Google Joins Microsoft in Shielding Users From AI Copyright Lawsuits

A senior Google executive disputed suggestions that the company rushed to release its artificial intelligence-based chatbot Bard earlier this year to beat a similar offering from rival Microsoft Corp. Testifying in Google's defense at the Justice Department's antitrust trial against the search giant, Elizabeth Reid, a vice president of search, acknowledged that Bard gave “a wrong answer” during its public unveiling in February. But she rejected the contention by government lawyer David Dahlquist that Bard was “rushed” out after Microsoft announced it was integrating generative AI into its own Bing search engine.

With over 2 billion users across the globe, Google Chrome is certainly one of the world's most popular browsers. It recently turned 15 and Google gave it a makeover, introducing new features, and add-ons that not only aim to add to its functionality but also its aesthetic appeal. In recent years, one of the most demanded features on Google Chrome has been the flexibility of moving the address bar to the top or bottom. Listening to the users' pleas, Google has finally brought this feature to the mobile version of Google Chrome, but there's a catch. Let us take a closer look.

President Joe Biden is directing the US government to take a sweeping approach to artificial intelligence regulation, his most significant action yet to rein in an emerging technology that has sparked both concern and acclaim. The lengthy executive order, released on Monday, sets new standards on security and privacy protections for AI, with far-reaching impacts on companies. Developers such as Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc.'s Google will be directed to put powerful AI models through safety tests and submit results to the government before their public release. 

Google executive Prabhakar Raghavan on Thursday detailed challenges the search and advertising giant faces from smaller rivals, describing efforts to avoid becoming "the next road kill."

In the race to rebound from a two-year slowdown in spending on cloud computing, Microsoft Corp. is pulling ahead of its chief rivals, Amazon.com Inc. and Google.

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AI is everywhere now. From search engines to customer-facing chatbots, it is added in a lot of different ways for different tasks. It has also begun appearing in mobile applications on both Android and iOS. Now, noticing the potential risks with generative AI, Google has updated its Play Store policy to push for moderation of AI-generated content in apps. As per the new policy, developers will have to add an option to report when AI generates offensive content, and then developers must use these reports to build safe filters and moderation tools to protect users.

On Tuesday, Meta was served a lawsuit by more than 30 US states, including 8 individual lawsuits from states, over the alleged use of features in Instagram and Facebook to lure children to the platform and get them hooked on harmful content. This fresh case has again opened the longstanding issue of companies exploiting children, one of the most vulnerable demographics of any digital user base in order to gain profit. However, Meta is not the only one to blame here. For years, many tech firms including Google, Microsoft, Apple, and others have faced similar lawsuits for failing to protect underage users.

An investigation eventually led to the discovery that Google was not allowing benchmark programs from being installed on the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro during the embargo period, which is when both flagships were being reviewed to see how these models stack up against the competition. The company has now come forth, admitting to the prevention of testing on the latest handsets, and the justification is not all that convincing.

Google Meet is rolling out a long-awaited feature that enables users to enhance their appearance during video calls. This new feature, known as "portrait touch-up," was announced in a recent Google Workspace update and is currently available to early adopters on mobile devices. The extended rollout to all remaining accounts is set to commence on October 28th. Additionally, Google has plans to bring this feature to Google Meet on the web by the end of 2023.

Google for India 2023: The 9th edition of the annual Google India event came with a number of big announcements. Apart from announcing the impact of generative AI as a way to eliminate the roadblocks for digital users and entrepreneurs, and highlighting the new shopping experience on AI-led Search Generative Experience (SGE), Google also made a number of key announcements. It has now integrated Google Maps with ONDC and added new features for Indian farmers via Google Cloud. And most interestingly, the Google Pixel 8 series will be made in India. Let us take a look at the 10 big announcements made during the event. 

The Google for India 2023 event has just concluded. The big annual event took place in New Delhi's Pragati Maidan. A roundtable conference was also organized where senior executives of Google talked about various initiatives and programs in front of select people from the media. One of the major highlights was the announcement of the launch of Digi Kavach, a new program designed to keep users safe online and to protect them from scams. The project is being launched in India as a pilot project, and later the model will also be implemented in other countries.