Google is in a filmmaking frame of mind. The search giant introduced Veo 3, the latest version of its generative video model, loading it with cinematic capabilities including a new AI storytelling tool called Flow. At the Google I/O conference the company also debuted an upgraded image generator, Imagen 4, and announced expanded access to the AI music tool Lyria 2. Veo 3 can generate videos with audio — a Google first, adding things like background traffic noises, birds singing, “even dialogue between characters.” It offers improved consistency of characters, scenes and objects, while gaining camera controls, outpainting and object add/remove. Continue reading Google Upgrades GenAI Models, Debuts AI Storyteller ‘Flow’

Google DeepMind has introduced AlphaEvolve, a coding agent that takes an evolutionary approach to general-purpose algorithm discovery and model optimization. AlphaEvolve combines the creative problem-solving abilities of Google’s Gemini models with automated evaluators that verify answers, then applies an evolutionary framework that improves on the most promising results. Evolutionary AI refers to techniques inspired by biological evolution, including natural selection, to optimize and design machine learning models. Continue reading Google DeepMind AlphaEvolve: Model of Algorithm Efficiency

Though it doesn’t have the usual slate of regular series to tout at the Upfronts, YouTube showcased a sizzling one-off to promote the NFL’s first Friday game coming to the streamer and new products for driving ad engagement. A new tool called Peak Points leverages Google Gemini to serve ads to viewers when the AI finds them most receptive. Masthead on CTV reimagines the YouTube homepage as “an edge-to-edge canvas for ads,” while Cultural Moments Sponsorships involves selling placements “with a high share of voice and brand integrations within content.” Continue reading YouTube Promotes New Ad Tools, AI Tech at Brandcast Event

Google has formally announced the launch of its AI Futures Fund to identify and invest in artificial intelligence startups. Participating startups will get early access to Google DeepMind’s latest models — Gemini, Imagen and Veo, “hands-on support from Google researchers” and Google Cloud credits. The AI Futures Fund has been ramping up these past several months, working with startups including Fal, Replit and Synthesia, among others. In identifying up-and-coming AI startups, Google is competing against Amazon and Microsoft who have aggressively pursued nascent firms, most notably Anthropic and OpenAI, respectively. Continue reading Google Launches AI Futures Fund to Finance, Foster Startups

Google is adding a “Simplify” feature for iOS users that uses AI to translate complex or technical text into language that aims to be easy to understand. Simplify leverages what Google calls “a novel prompt refinement approach developed by Google Research,” drawing on the company’s proprietary AI, Gemini, to make complicated writing “digestible — without losing key details.” Google’s research indicates people find Simplify’s plainspeak “significantly more helpful than the original complex text” and improved retention. “Simplify uses AI to make dense text on the web easier to understand — without leaving a web page,” Google explains. Continue reading Google Simplify App Makes Tough Text Easier to Understand

Google has quietly launched a film and television production initiative called “100 Zeroes” to fund projects (initially from respected indie studios) that are positive about tech and could help promote a positive take on Google’s own products and services. Google is teaming with talent management and production company Range Media Partners on the initiative. While product placement is expected to be one element (for example: a movie character uses an Android device rather than an iPhone), Google is reportedly more focused on a broader plan to promote a general positive view on technology, especially to younger demographics such as Gen Z. Continue reading Google Launches Initiative for Positive Film, TV Views on Tech

YouTube is testing a new AI Overviews feature for search and discovery powered by Gemini. A “small number” of YouTube Premium subscribers in the U.S. will notice a video results carousel popping up for some English-language search queries. The feature taps AI to highlight clips from videos deemed most helpful for a particular search. Initially, the feature will appear in response to practical inquiries, aiming for a more helpful response to things like product inquiries and requests for information about a place or activity. The idea is to provide quick highlights from several videos. Continue reading YouTube Testing Gemini-Powered AI Overviews for Searches

Anthropic has upgraded its AI assistant Claude, adding Research, an autonomous capability that integrates with Google Workspace. Claude can now search and reference content in Google Docs as well as communications in Gmail and events in Calendar. “With Research, Claude can search across both your internal work context and the web to help you make decisions and take action faster than before,” Anthropic explains, turning the model into a “true virtual collaborator” for enterprise clients. The expansion puts Anthropic into more direct competition with OpenAI and Microsoft as well as Google with Gemini in the AI productivity space. Continue reading Anthropic Adds Deep Research, Google Integration to Claude

Among the many tech advancements unveiled at Google Cloud Next include a major generative media upgrade to Vertex AI, Google Cloud’s managed AI development platform. The new Vertex AI Media Studio lets enterprise users generate complete videos from scratch using text prompts. Lyria, Google’s text-to-music model is now available on Vertex in private preview. Both are subject to an “allowlist.” Chirp 3 now creates custom voices with just 10 seconds of audio input, while Imagen 3 has gained improved abilities for reconstructing missing or damaged portions of an image. Continue reading Vertex AI Movie Studio Can Create Videos from Start to Score

Google has debuted a new accelerator chip, Ironwood, a tensor processing unit designed specifically for inference — the ability of AI to predict things. Ironwood will power Google Cloud’s AI Hypercomputer, which runs the company’s Gemini models and is gearing up for the next generation of artificial intelligence workloads. Google’s TPUs are similar to the accelerator GPUs sold by Nvidia, but unlike the GPUs they’re designed for AI and geared toward speeding neural network tasks and mathematical operations. Google says when deployed at scale Ironwood is more than 24 times more powerful than the world’s fastest supercomputer. Continue reading Google Ironwood TPU is Made for Inference and ‘Thinking’ AI

Google has turned its Firebase backend-as-a-service (BaaS) platform into a full-stack AI workspace called Firebase Studio that builds custom apps in a browser-based environment. Available to anyone with a Google account during its preview phase, Google says Firebase Studio will be useful to beginners and pros alike, with Gemini-powered AI agents that can be used to automate the process of building, launching and monitoring mobile and web apps and related infrastructure. Firebase Studio “includes everything developers need to create and publish production-quality AI apps quickly, all in one place,” the company announced at Google Cloud Next 2025. Continue reading Google Firebase Now Full-Stack App Developer in a Browser

Google’s Gemini coding assistant has gained agentic capabilities, available as part of Gemini in Android Studio, a subscription service for businesses designed to make app development for the Android ecosystem easier and more secure. This agent-centric “AI-powered cloud for developers and operators” is designed to infuse AI into all stages of application development, laying the groundwork for more rapid software creation cycles. The service is available to those who subscribe to Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise editions. The new offering was unveiled at the Google Cloud Next 2025 developer conference in Las Vegas. Continue reading Google Pushes Gemini in Android Studio for App Developers

Google has added a Canvas feature to its Gemini AI chatbot that provides users with a real-time collaborative space where writing and coding projects can be refined and other ideas iterated and shared. “Canvas is designed for seamless collaboration with Gemini,” according to Gemini Product Director Dave Citron, who notes that Canvas makes it “an even more effective collaborator” in helping bring ideas to life. The move marks a trend whereby AI companies are trying to turn chatbot platforms into turnkey productivity suites. Google is launching a limited release of Gemini Live Video in addition to bringing its Audio Overview feature of NotebookLM to Gemini. Continue reading Canvas and Live Video Add Productivity Features to Gemini AI

Anthropic’s Claude can now search the Internet in real time, allowing it to provide timely and relevant responses that are also more accurate than what the chatbot previously offered, according to the company. Claude incorporates direct citations for its Web-retrieved material, so users can fact-check its sources. “Instead of finding search results yourself, Claude processes and delivers relevant sources in a conversational format.” While this is not exactly groundbreaking — ChatGPT, Grok 3, Copilot, Perplexity and Gemini all have real-time Web retrieval and most include citations — Claude takes a slightly different approach. Continue reading Real-Time Web Access Informs Claude 3.7 Sonnet Responses

Google is expanding its AI presence in the UK market, hosting a splashy launch event there for Agentspace. Google in December launched Agentspace, an AI agent hub that makes it easy for enterprises to build, manage and deploy custom agents using Gemini. The gathering was hosted by Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian and included participation by local customers BT Group and advertising powerhouse WPP. Google invited UK businesses to store cloud data locally using its $1 billion data center, opening there this year. The company also promoted its new Chirp 3 audio generator, which offers HD voice synthesis. Continue reading Google Launches Agentspace in the UK and Promotes Chirp 3