it wrong after Gemini gave 'completely unacceptable' responses and sparked a bitter backlash
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Google CEO Sundar Pichai says the company got it wrong as controversy swirls over its Gemini AI. Pichai made the comments in a memo sent to staff and obtained by Business Insider. Google faced backlash after users complained Gemini was generating historically inaccurate images. AdvertisementGoogle CEO Sundar Pichai says the company "got it wrong" after its flagship AI system Gemini showed bias, which sparked backlash from some users. In a memo sent to employees, which Business Insider obtained, Pichai acknowledged the recent controversy over Gemini.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Pichai, Gemini, —, Semafor, Bard Organizations: Gemini, Business, Google, Service

☆ Google chief says the company got it wrong after Gemini's responses sparked a bitter backlash. Read the full memo.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Google CEO Sundar Pichai says the company got it wrong after its flagship AI system Gemini showed bias, which sparked backlash from some users. In a memo sent to employees, which Business Insider obtained, Pichai acknowledged the recent controversy over Gemini. Pichai said in the memo: "I want to address the recent issues with problematic text and image responses in the Gemini app (formerly Bard). Pichai appeared to acknowledge some of this criticism in the memo sent to staff. Read the full memo that Pichai sent to staffers:

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Pichai, Semafor, Bard, Elon Musk, Adolf Hitler, Gemini, Hitler Organizations: Google, BI, Tesla, Business

☆ As AI takes hold of your smartphone, the end of the app era could be in sight
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Smartphone makers flooded Mobile World Congress to show off new AI features. More AI tools are moving on to devices, which would make them faster and cheaper to run. Now, as the industry looks to capitalize on the AI boom and galvanize a stagnating mobile market, phone makers want the AI tools to run locally on the phone itself. The company attended MWC to tout how it's helping phone makers such as Samsung and Honor run more AI tools on their phones. Samsung was also there, previewing some of the AI tools it's begun to roll out on its phones, including a nifty live-translation feature.

Persons: —, chipmakers, it's, Morgan Stanley, Francisco Cheng, Hugh Langley, Cheng, Siri, Francisco Jeronimo, Jeronimo Organizations: Congress, Service, Mobile, Companies, Qualcomm, Samsung, Hugh Langley Qualcomm, MWC, Google, Motorola, IDC, Insider, Deutsche Telekom, Brain.ai Locations: Barcelona

☆ Google DeepMind CEO addresses the Gemini debacle and says image generator could be back in a 'couple of weeks'
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis addressed the Gemini debacle at Mobile World Conference. He said the company hopes to have the image generator online again in a "couple of weeks." download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementGoogle DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis said the company hopes to relaunch its artificial intelligence image generator as soon as the next "couple of weeks." Google paused access to its image generator last week after users found that the tool would produce historically inaccurate images, including racially diverse images of the US Founding Fathers and Nazis.

Persons: Demis Hassabis, — Organizations: Google, Mobile World Conference, Service, Business

☆ Pivotal, the flying-car company backed by Google cofounder Larry Page, lays off 10% of staff
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewPivotal, the flying car company backed by Google cofounder Larry Page, announced this week it had laid off nine employees, or 10% of its staff, according to the company and a memo seen by Business Insider. It went on sale in January starting at $190,000, and the company says the units will ship in June. His early prototyping caught the attention of Page, who agreed to financially back the company and move it to Palo Alto, California in 2014. Page initially planned to merge Opener with Kittyhawk, his other flying car venture, but tensions between leaders kept the two operations apart.

Persons: —, Larry Page, Ken Karklin, Karklin, Marcus Leng, Page, Kittyhawk, Leng Organizations: Service, Business, Karklin, Kittyhawk, Boeing Locations: Canadian, Palo Alto , California, Wisk

☆ AI isn't driving tech layoffs — but it does make a good scapegoat
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Layoffs have been sweeping the tech sector and some are blaming AI. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. AdvertisementFears about AI leading to job cuts are increasingly common, especially as everyday usage of the technology grows. The development was causing anxiety in the ad sales departments, per the report, which later faced a round of job cuts. While AI may not simply replace workers, companies' investment in AI development may be causing cutbacks in other areas.

Persons: —, Duolingo, Hugh Langley, Fortune's Jeremy Kahn Organizations: Service, Bloomberg, Google, Business

☆ Google employees are posting internal memes poking fun at how many AI models and names the company launched
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Google just launched another AI model, named Gemma. Even some Google staff are losing track of all the new models and names. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . The company just announced yet another new family of AI models called Gemma. In the last three months, Google has launched Gemini, killed Bard and renamed it Gemini, launched a better version called Gemini Advanced (not to be confused with Gemini Ultra, which is the name of the model), launched another improved version called Gemini 1.5, launched Gemini for Workspace, and given employees access to an internal version of Gemini trained on Google data, named Goose.

Persons: Gemma, —, Bard Organizations: Google, Service, Gemini, Business

☆ Google's new AI-powered wingman highlights the challenges of using a tool that could eventually replace you
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. In today’s big story, we’re looking at Google’s new internal AI model aimed at improving worker efficiency. The big storyAI assistanceCBS Photo Archive/Getty ImagesGoogle employees are getting an AI-powered wingman in the company’s bid to improve efficiency. Goose can answer questions about Google's tech and write and edit code, according to an internal summary of the model. Tech companies have tested inventions on their own employees for years in a process known as "dogfooding," writes BI's Alistair Barr.

Persons: —, Denny's, customizations, Hugh Langley, Tom Cruise’s copilot, Alistair Barr, Tyler Lee, “, Bryan R, Smith, Wall, Gary Gensler, We’re, Société, Elad Gil, Gil, ChatGPT, it’s, Uber, Nomura, Young homebuyers, Meredith Whitney, Donald Trump, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, Jordan Parker Erb, George Glover Organizations: Business, Service, CBS, Getty, Microsoft, OpenAI, Tech, Google, Big Tech, Fed, UBS, SEC, Silicon Valley’s, BI, Xbox, Dragon, Workers, Wall Locations: China, New York, London

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