Good morning! This is your daily ☕️ Techpresso.
In today's Techpresso:
🤖 Android phones get an AI upgrade
💥 US considers historic break up of Google
📸 xAI releases Grok-2, adds image generation on X
🤷♂️ Former Google CEO blames remote work for company's struggles
🔬 New 'AI Scientist' conducts research autonomously
🎁 + 7 other news you might like
🔮 + 2 handpicked research papers and tools
🤖 Android phones get an AI upgradeLINK
Google is replacing Google Assistant with its new AI model, Gemini, on Android phones, introducing generative AI capabilities like automating calendar invites and creating playlists based on user input. Gemini will operate through cloud-based services, allowing for advanced AI processing, while Apple plans to run its AI models directly on devices for better privacy and latency. The introduction of Gemini marks a significant shift in smartphone functionality, offering the potential to automate day-to-day tasks, but there are risks of errors as AI assistants become more integrated into daily life.
💥 US considers historic break up of GoogleLINK
A US judge ruled that Google illegally monopolized the search market, leading the Justice Department to consider proposing the breakup of the tech giant.
The Justice Department and state attorneys general argue that Google's agreements with tech companies to make its search engine the default option on devices block other competitors from succeeding.
Following the ruling, the Justice Department is exploring remedies, including breaking up Google's units like the Android operating system and Chrome web browser, or imposing restrictions on Google's business practices.
📸 xAI releases Grok-2, adds image generation on XLINK
xAI has launched upgraded Grok-2 and Grok-2 mini chatbots with new image-generation capabilities, which are powered by Black Forest Lab’s Flux 1 AI model and allow users to publish images to X with few restrictions.
Both Grok-2 models are currently in beta, available to Premium and Premium Plus subscribers on X, and will be accessible via xAI’s enterprise API later this month.
Early examples of Grok-generated images, depicting figures like Donald Trump and Barack Obama, indicate minimal content restrictions, raising concerns about the spread of false information on the platform.
🤷♂️ Former Google CEO blames remote work for company's strugglesLINK
Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO, criticized the company's work-from-home policy, blaming it for Google's AI struggles and asserting that work-life balance was prioritized over competitiveness.
During a talk at Stanford University, Schmidt highlighted that startups succeed because employees work intensely and implied that Google should adopt a more in-office work culture to remain competitive in AI.
Despite the critique, it's noted that Google, like many other firms, has implemented hybrid work models, requiring employees to come into the office around three days a week.
🔬 New 'AI Scientist' conducts research autonomouslyLINK
Tokyo-based R&D company Sakana AI introduced "The AI Scientist," an AI designed to fully automate research, claiming it's the first system of its kind to independently handle numerous scientific tasks.
The AI Scientist generates innovative research ideas, conducts experiments, writes code, and produces scientific papers while using a simulated review process to evaluate its own findings, mimicking human scientific collaboration.
A rival AI startup, Omniscience, contested Sakana AI's originality, asserting their AI model, Omni, was released months earlier and offers similar capabilities for aiding users in scientific writing and research tasks.
Other news you might like
Everything Google announced at the Pixel 9 launch event.LINK
Apple relents and approves Spotify app with EU pricing.LINK
Meta killed Crowdtangle, an ‘invaluable’ research tool, because what it showed was inconvenient.LINK
Chinese robotaxi startup WeRide gets approval to carry passengers in California.LINK
Intel just dumped its stake in chip maker Arm.LINK
A new public database lists all the ways AI could go wrong.LINK
White House wants to make canceling subscriptions as easy as signing up.LINK
Latest research and tools
Vaultwarden: an unofficial Bitwarden-compatible server allowing users to manage passwords securely, not affiliated with the official Bitwarden project, designed to avoid confusion and trademark issues, offering persistent data storage and HTTPS support for secure access.LINK
Open-source LLM provider price comparison: a tool for comparing the cost efficiency of various GPUs across different cloud providers, assisting users in selecting the optimal hardware and provider for their specific machine learning model needs.LINK
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