AI May Be Better Than Humans at Mediating Disagreements

Last night, I read a white paper from Google DeepMind about an AI system they are developing designed to mediate discussions, especially on divisive topics, to help groups reach consensus. By the numbers, the system was more successful than human mediators. I was so intrigued that I read the paper twice. It kept me up all night. Continue Reading →

Custom Podcasts from Your Data

Google’s AI note-taking and research assistant, NotebookLM, has introduced a key update that allows users to guide AI-generated audio conversations that are more customized than the genAI podcasts that made NotebookLM famous a few weeks ago. Continue Reading →

Senators Think AI Summaries May Violate Antitrust Laws

Eight senators sent a letter to the FTC urging an investigation into the antitrust implications of AI-generated content summaries by companies like Google. They argue that these summaries take content from publishers without permission, reducing traffic and revenue for original content creators. Continue Reading →

Google’s Newsroom Deal: Cashing In or Selling Out?

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks announced a first-of-its-kind partnership involving the State of California, news publishers, tech companies, and philanthropy to support local journalism and launch a National AI Accelerator. The partnership will provide nearly $250 million in funding over five years, with the majority allocated to newsrooms, especially those in underserved areas. Continue Reading →

Google: “Choose the Form of the Destructor!”

For those of you not of a certain age, at the climax of the original Ghostbusters movie, Gozer the Gozerian (an ancient Sumerian demigod, aka Google) offers the Ghostbusters a choice (albeit, not a great one): they get to choose the form of the monster that will annihilate humanity. As Hollywood movies often do, this worked out okay; evil marshmallow monsters can end up toasted. Even though Google isn't a giant Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, the choice it's offering publishers is absolutely existential. Continue Reading →

The Case Against Google

A federal judge has ruled that Google illegally abused its monopoly in the search industry, violating antitrust laws. The ruling stems from a 2020 lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice and several states. Judge Amit Mehta found that Google maintained its dominance by paying billions to companies like Apple and Samsung to be the default search engine on their devices, controlling nearly 90% of web searches. Google plans to appeal the decision. Continue Reading →

Google’s Antitrust Defeat and AI Ad Controversy

Shelly Palmer discusses the recent major antitrust lawsuit loss by Google over its search engine dominance. A judge ruled that Google’s search engine has been illegally suppressing competition, with the company holding over 89% of the market for general searches and nearly 95% on mobile devices. Original Airdate: August 6, 2024 Continue Reading →

Google x Character.AI: An Authentic Synthetic Deal

With more than 200 million monthly active users and average session durations close to 30 minutes, Character.AI may be the stickiest AI app. It was co-founded by two Googlers in November 2021 to infuse personalized superintelligence into an entertainment experience. (You can chat with pre-built synthetic characters like fake Elon Musk or fake Paris Hilton, or you can design your own.) Continue Reading →