Alphabet Inc. – pressnews

Sundar Pichai-led Google faces ‘Clear and Present Danger’ of falling short in AI

2Mar

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Technology

Sundar Pichai-led Google faces ‘Clear and Present Danger’ of falling short in AI

[ad_1] The only thing that matters to CEO Sundar Pichai-led Alphabet Inc. investors is whether it can get artificial intelligence right. That was the message delivered this week as the company's shares tumbled following news that Google's flagship AI product was misfiring. The selloff erased $80 billion in market value in a single day, underscoring the importance investors now place on all things AI.For a firm with the world's biggest digital advertising business — its operations generated more than $100 billion in cash last year, with a record chunk of that going back to shareholders — the threat is simple: some other company may develop an AI-powered search engine that, as unlikely as it may seem now, makes Google obsolete. “Alphabet falling behind in AI is a clear and present danger,...

5 things about AI you may have missed today: Alibaba unveils AI tool EMO, Human ‘Stupidity’ in AI use feared, more

1Mar

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Technology

5 things about AI you may have missed today: Alibaba unveils AI tool EMO, Human ‘Stupidity’ in AI use feared, more

[ad_1] Alibaba unveils EMO AI tool that converts photos to lifelike talking, singing videos; Leonardo CEO highlights concerns over human 'Stupidity' in AI use; Kara Swisher unveils new book on AI generated scams amidst global concerns; Meta's resistance and the rising AI threat: Challenges to journalism in Australia- this and more in our daily roundup. Let us take a look.1. Alibaba unveils EMO: AI converts photos to lifelike talking, singing videosChina's Alibaba introduces "EMO," an AI tool from its Institute for Intelligent Computing. EMO directly converts audio waveforms into video frames, creating lifelike talking or singing videos from single portrait photos. The researchers amassed a diverse dataset for training, leading to EMO's superior expressiveness and realism. However, the m...

Google DeepMind scientists in talks to leave and form AI startup

20Jan

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Technology

Google DeepMind scientists in talks to leave and form AI startup

[ad_1] A pair of scientists at Google DeepMind, the Alphabet Inc. artificial intelligence division, have been talking with investors about forming an AI startup in Paris, according to people familiar with the conversations. The team has held discussions with potential investors about a financing round that may exceed €200 million ($220 million) — a large sum, even for the buzzy field of AI, the people said. Laurent Sifre, who has been working as a scientist at DeepMind, is in talks to form the company, known at the moment as Holistic, with fellow DeepMind scientist Karl Tuyls, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing private information. They said the venture may be focused on building a new AI model. Sifre and Tuyls didn't respond to multiple requests for comment. A Dee...

Alphabet Illegally Refused to Negotiate With YouTube Contract Staff, Labor Board Rules

6Jan

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Alphabet Illegally Refused to Negotiate With YouTube Contract Staff, Labor Board Rules

[ad_1] Alphabet Inc. has illegally refused to negotiate with a group of YouTube Music contract workers who voted to unionize, the US labor board ruled. The decision, issued by a panel of three members of the National Labor Relations Board, tees up a federal court battle over whether the internet company is legally the boss of subcontracted staff it claims are not its employees. The YouTube workers, who voted 41-to-0 last April to join the Alphabet Workers Union, are hired via the staffing agency Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. Alphabet's Google, which owns YouTube, has consistently denied being their boss, even after NLRB officials last year deemed it a “joint employer” of the workers – a company with enough control over them to be liable for their treatment and obligated to negoti...

Google Play Store Deal Frustrates Critics, Will Leave Intact Heavily-Criticized Commissions

21Dec

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Google Play Store Deal Frustrates Critics, Will Leave Intact Heavily-Criticized Commissions

[ad_1] Alphabet Inc.'s agreement to pay $700 million to consumers and states and open the Google Play Store to competition will leave intact the heavily-criticized commissions the technology giant charges mobile app developers.The settlement announced in a court filing and lauded by elected attorneys general who helped negotiate it will make it easier for developers to offer apps to consumers outside Google Play and use their own payment systems. But there's a catch: the developers will still have to pay Google a service fee of as much as 26%. Sharp differences of opinion emerged Tuesday as to how much the accord will reshape Google Play's business model and benefit consumers. While some state officials heralded the deal as an end to Google's abuse of its market power, an executive at E...

Google will stop telling law enforcement which users were near a crime

15Dec

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Technology

Google will stop telling law enforcement which users were near a crime

[ad_1] Alphabet Inc.'s Google is changing its Maps tool so that the company no longer has access to users' individual location histories, cutting off its ability to respond to law enforcement warrants that ask for data on everyone who was in the vicinity of a crime.Google is changing its Location History feature on Google Maps, according to a blog post this week. The feature, which Google says is off by default, helps users remember where they've been. The company said Thursday that for users who have it enabled, location data will soon be saved directly on users' devices, blocking Google from being able to see it, and, by extension, blocking law enforcement from being able to demand that information from Google. “Your location information is personal,” said Marlo McGriff, director of p...

After $13 bn in Investment, Microsoft’s OpenAI Linkage Risks Scrutiny From US, UK Regulators

9Dec

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Technology

After $13 bn in Investment, Microsoft’s OpenAI Linkage Risks Scrutiny From US, UK Regulators

[ad_1] The US Federal Trade Commission is examining the nature of Microsoft Corp.'s investment in OpenAI Inc. and whether it may violate antitrust laws, according to a person familiar with the matter.The inquiries are preliminary and the agency hasn't opened a formal investigation, according to the person, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential matter. Microsoft didn't report the transaction to the agency because the investment in OpenAI doesn't amount to control of the company under US law, the person said. OpenAI is a non-profit and acquisitions of non-corporate entities aren't reported under US merger law, regardless of value. Agency officials are analyzing the situation and assessing what its options are. An FTC spokesperson declined to comment. Microsoft didn't immed...

Six Documents That Explain DOJ’s Antitrust Case Against Google

20Nov

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Technology

Six Documents That Explain DOJ’s Antitrust Case Against Google

[ad_1] The most damning evidence in the US antitrust trial against Alphabet Inc.'s Google that concluded in Washington this week came not from the parade of witnesses from Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and other companies, but from internal documents.During the 10-week trial, the Justice Department used emails, slides and other records to illustrate how Google's lavish payments to other companies ensured its search engine became the preselected option almost everywhere people access the internet. Antitrust enforcers allege that Google illegally maintained a monopoly over search, where it controls nearly 90% of online queries, through those payments to smartphone makers, web browsers and wireless carriers. That dominance allowed Google to raise prices on advertisers without consequences, ...

Google’s Legal Chief Faces Rebuke by Judge Over Missing Chats

18Nov

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Google’s Legal Chief Faces Rebuke by Judge Over Missing Chats

[ad_1] A federal judge reprimanded Alphabet Inc.'s chief legal officer over allegations that Google intentionally destroyed sensitive internal communications relevant to two ongoing antitrust lawsuits despite court orders to preserve evidence.In an unusual move, US District Judge James Donato, who's presiding over a trial in San Francisco over Epic Games Inc.'s accusations that the Google Play app store is anticompetitive, ordered the company's longtime top lawyer, Kent Walker, to appear in court to address questions about the technology giant's record-keeping practices. Thursday's hearing, conducted in the absence of the jury, came after multiple Google executives, including Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai, acknowledged at the witness stand that they incorrectly marked...

For Google Play, Dominating the Android World Was ‘Existential’

15Nov

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Technology

For Google Play, Dominating the Android World Was ‘Existential’

[ad_1] Google agreed to pay $8 billion over four years to Samsung Electronics Co. to make its search engine, voice assistant and Play Store the default on the company's mobile devices, according to testimony presented by Epic Games Inc. James Kolotouros, Vice President for Partnerships at Google, testified Monday under questioning by an Epic lawyer in the San Francisco trial that Google devised plans to share app store revenue with Android mobile device makers to ensure their products were preinstalled with Google Play on home screens. Epic, the maker of the popular Fortnite game, alleges the technology giant's app marketplace violates antitrust laws. A lawyer for Epic presented the agreement with Samsung as an example of the deals Google made starting four years ago with mobile phone ...