The EU Targets Apple, Meta, and Alphabet for Investigations Under New Tech Law

Apple is among three tech giants being investigated for failing to comply with the European Union’s new competition rules, in another blow to the embattled smartphone maker. Apple was the primary focus of an EU press conference on Monday morning. But authorities also opened formal investigations into Meta and Alphabet, Google’s parent company. The trio … Read more

EU launches probe into Meta, Apple and Alphabet under sweeping new tech law

Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Europe fit for the Digital Age (Competition), Margrethe Vestager, holds a press conference on “Apple on App Store rules for music streaming providers” in Brussels, Belgium on April 30, 2021. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Dursun Aydemir | Anadolu | Getty Images The European … Read more

Waymo Will Bring Autonomous Taxis to Los Angeles—Its Biggest Challenge Yet

Paid autonomous vehicle service is coming to Los Angeles, thanks to a decision by California regulators today to allow Alphabet subsidiary Waymo to operate in the city. Under the new ruling, Waymo is also permitted to launch service in a large section of the San Francisco Peninsula. The decision by the California Public Utilities Commission … Read more

Google’s Flagship Gemini AI Model Gets a Major Upgrade

Alphabet’s Gemini AI model has been public for only two months, but the company is already releasing an upgrade. Gemini Pro 1.5, launching with limited availability today, is more powerful than its predecessor and can handle huge amounts of text, video, or audio input at a time. Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, which developed … Read more

Google Filing Reveals It Slashed Spending on Acquisitions in 2023

Pennies were pinched in Mountain View last year. For much of its existence as a public company, Google had made a headline-grabbing acquisition at least once a year as it used the profits from its surging ads business to bet on new frontiers. Billions of dollars went to scooping up Motorola, Nest, HTC, and Fitbit … Read more

Congress Might Actually Do Something About AI, Thanks to Taylor Swift

Welcome to AI This Week, Gizmodo’s weekly deep dive on what’s been happening in artificial intelligence. What to Watch For: Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” What to Watch For: Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” vinyl sales Concerns about AI porn—or, more commonly “deepfake porn”—are not new. For years, countless women and girls have been subjected to a flood of … Read more

Who Is Dean Phillips and Why Do All the Tech Bros Want Him to Be President?

Welcome to AI This Week, Gizmodo’s weekly deep dive on what’s been happening in artificial intelligence. Why is Everyone Suing AI Companies? | Future Tech When I first saw a video of Dean Phillips, I thought it was a deepfake of Ron DeSantis. The guy’s head has roughly the same shape and hair color as … Read more

Tech layoffs jump in January as Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft reach high

L-R: Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, and Sundar Picahi, CEO of Google. Reuters | Getty Images The S&P 500 is trading at a record and the Nasdaq is at its highest in two years. Alphabet shares reached a new pinnacle on Thursday, as did Meta and Microsoft, which ran past … Read more

FTC looking into AI deals at Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, OpenAI

WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 4: Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan speaks during a discussion on antitrust reforms at the Brookings Institution October 4, 2023 in Washington, DC. Khan assumed the role of FTC chair in June 2021 after being appointed by U.S. President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty … Read more