Author: GT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is unleashing its Gemini 3 artificial intelligence model on its dominant search engine and other popular online services in the high-stakes battle to create technology that people can trust to enlighten them and manage tedious tasks.The next-generation model unveiled Tuesday comes nearly two years after Google took the wraps off its first iteration of the technology. Google designed Gemini in response to a competitive threat posed by OpenAI’s ChatGPT that came out in late 2022, triggering the biggest technological shift since Apple released the iPhone in 2007.Google’s latest AI features initially will be rolled out…

Meta won its high-profile antitrust case against the Federal Trade Commission, which had accused the company of holding a monopoly in social networking. In a memorandum opinion released Tuesday, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., said the FTC failed to prove its argument. The case, initially filed by the FTC five years ago, centered on Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.”Whether or not Meta enjoyed monopoly power in the past, though, the agency must show that it continues to hold such power now,” Boasberg said in the filing. “The Court’s verdict today determines that the…

In a sea of AI travel-planning apps, a new startup called Boop aims to redefine the space with a new approach: turning social recommendations into bookable itineraries. Instead of getting a random AI-generated travel plan, the app offers users access to itineraries from real people who went on real trips.  When someone takes a trip, Boop uses AI to quickly turn their trip into an itinerary that others can copy and personalize, mainly by looking at location data and metadata from photos they share with the app. The idea is to build a network of shared itineraries that people can monetize, giving travel creators another way to…

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Meta has prevailed over an existential challenge to its business that could have forced the tech giant to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp after a judge ruled that the company does not hold a monopoly in social networking.U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued his ruling Tuesday after the historic antitrust trial wrapped up in late May. His decision follows two separate rulings that branded Google an illegal monopoly in both search and online advertising, dealing yet another regulatory blow to the tech industry that for years enjoyed nearly unbridled growth.The Federal Trade Commission “continues to insist…

Views on sponsored videos on YouTube have risen 28% year-on-year, and the number of sponsored videos has grown by 54% year-on-year in the first half of 2025, according to a report from Tubefilter. What’s more, ad spend through creator channels has been steadily rising and is even set to outperform traditional media in some cases. Buoyed by these signals, Agentio, a startup that connects brands with YouTube creators for sponsored videos, has raised its third funding round of $40 million in as many years. The Series B round is led by consumer-focused VC Forerunner with participation from existing investors Benchmark,…

Firms in the asset management industry are turning increasingly to generative and agentic AI to streamline operations, improve decision-making, and uncover new sources of alpha (the measure of an investment strategy’s ability to outperform the market after accounting for risk). The trend is continuing with the latest partnership between Franklin Templeton and Wand AI, marking a shift toward more autonomous, data-driven investment processes.Franklin Resources, operating as Franklin Templeton, has entered into a strategic partnership with enterprise AI platform, Wand AI, to begin the enterprise deployment of agentic AI in Franklin Templeton’s worldwide platform. Wand’s Autonomous Workforce and Agent Management technologies…

Microsoft on Tuesday announced new strategic partnerships with Nvidia and the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, the latest sign that the company is working to reduce its dependence on OpenAI.As part of the agreement, Microsoft will invest up to $5 billion into Anthropic, while Nvidia will invest up to $10 billion into the startup.The investments have pushed Anthropic’s valuation to the range of $350 billion, up from its $183 billion valuation as of September, according to a source close to the deal who asked not to be named because the details are confidential. The terms of the company’s next round are…

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — At the U.N. climate talks in Brazil, artificial intelligence is being cast as both a hero worthy of praise and a villain that needs policing.Tech companies and a handful of countries at the conference known as COP30 are promoting ways AI can help solve global warming, which is driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal. They say the technology has the potential to do many things, from increasing the efficiency of electrical grids and helping farmers predict weather patterns to tracking deep-sea migratory species and designing infrastructure that can withstand…

U.S. economic policy has shifted toward state capitalism, with the Trump administration investing in publicly-traded companies in strategic industries, according to Evercore ISI. The White House has already taken equity stakes in MP Materials , Lithium Americas , Intel and Canada’s Trilogy Metals this year, a departure from past practice, when such interventions were confined to only limited periods of crisis. This year’s government deals have proven major catalysts for the stocks. The deals between government and industry have so far focused on the critical mineral and semiconductor industries. But the White House is now eyeing nuclear energy too, through…

Visual China Group | Getty ImagesGoogle is debuting its latest artificial intelligence model, Gemini 3, as the search giant races to keep pace with ChatGPT creator OpenAI.The new AI model will allow users to get better answers to more complex questions, “so you get what you need with less prompting,” Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in one of several blog posts Google published Tuesday.Gemini 3 will be integrated into the Gemini app, Google’s AI search products AI Mode and AI Overviews, as well as its enterprise products. The rollout begins Tuesday for select subscribers and will go out more broadly…