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☆ What's the killer AI app for consumers? Google finally has a contender.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Read previewSince ChatGPT burst onto the scene in 2022, there's been no real "killer app" to get consumers embracing AI in massive numbers. The internet, possibly the biggest killer app of all, made us all buy smartphones, tablets, and a host of other connected devices. AI killer app contendersAt its IO developer conference on Tuesday, Google showed off some pretty amazing AI killer app contenders. A Google AI model lurking on the phone (and in the cloud) answered correctly. The Google AI agent captured all the dates, times, and other details and automatically loaded them into the user's Google Calendar.

Persons: —, there's, she'd, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Sundar Pichai, Sissie Hsiao, DeepMind's Hassabis, Pichai Organizations: Service, Business, Google, Astra, Microsoft Locations: London

☆ A product manager who worked at Meta and Google reveals which company is best for work-life balance
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

A Meta product manager who also worked at Google in a similar role revealed some differences between the tech companies based on his experiences over the past six years. AdvertisementCompany transparencyMeta does maintain some of the transparency the company was known for in its earlier days, McKinnon wrote. At Meta, McKinnon was aware of what other teams were working on, partly through the company's internal forums and dashboards. At Google, employees mostly communicate through email or chat, so it's more difficult to know what everyone is doing, McKinnon wrote. At Google, McKinnon saw that projects were largely created and led by software engineers, and PMs played a more auxiliary role.

Persons: —, Daniel McKinnon, Ray, McKinnon, Googlers, Meta's, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar, Alphabet's, Sundar Pichai wasn't, Zuckerberg, Meta, VPs, Susan Li Organizations: Meta, Google, Service, Unit, Business, Facebook, . Software Engineers Locations: Meta

☆ Meta employees say internal posts on support for Palestinians have been 'censored,' in an open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A group of Meta employees is calling out what they claim is internal and external censorship by the company of any show of support for Palestinians amid Israel's war with Hamas. Business Insider confirmed that the letter was authored by a group of current Meta employees, some of whom have linked to the letter on their personal online profiles. While some improvements were made to the products, they "were achieved only by appealing to isolated product teams, with minimal senior leadership support or resources," it added. Microsoft's internal communication app also saw debates among employees about the war and even inflammatory language, BI previously reported. Are you a Meta employee or someone with a tip or insight to share?

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Feedback, dismissiveness, Kali Hays Organizations: Business, UN, Meta, BI, Hamas, Google Locations: Palestine, Gaza, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Meta's Dublin, Ukrainian, khays@businessinsider.com

☆ Meta employees say internal posts on Palestine have been 'censored,' according to open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A group of Meta employees is calling out what they claim is internal and external censorship by the company of any show of support for Palestine amid Israel's ongoing war with Hamas. The letter demanded a general improvement in corporate inclusion efforts at Meta and asked the company to stop deleting internal posts from employees regarding Palestine. Business Insider confirmed that the letter was authored by a group of current Meta employees, some of whom have linked to the letter in personal online profiles. While some improvements were made to the products, they "were achieved only by appealing to isolated product teams, with minimal senior leadership support or resources." Are you a Meta employee or someone with a tip or insight to share?

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Feedback, dismissiveness, Kali Hays Organizations: Palestine, Business, UN, Meta, BI, Hamas, Google Locations: Palestine, Gaza, Meta, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Meta's Dublin, Ukrainian, khays@businessinsider.com

☆ Google is once again dictating the future of the online ad industry and all its rivals can do is brace for impact
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

When Google sneezes, the entire online advertising industry catches a cold. Google's announcement Tuesday that it would again delay its planned timeline for killing off third-party tracking cookies had long been anticipated by the digital advertising industry. Google has a 28% share of the online ad market, according to market research firm Emarketer (a sister company to BI). Regulators could step in to resolve the cookie chaosSome industry experts are hoping regulators will step in to untangle the mess. Amid the four years of confusion, chaos, and harumphing, there has been one consistent theme: When it comes to the future of online advertising, Google calls the shots.

Persons: Ciaran O'Kane, WireCorp, hasn't, Sundar Pichai, Stephen Lam, Mathieu Roche, James Rosewell, Google's, haven't, Pierre Devoize, Devoize Organizations: Google, Business, Gmail, Antitrust, US Department of Justice, European Commission, UK's, Markets Authority, CMA, Industry, IAB Tech, EU Google, Chrome, Movement Locations: FirstPartyCapital

☆ Google fires 28 employees for protesting Israel cloud deal
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —Google has fired more than two dozen employees who protested this week against the company’s cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. The workers were dismissed after an investigation found that they had staged protests inside Google’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California. In Sunnyvale, they entered the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, according to a post on X by the group that organized the demonstration, No Tech For Apartheid. Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior. After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety,” the spokesperson added.

Persons: Thomas Kurian, ”, Olesya Dmitracova Organizations: London CNN, Google, Apartheid, CNN, Tech Locations: New York, Sunnyvale , California, Sunnyvale

☆ Read Google's memo warning employees to 'think again'
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Ana Altchek | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewGoogle issued a warning to any employees considering participating in any future sit-in protests within the company's offices: "Think again." Google fired 28 employees on Wednesday following in-office protests against the company's $1.2 billion contract with Israel. "If you're one of the few who are tempted to think we're going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again," Google said in the memo. Read the full memo below:AdvertisementGooglers,You may have seen reports of protests at some of our offices yesterday. If you're one of the few who are tempted to think we're going to overlook conduct that violates our policies, think again.

Persons: —, Hasan Ibraheem, Ibraheem, Sundar Pichai, Read, Chris Organizations: Service, Google, Israel, Business Locations: New York City, Sunnyvale, Seattle, New York

☆ Google fired 28 employees for staging in-office protests against the company's contract with Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Ana Altchek | Meghan Morris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Nine Google employees were arrested after protesting the company's contract with Israel. AdvertisementA small group of Alphabet employees' long-simmering protests against the Google parent company's work with Israel ended with more than two dozen terminations on Wednesday. Google fired 28 employees who participated in office protests in New York and California on Tuesday, the company said on Wednesday. Last month, a Google employee protesting the contract was fired for disrupting a talk in New York by the company's head of Israel. Related storiesMore than 100 people, including Google workers, protested the project outside the company's New York office in 2022.

Persons: —, Israel, Santa Clara County, Chris Rackow, Nimbus, Dzanh Le, Speaks Le, Le, Hasan Ibraheem, Ibraheem Organizations: Google, Israel, Service, Amazon, New York . Police, New York Police Department, Tech, Apartheid, Hamas, BI, Sunnyvale Police, Bloomberg Locations: California, New York, Sunnyvale , California, New York City, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Israel, York, Google's New York City

☆ Google Fires 28 Employees Involved in Protest of Israeli Cloud Contract
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Nico Grant | More About Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Google on Wednesday fired 28 workers after dozens of employees participated in sit-ins at the company’s New York and Sunnyvale, Calif., offices to protest the company’s cloud computing contract with the Israeli government. A day earlier, nine employees were arrested on charges of trespassing at the two offices. “Physically impeding other employees’ work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and completely unacceptable behavior,” a Google spokeswoman said in a statement. Google recently fired an employee who disrupted an Israeli technology conference in New York. And the company is even planning to make changes to a corporate forum because employees were bickering about the conflict.

Organizations: Google Locations: York, Sunnyvale, Calif, Gaza, New York

☆ Google's CEO says its workplace isn't a place to 'fight over disruptive issues or debate politics'
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Ana Altchek | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Sundar Pichai said in a blog post the office isn't a place to "debate politics." Google fired 28 workers involved in protests against its $1.2 billion contract with Israel. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . The CEO's message, which comes only two days after in-office protests, is loud and clear: the office isn't a place for politics. That separate memo had told workers to "think again" before violating company policies with sit-in protests.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, —, Sundar Pichai's splashy Organizations: Google, Israel, Service, Google's, Business Locations: Israel, Sunnyvale and New York City

☆ Internet providers have to start using this 'nutrition facts' label that breaks down fees
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

"Nutrition facts" style labels for internet plans are finally a reality. As of Wednesday, the FCC now requires internet providers to break down costs and services for customers. That includes companies that provide both home, or fixed, internet services, as well as mobile broadband. AdvertisementAnd the labels aren't just designed for new customers — internet service providers must also make them available to current customers in their online account portals and provide the label when a customer asks for it. "The labels are modeled after the FDA nutrition labels and are intended to help consumers comparison shop for the internet service plan that will best meet their needs and budget."

Persons: — Organizations: FCC, Service, Federal Communications Commission, Reuters, Google, Verizon

☆ Google is nixing the thumbs-down reaction from an internal forum after employee spats over Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google said the changes are in response to employee feedback, but some staffers are upset. The changes, which Google confirmed to The New York Times, include removing the option to thumbs-down a post. AdvertisementThe Times also reviewed an internal Google memo in which moderators said they thought collective thumbs-down votes were a "bullying tactic." In 2021, more than 250 Google employees called on the company to terminate contracts with Israel after IDF forces carried out strikes in Gaza. Shortly after, over a hundred Google employees gathered to protest Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud-computing contract with Israel.

Persons: —, Memegen, Israel Organizations: Google, Service, The New York Times, Times, Business, IDF, Israel Locations: Israel, Gaza, Israeli, Palestine, New York City

☆ Google sues crypto scammers for allegedly uploading fake apps to Android app store
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Talia Kaplan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Google filed a lawsuit on Thursday against a group of crypto scammers, alleging they defrauded more than 100,000 people across the globe by uploading fraudulent investment and crypto exchange apps to Google Play. Google says it's the first tech company to take action against crypto scammers, and is doing so as a way to set a legal precedent to establish protections for users. The lawsuit claims the defendants made "multiple misrepresentations to Google in order to upload their fraudulent apps to Google Play, including but not limited to misrepresentations about their identity, location, and the type and nature of the application being uploaded." Sun, Cheung and their agents designed the apps to appear legitimate, showing users that they were maintaining balances on the app and earning returns on their investments, the lawsuit said. However, users couldn't withdraw their investments or purported gains.

Persons: Halimah DeLaine Prado, Sun, Alphonse Sun, Hongnam Cheung, Zhang Hongnim, Stanford Fischer, Cheung, couldn't Organizations: Google, CNBC Crypto, of Locations: Southern, of New York, U.S, Canada

☆ 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

☆ Google fires employee who protested Israel tech event, as internal dissent mounts
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Ahead of an International Women's Day Summit in Silicon Valley on Thursday, Google's employee message board was hit with an influx of staffer comments about the company's military contracts with Israel. The event on Monday in New York featured an address from Barak Regev, managing director of Google Israel. A Google spokesperson said the employee was fired for "interfering with an official company-sponsored event" in an email to CNBC on Thursday. Unfortunately, before the event a series of off-topic and divisive questions and comments were posted to internal forums. WATCH: Google vs. Google

Persons: “, Sundar Pichai, Barak Regev, Regev, Boycotters, Dory, Gemini, Mai Ubeid, Ubeid, didn't Organizations: Google, CNBC, Israel, Defense Department, Amazon Web Services, Hamas, Palestinian enclave's Health Ministry, Tech, Google Israel, Starbucks, Workers United Locations: New York, Israel, Gaza, Silicon Valley, U.S, France

The new missionDeveloping and scaling this cookie replacement has become the new mission for The Trade Desk, one of adtech's greatest independent success stories. While many other adtech companies offered this service, The Trade Desk over the years proved it could do it better. The Trade DeskWith cookies disappearing, The Trade Desk is approaching its first big test. These deals are typically cut with major advertising agency holding companies and don't usually include adtech platforms like The Trade Desk. "These next 12 months for The Trade Desk are going to be difficult and not the experience that you're used to," this person said.

Persons: Jeff Green, Andrew Casale, Brian Wieser, Samantha Jacobs, hasn't, There's, Tom Triscari, It's, they're, Greg Doherty, Jeff, Green, Criteo, Megan Clarken, Dan Salmon, they've Organizations: Trade, Universal, Google, Business, Exchange, Company, BI, Disney, The Washington Post, Yahoo, Wall Street, Projects, CTV, CBS, The, Arete Research, Intelligence, Variety, Street Research

☆ Google quietly launches internal AI model named 'Goose' to help employees write code faster, leaked documents show
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

It is designed to assist with building new products, according to internal documents reviewed by Business Insider. “It can answer questions around Google-specific technologies, write code using internal tech stacks and supports novel capabilities such as editing code based on natural language prompts,” an internal summary of Goose reads. The documents note that the creation of Goose was a collaborative effort between Google Brain, DeepMind, and Google's internal infrastructure teams. And Goose isn't the only example of Google using AI to be more efficient. AdvertisementAnd if Googlers have specific development questions while using Goose, they're encouraged to turn to the company's internal chatbot, named Duckie.

Persons: —, it’s, Gemini, “, Ruth Porat, Goose, TKTKTK Goose, DeepMind, ”, Philipp Schindler, Business Insider’s, they're Organizations: Service, Business, Google, Microsoft

☆ Google's AI product lead explains why the company is doing a 'clean-up' and renaming everything 'Gemini'
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Google is renaming its AI assistant Bard to Gemini. It's also finally giving users access to Gemini Ultra, its most powerful AI model yet. "It's all sort of a clean-up and embracing of Gemini as our AI brand," Hsiao told BI on Wednesday. It's like, there's a Gemini model, but the product is Bard. A version of Gemini has powered the Bard chatbot since then, although Google stopped short of releasing the most powerful Gemini model, known as Ultra.

Persons: Bard, Gemini, It's, Sissie Hsiao, —, Hsiao, Bard chatbot, OpenAI's ChatGPT, it's Organizations: Google, Gemini, Service, Business

☆ YouTube has become one of the biggest pay TV services in the US
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

YouTube TV is now the fourth-biggest pay TV service in the US. It's here now: Its YouTube TV offering has become one of the biggest pay-TV services in the US. YouTube TV — which, like conventional pay TV, sells a bundle of dozens of channels — now has "more than 8 million" subscribers, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan announced Tuesday morning. Now comes the other part of the equation: As YouTube TV has grown, conventional pay TV has shrunk. And it's partly because some pay TV providers — like Comcast — have stopped trying to convince customers to keep or get pay TV.

Persons: —, Neal Mohan, there's Organizations: Google, YouTube, Service, Charter, Comcast, DirecTV, NFL

☆ Google is rolling out new AI models for health care. Here's how doctors are using them
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-13 | by ( Ashley Capoot | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Google said it also plans to introduce health-care-specific versions of Gemini , the company's newest and "most capable" AI model, to MedLM in the future. For instance, HCA Healthcare , one of the largest health systems in the U.S., has been testing Google's AI technology since the spring. Google's MedLM suite can then take those transcripts and break them up into the components of an ER provider note. "What I would say right now, is that the hype around the current use of these AI models in health care is outstripping the reality," Schlosser said. "We're being very cautious with how we approach these AI models," he said.

Persons: Gupta, Aashima Gupta, MedLM, Greg Corrado, Corrado, Dr, Michael Schlosser, Google's, Schlosser, That's, " Schlosser Organizations: Google, Microsoft, CNBC, HCA Healthcare, Nurses, HCA Locations: MedLM, Med, U.S

☆ Google fined $164,000 for failing to store user data inside Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich, Switzerland December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsMOSCOW, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Google (GOOGL.O) was fined 15 million roubles ($164,000) on Tuesday for repeated refusal to store Russian users' data on servers inside Russia, a Moscow court said. Russia has repeatedly clashed with foreign technology companies over content, censorship, data and local representation in a simmering dispute that intensified after Moscow sent its armed forces into Ukraine in February 2022. Google's Russian subsidiary has been under pressure in Russia for failing to delete content Moscow deems illegal and for restricting access to some Russian media on YouTube. The technology giant's Russian unit filed for bankruptcy in summer 2022 after authorities seized its bank account, making it impossible to pay staff and vendors.

Persons: Arnd, Felix Light, Kevin Liffey Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, YouTube, Kremlin, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Thomson Locations: Zurich, Switzerland, Russia, Moscow, Ukraine

☆ Use this hidden Google feature to detect and delete your personal information in search
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Jake Piazza | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

If you Google your name, address or phone number, you might be surprised by the number of results you see with your personal information. There's a hidden feature in Google that will alert you when it finds these results, though, allowing you to remove them. Instead, this feature proactively searches for your phone number, email and home address and will alert you when it finds something. Then, you can just tell Google to delete it from search results. Note: Google doesn't remove your information from the internet, but it scrubs it from Google Search and makes it harder for people to find.

Persons: Microsoft's Bing Organizations: Google, Yahoo

☆ 'Grandpa Google': Search head testifies that young users see it as out of style
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

As Google fights claims that it violated antitrust law to maintain its online search dominance, the company's search lead testified Thursday that young users mock Google as old-fashioned. Prabhakar Raghavan, a Google senior vice president responsible for for products including search, ads and commerce, said that some young users have referred to the search engine as "Grandpa Google." Raghavan testified that Yahoo's search dominance at one point seemed insurmountable. For example, Google has conducted research that's led to features that let it directly answer users' questions, understand voice queries and lens queries, where users search via a photo they take. "We don't see users carrying through these journeys entirely on Google," Raghavan testified.

Persons: Prabhakar Raghavan, Google, It's, Raghavan, Bing, that's Organizations: Google Inc, Google, Department of Justice, Yahoo, CNBC, YouTube Locations: San Francisco , California

In a court filing last month, Google argued that it needed its privacy in an antitrust trial that would spotlight its dominance in online search. It was part of a pattern of Google’s pushing to limit transparency in the federal government’s first monopoly trial of the modern internet era. v. Google, enters its third week in court, it is shaping up to be perhaps the most secretive antitrust trial of the last few decades. Not only has Google argued for the landmark trial to be largely closed off to the public, but so have other companies that are involved, such as Apple and Microsoft. Apple even fought to quash subpoenas, describing them as “unduly burdensome,” to get its executives out of giving testimony.

Organizations: Google, New York Times, Apple, Microsoft

☆ Family sues Google alleging its Maps app led father to drive off collapsed bridge to his death, attorneys say
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Jamiel Lynch | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The lawsuit claims neighbors had expressed concern Google Maps had led drivers over the bridge, which allegedly has not been repaired since its partial collapse in 2013. GPS sends people down here, which is especially dangerous for emergency vehicles,” reads the report sent to Google Maps. The suit claims negligence and willful and wanton conduct by the companies and seeks an unspecified amount in punitive damages. Google has “the deepest sympathies for the Paxson family,” it told CNN in a statement. “His trust in Google Maps, and the failure of the road and bridge-keepers to do their jobs, cost him his life.”

Persons: Philip Paxson, Paxson, “, Hickory, ” Paxson, Robert Zimmerman, “ We’ve, ”, codefendants, Hinckley Gauvain, Alicia, Alicia Paxson, Philip, Larry Bendesky Organizations: CNN, Google, GPS, ” CNN, Hinckley Locations: North Carolina, Hickory , North Carolina

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