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☆ Google Rolls Back A.I. Search Feature After Flubs and Flaws
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-01 | by ( Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, introduced a generative artificial intelligence feature for the company’s search engine last month, he and his colleagues demonstrated the new capability with six text-based queries that the public could try out. The questions included “how do you clean a fabric sofa” and “what should I use to get a coffee stain out of my carpet.” These were intended to highlight how Google’s new feature, A.I. Overviews, could generate full and useful information summaries above traditional search results. But by Friday, only one of the six queries still yielded an A.I. Users loudly complained on social media about the mistakes, in many cases outright making fun of Google.

Persons: Sundar Pichai Organizations: The New York Times, Care, Google

☆ Google’s A.I. Search Leaves Publishers Scrambling
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-01 | by ( Nico Grant | Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Frank Pine searched Google for a link to a news article two months ago, he encountered paragraphs generated by artificial intelligence about the topic at the top of his results. That experience annoyed Mr. Pine, the executive editor of Media News Group and Tribune Publishing, which own 68 daily newspapers across the country. In May, Google announced that the A.I.-generated summaries, which compile content from news sites and blogs on the topic being searched, would be made available to everyone in the United States. “It potentially chokes off the original creators of the content,” Mr. Pine said. The feature, AI Overviews, felt like another step toward generative A.I.

Persons: Frank Pine, Mr, Pine Organizations: Google, Media News Group, Tribune Publishing Locations: United States

☆ Google’s A.I. Search Errors Cause a Furor Online
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-24 | by ( Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last week, Google unveiled its biggest change to search in years, showcasing new artificial intelligence capabilities that answer people’s questions in the company’s attempt to catch up to rivals Microsoft and OpenAI. The incorrect answers in the feature, called AI Overview, have undermined trust in a search engine that more than two billion people turn to for authoritative information. chatbots tell lies and act weird, the backlash demonstrated that Google is under more pressure to safely incorporate A.I. The launch also extends a pattern of Google’s having issues with its newest A.I. In February 2023, when Google announced Bard, a chatbot to battle ChatGPT, it shared incorrect information about outer space.

Persons: Bard Organizations: Google, Microsoft

☆ I slept in my car and showered in the factory to work 12-hour shifts at Tesla. I still got laid off after 5 years.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-19 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AdvertisementWhen I received the email stating that my position had been eliminated, I was already on my way to work. Camping in the car parkI worked really hard while I was at Tesla and wanted to be as efficient and productive as possible. In 2021, I started sleeping in my car and showering in the factory to avoid my lengthy commute. AdvertisementI was camping in the car between my work shifts for a whole year. I worked hard for them, but that does not mean I plan to give up being a hard worker.

Persons: —, Nico Murillo, Tesla, doesn't, I'd, I've, It's Organizations: Service, Tesla, Business Locations: Fremont , California, GNC

☆ Google Takes the Next Step in Its A.I. Evolution
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last May, Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, said that the company would use artificial intelligence to reimagine all of its products. On Tuesday, at Google’s annual conference in Mountain View, Calif., Mr. Pichai showed how the company’s aggressive work on A.I. Overviews, that generates information summaries above traditional search results. Overviews is likely to heighten concerns that web publishers will see less traffic from Google Search, putting more pressure on an industry that has reeled from rifts with other tech platforms. On Google, users will see longer summaries about a topic, which could reduce the need to go to another website — though Google downplayed those concerns.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Pichai Organizations: Google Locations: Mountain View, Calif, U.S

☆ Blue Zones researcher shares 2 cheap, 'revolutionary supplements' you can find in any grocery store
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Hilary Brueck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In those regions, he has found two cheap grocery store items that are a staple of many people's diets: Walnuts and beans. Related storiesBeans are hearty, cheap, protein-rich, belly-filling foods that people living in many of the world's longevity hotspots prioritize at almost every meal. Olive oil is also a science-backed addition to your dietBloomberg Creative/Getty Images"What about olive oil?" Behind the hype, there's good research backing up the benefits of regular olive oil consumption. "Olive oil shots!"

Persons: —, Peter Diamandis, Dan Buettner, Buettner, Nico Schnico, Michael Pollan, Diamandis, Bryan Johnson, there's Organizations: Service, Milken Institute Globel Conference, Business, Bloomberg, Blue Locations: Beverly Hills, Japan, Sweden, Greece, Australia, Loma Linda , California

☆ Google Employees Tune Out Antitrust Threat as Trial Comes to a Head
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Nico Grant | More About Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Tuesday, Google’s employees gathered for an all-hands meeting named T.G.I.F. These companywide meetings are rarely held on Fridays these days, but the name has stuck. Executives shared highlights from a recent earnings report and cloud-computing conference, and warned workers against taking disruptive actions in the wake of internal protests against a cloud-computing contract with Israel. But no one in the meeting, two employees said, broached a topic that could have a dramatic impact on Google: its landmark antitrust trial with the Justice Department, where arguments are finally coming to an end this week. For eight months, while tech policy experts have tried to divine what a Google victory or loss would mean for the power of tech giants in the United States, Google’s employees have mostly ignored the antitrust fight, according to interviews with a dozen current and recent workers, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the legal matter.

Organizations: Google, Justice Department Locations: Israel, United States

☆ A judge has ordered the owners of get-rich-on-Amazon startup Wealth Assistants to have their assets frozen
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Clients paid upfront fees ranging from $35,000 to more than $100,000 to have their stores run by Wealth Assistants. AdvertisementThe complaint also alleges that Carroll — who was Wealth Assistants' founder and CEO — and the Days violated securities laws because the business opportunity they sold through Wealth Assistants could be considered unregistered securities. Related stories"Plaintiffs' evidence shows that each of the Individual Defendants made intentional misrepresentations in connection with Wealth Assistants' services," the order reads. It follows another lawsuit that was brought against Wealth Assistants in California Superior Court in San Bernardino County in January. Wealth Assistants claimed that the digital bank froze its accounts without warning or explanation in October and is still withholding its funds.

Persons: —, — Ryan Carroll, Max K, Michael Day —, Max O, Carroll —, Judge Wesley Hsu, Carroll, Nico Banks Organizations: Service, Court, Central, Central District of, Wealth, Business, Washington, Banks Law Office, Bank Locations: Central District, Central District of California, DC, California, San Bernardino County, Tennessee, mstone@insider.com

☆ I left my VP role at 25 to build a startup. Leaving security and a steady paycheck behind was hard, but I have no regrets.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Perri Ormont Blumberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Timothy Gamble left his VP role at Walker & Dunlop to cofound HelloData.ai in 2022. I gathered and normalized real-estate data, but my role quickly expanded, and I was soon in charge of the data infrastructure that processed billions of real-estate data points daily. Related storiesNico left W&D one year before me, but we kept in touch. When I left W&D, we decided it made sense to start a real-estate AI company since we both had an entrepreneurial spirit, strong engineering backgrounds, and real-estate domain expertise. Deciding to leave my VP role was scary but the fear of complacency and the prospect of looking back with regret for not pursuing my passions were far greater motivators.

Persons: Timothy Gamble, Dunlop, cofound, Gamble, —, It's, Enodo, might've, Nico Lassaux, Marc Rutzen, Nico, Marc, cofounding, you'll, we're, I've Organizations: Walker, Service Locations: Washington ,, HelloData.ai, Enodo

☆ Friends From the Old Neighborhood Turn Rivals in Big Tech’s A.I. Race
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Cade Metz | Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Today, they are two of the most powerful executives in the tech industry’s race to build artificial intelligence. Dr. Hassabis, 47, is the chief executive of Google DeepMind, the tech giant’s central research lab for artificial intelligence. Mr. Suleyman, 39, was recently named chief executive of Microsoft AI, charged with overseeing the company’s push into A.I. In 2010, they were two of the three founders of DeepMind, a seminal A.I. research lab that was supposed to prevent the very thing they are now deeply involved in: an escalating race by profit-driven companies to build and deploy A.I.

Persons: Mustafa Suleyman, Hassabis, Demis, —, Suleyman Organizations: National Health Service, Queen Elizabeth’s, Google, Microsoft, Big Tech, DeepMind Locations: Syrian, Cypriot, London

☆ Alphabet’s Revenue Jumps 15% to $80.5 Billion
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Thursday, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported strong revenue growth in its latest quarter from its search engine and video platform, YouTube, as its market-leading position in online advertising continued to reap rewards despite recent fluctuations in the industry. Alphabet reported $80.5 billion in quarterly sales, up 15 percent from a year earlier, and above analysts’ estimate of $78.8 billion. Analysts had expected $18.9 billion. The company’s board also approved a $70 billion share repurchase program. Google’s search engine has proved most resilient to the fluctuations that have happened since, emphasizing its role as a gateway to the internet for billions of people.

Organizations: Google, Meta, Facebook

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBitcoin rises past $66,000 in the days following the network's fourth halving: CNBC Crypto WorldCNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what's ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today's show, Nico Cordeiro, CIO of quant digital asset hedge fund Strix Leviathan, weighs in on bitcoin's performance following the latest halving and explains what will likely be the next catalysts for the crypto market.

Persons: explainers, Nico Cordeiro Organizations: CNBC Crypto, CNBC

☆ Chinese Grand Prix could deliver drama to F1 and slow Verstappen’s victory march
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing reacts during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of China at Shanghai International Circuit on April 18, 2024 in Shanghai, China. Edmund So | Getty ImagesThe Chinese Grand Prix could deliver some much-needed drama to Formula 1, and Red Bull's Max Verstappen can't be penciled in as the almost-certain winner on Sunday. It's also the season's first GP with a sprint race, which means Friday's practice session was the only one of the weekend. This is the first F1 race in China in five years, scratched from the calendar by the COVID-19 pandemic. Horner accepted the concern but noted the Shanghai circuit is a known quantity, hosting races since 2004.

Persons: Max Verstappen, Edmund So, It's, Lando Norris, McLaren, Verstappen, Christian Horner, Clive Mason, Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, Friday's, Lance, Aston Martin, Oscar Piastri, McClaren, Sergio Perez, Haas, — Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen, China's, Zhou Guanyu, Charles Leclerc, Bull, Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Andrea Stella said, Horner, Lando Norris of Great, Qian Jun, Norris, Fernando Alonso, Sainz, Perez, Mark Thompson Organizations: Oracle Red Bull, of China, Shanghai, Circuit, Bull, Getty, Pirelli, Sauber, Ferrari, McLaren, McLaren F1 Team, Sprint, Bahrain, Hamilton, Oracle Red Bull Racing Locations: Netherlands, Shanghai, China, Australia, Lando Norris of Great Britain, parc feme, Bahrain

☆ 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

☆ Lessons From a 20-Person Polycule
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Interviews Daniel Bergner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +17 min

Relationships With More Than One PersonKatie I started by dating somebody on an ENM app who was in a different polycule who was connected to someone in this polycule. He’s married, and his wife and I are metamours, which is simply a word for my partner’s partner. Resources always help, books like “The Ethical Slut” and “Polysecure.” But undoing the monogamous script, the socialization, is really, really difficult. One of their husbands is one of my best friends and occasional sexual partner, and I do have sex with my wives, but we’re not romantically involved. It’s, I’m doing these things, I’m going to be gone for these two weeks, what do you need from me?

Persons: it’s, Katie, Ann It’s, Ashley, Nico, we’re, Katie It’s, Alex, Chris, Bine, He’s, I’d, Nico I, nonmonogamy, aren’t, Ann I’m, I’ve, forevermore, bro, We’d, Robert, Ann’s, I’m, Ann, Let’s, ”, Katie There’s, Fred, Robert We, —, I’ll, She’ll, Ann I, They’re, They’ve, Katie Last, We’re, It’s, they’re, Daniel Bergner, ” Anne Vetter Organizations: Resources, Partners Locations: Boston, Cambridge, Ann, Somerville, Los Angeles

☆ Passion and purpose inspire Brazilian chefs to serve authentic cuisines like the Carnival-favorite dishes feijoada and coxinha
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Leila Jordan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The Brazilian chefs Leticia Schwartz and Luiza Souza shared their favorite dishes, including feijoada. Souza and Schwartz shared their favorite Brazilian dishes that embody the spirit of Rio during Carnival and beyond. Bar da Gema's fried polenta with oxtail, one of the restaurant's most popular dishes. Nico Schinco for BI"Feijoada is the most iconic food of Brazil and from Rio," Schwartz said. One of Bar da Gema's most popular dishes is coxinha, fried teardrop-shaped dough filled with shredded meat.

Persons: Leticia Schwartz, Luiza Souza, —, Schwartz, Nico Schinco, Gema, Kristin Bethge, Souza, Leandro Amaral, Amaral, Rio doesn't, Eduardo Gomes, brigadeiro, Brazil it's, BI Schwartz, hasn't Organizations: Service, Brazil's, BI Souza, Catholic, BI, Rio, polenta, Ash Locations: Rio de Janeiro, Greenwich , Connecticut, Rio, Bahia, Brazil, Brazilian, sprinkles, France, French, Portugal, French Guiana, Rio ., Minas Gerais, Curitiba

☆ ‘La Gabarra’: Athletic Bilbao’s one-of-a-kind trophy celebration befits one of the world’s most unique football clubs
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Matias Grez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Spanish soccer club Athletic Bilbao finally put an end to decades of heartbreak at the weekend and now the team and its fans are about to enjoy a unique celebration on water. Though it is now a longstanding tradition, it is one which has only occurred twice before in the club’s history. But Athletic is undoubtedly one of the most unique football clubs in the world. “Athletic touches the sky,” wrote Spanish sports newspaper Diario AS after the victory. A taboo word no longer, La Gabarra will on Thursday once again sail down the Nervión as the city celebrates its new generation of local heroes.

Persons: ‘, –, Cecilio Gerrikabeitia, Iker Muniain, Marcelo del Pozo, Gerrikabeitia, “, Williams, Nico, Iñaki Williams, Nico Wiliams, Fran Santiago, Iñaki, ”, Athletic ’, Alfonso Herrán Organizations: CNN, Spanish, Athletic Bilbao, Lions, Bilbao, Copa del Rey, Mallorca, Athletic, La Liga, City, Guggenheim Museum, del, ‘ Athletic, Athletic Club, University of, Liga, Barcelona, Basque Country, Pamplona, Copa, Diario AS, “, AS Locations: Basque, Bilbao, New York, New Jersey, Spain, France, Spanish, Pamplona, Seville

☆ Google to Tone Down Message Board After Employees Feud Over War in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For nearly 14 years, an online message board called Memegen has served as a virtual water cooler for Google employees. But Google executives, after watching employees snipe about the war in Gaza in recent months, are making big changes to turn down the temperature on their company’s beloved message board, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. One of the most significant tweaks to Memegen will be the removal of a virtual thumbs-down. Well-liked memes rise to the top of Memegen based on those votes. Another change will be the removal of metrics that allow people to see how popular other employees’ memes have become.

Persons: Memegen Organizations: Google, The New York Times Locations: Gaza

The artificial intelligence lab had exhausted every reservoir of reputable English-language text on the internet as it developed its latest A.I. It could transcribe the audio from YouTube videos, yielding new conversational text that would make an A.I. Ultimately, an OpenAI team transcribed more than one million hours of YouTube videos, the people said. The texts were then fed into a system called GPT-4, which was widely considered one of the world’s most powerful A.I. models and was the basis of the latest version of the ChatGPT chatbot.

Persons: OpenAI, Greg Brockman Organizations: YouTube, Google

☆ Google to Delete Billions of Chrome Browser Records in Latest Settlement
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Nico Grant | More About Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In recent months, Google has raced to settle a backlog of lawsuits ahead of major antitrust showdowns with the Justice Department later this year. On Tuesday, the company resolved its fourth case in four months, agreeing to delete billions of data records it compiled about millions of Chrome browser users, according to a legal filing. v. Google, said the company had misled users by tracking their online activity in Chrome’s Incognito mode, which they believed would be private. In December, Google resolved a suit with dozens of attorneys general claiming it strong-armed app makers into paying high fees. And in March, Google agreed to pay a Massachusetts company, Singular Computing, an undisclosed sum after being accused of stealing patent designs — a claim that Google denies.

Persons: Chasom Brown, et Organizations: Google, Justice Department Locations: Massachusetts

From portion sizes to the history, we wanted to find all the differences between Chinese takeout in the UK and the US. This is "Food Wars." This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account?

Organizations: Business

KQED/KFF Health News —A much-awaited treatment for postpartum depression, zuranolone, hit the market in December, promising an accessible and fast-acting medication for a debilitating illness. Miriam McDonald, who developed severe postpartum depression and suicidal ideation after giving birth in late 2019, battled Kaiser Permanente for more than a year to find effective treatment. Her doctors refused to prescribe brexanolone, the only FDA-approved medication specifically for postpartum depression at the time. Insurers’ policies for zuranolone will be written at a time when the regulatory environment around mental health treatment is shifting. In the meantime, Burkhard said, patients suffering from postpartum depression should not hold back from asking their doctors about zuranolone.

Persons: “, Meiram Bendat, ”, Joy Burkhard, KP’s, Kaiser, Miriam McDonald, ” McDonald, KP, Nico, Keith McDonald, brexanolone, “ Kaiser Permanente, ” “ Kaiser, Burkhard, “ It’s, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, ” Burkhard Organizations: KQED, KFF, brexanolone, FDA, zuranolone, OB, Center, Maternal Mental, Kaiser Permanente, NPR, Department of Labor, Maternal Mental Health, Medicaid, Cal, U.S . Department of Labor, CNN, CNN Health, KFF Health Locations: ”, “ Kaiser, California

☆ Ex-Google Engineer Charged With Stealing A.I. Secrets for Chinese Firm
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Glenn Thrush | Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Chinese citizen who recently quit his job as a software engineer for Google in California has been charged with trying to transfer artificial intelligence technology to a Beijing-based company that paid him secretly, according to a federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday. Prosecutors accused Linwei Ding, who was part of the team that designs and maintains Google’s vast A.I. supercomputer data system, of stealing information about the “architecture and functionality” of the system, and of pilfering software used to “orchestrate” supercomputers “at the cutting edge of machine learning and A.I. technology.”From May 2022 to May 2023, Mr. Ding, also known as Leon, uploaded 500 files, many containing trade secrets, from his Google-issued laptop to the cloud by using a multistep scheme that allowed him to “evade immediate detection,” according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of California. Mr. Ding was arrested on Wednesday morning at his home in Newark, Calif., not far from Google’s sprawling main campus in Mountain View, officials said.

Persons: Linwei Ding, Ding, Leon Organizations: Google, Prosecutors, Northern, Northern District of Locations: California, Beijing, Northern District, Northern District of California, Newark , Calif, Mountain View

☆ Google Settles Smaller Lawsuits as It Prepares for More Antitrust Fights
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Nico Grant | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In December, Google spent $700 million to resolve states’ claims that its Play Store had strong-armed app makers into high fees and tough terms. About six weeks after that, Google paid $350 million to end a lawsuit accusing it of improperly sharing users’ private information. On Monday morning, a Massachusetts company called Singular Computing said it had resolved its lawsuit with Google, involving claims that the tech giant had stolen its chip designs. Singular said in a news release that it had “entered into a settlement and patent license agreement with Google.”Google is also on the verge of a fourth legal settlement in three months to end claims that it has misrepresented the privacy settings of its Chrome web browser. In just a few months, Google has spent well over $1 billion to clear the decks for court fights that could prove far more damaging to the company and that could reshape the entire internet industry: two federal suits brought by the Department of Justice, targeting Google’s search engine and its advertising business.

Persons: ’, “ Organizations: Google, Department of Justice Locations: Massachusetts

☆ 41-year-old and her family left the U.S. for Costa Rica and live on less than $30,000 a year: 'We're a lot happier' and never moving back
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-02 | by ( Morgan Smith Valentina Duarte | Morgan Smith | Valentina Duarte | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

But in 2018, after Hurricane Harvey destroyed her Houston home, a trip to Costa Rica with her husband Nicholas Hopper and then 9-year-old daughter Aaralyn became a permanent move. From Hopper's perspective, moving to Costa Rica was a no-brainer. Fast-forward six years later, and the Ward-Hoppers are now permanent residents of Costa Rica, with no plans to move back to Texas. The Ward-Hoppers live in Costa Rica with their daughter Aaralyn, 15, and son Nico, 3. Photo: Alejandro FerliniNico's arrival also introduced another element of stability to their lives by making the entire family eligible for citizenship in Costa Rica.

Persons: Kema, Hopper, Hurricane Harvey, Nicholas Hopper, Aaralyn, let's, —, Heidi, Dan Buettner, Buettner, Nico, Alejandro Ferlini Nico's, Costa Rica's, Costa Ricans, Krishnan Organizations: CNBC, U.S . Ward, American Cancer Society, CAJA, Costa Rica didn't, Gas Locations: Costa Rica, Houston, Texas, Costa, Nicoya, Playa San Miguel, U.S, United States, Nicaragua, Spanish

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