OpenAI says its newly released ChatGPT Images 2.0 is seeing its strongest adoption in India, where the feature generated roughly 5 million app downloads during the launch week. Global activity rose only modestly, with daily active users and web traffic up about 1 percent. Emerging markets such as Pakistan, Vietnam and Indonesia posted sharper spikes, while U.S. downloads lagged behind. The upgrade, which handles more complex prompts and renders non‑Latin text more accurately, is being used largely for personal avatars, stylized portraits and creative fantasy visuals. Read more →

In a California federal courtroom on Thursday, Elon Musk told a judge that his AI startup xAI employed OpenAI’s models to develop its own system, Grok, through a practice known as model distillation. Musk said the technique is common across the industry, answering “partially” when asked if xAI directly distilled OpenAI technology. The testimony highlights a growing debate over the legality and ethics of AI model sharing, with companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google warning of potential intellectual‑property violations. Read more →

Google announced that its Gemini AI chatbot will be rolled out to vehicles equipped with Google built‑in, replacing the current Google Assistant. The upgrade will arrive via a software update, reaching both new and existing models, starting with English‑language cars in the United States. Gemini promises more natural conversation, real‑time trip updates, and deeper integration with apps such as Gmail and Calendar, while also offering electric‑vehicle data like battery level. General Motors has already confirmed Gemini will appear in millions of its 2022‑plus models, but Google says the rollout will not be limited to GM vehicles. Read more →

Google’s Gemini AI is now baked into Gmail, offering automated drafting, email summarization and inbox organization. Users who want to disable the assistant face two “Smart Features” toggles that not only mute Gemini but also strip away long‑standing Gmail tools such as tabbed inboxes, Smart Compose and package tracking. A deeper Workspace toggle even reaches into Drive, removing personalized search and loyalty‑card syncing, yet UI prompts repeatedly coax users back to the AI. The convoluted process has drawn criticism for its lack of transparency and for forcing a trade‑off between AI convenience and basic functionality. Read more →

OpenAI chief Sam Altman hinted that a next‑generation model, GPT‑6, is already in the works, adding a tongue‑in‑cheek remark that it should come with “extra goblins.” The comment followed a recent mishap in which the company’s Codex tool generated unexpected goblin‑themed responses, prompting a quick fix. While Altman offered no timetable, the tease aligns with OpenAI’s pattern of hinting at models with better memory, more consistent behavior and tighter integration with apps, as competition from Google and Anthropic accelerates the rollout pace. Read more →

Google has entered a classified agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense that lets the Pentagon use the company’s artificial‑intelligence models for “any lawful government purpose,” including sensitive military tasks. The move comes despite an open letter signed by more than 600 Google employees urging CEO Sundar Pichai to refuse the contract, citing concerns over lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. Google says the deal includes safeguards against domestic mass surveillance and autonomous weapons without human oversight, while the Pentagon declined to comment. The controversy revives memories of the 2018 Project Maven protests and raises fresh questions about corporate responsibility in national‑security AI work. Read more →

OpenAI’s ChatGPT Images 2.0 outperformed Google’s Gemini Nano Banana 2 in a series of practical image‑editing trials, delivering more realistic results across background swaps, cinematic tweaks, product mock‑ups and seasonal changes. While Nano Banana 2 proved faster, reviewers consistently favored ChatGPT Images for its attention to lighting, texture and facial fidelity, naming it the overall winner of the head‑to‑head comparison. Read more →

Google has entered a classified agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense that lets the Pentagon use the company’s artificial‑intelligence models for any lawful government purpose. The deal, reported by The Information, comes just a day after more than 560 Google engineers signed an open letter urging CEO Sundar Pichai to refuse such military contracts. Unlike an earlier Anthropic pact that barred mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons, Google’s terms contain no ethical carve‑outs. The move adds the tech giant to a short list of AI firms supplying unrestricted AI capability to the U.S. military. Read more →

Google is testing a conversational search feature called “Ask YouTube” that turns video discovery into a dialogue. The experiment, available now to U.S. YouTube Premium subscribers aged 18 and older, adds an “Ask YouTube” button to the search bar and generates AI‑crafted result pages that blend text summaries, long‑form videos, Shorts and suggested prompts. Early testers report mixed results: the tool can quickly surface concise overviews, but occasional factual errors remind users to verify information. Google says the trial will later expand beyond Premium members as it refines the experience. Read more →

Google rolled out two productivity upgrades for its AI‑powered research tool NotebookLM. The notebook now automatically tags and groups sources once a user adds five or more items, cutting the time spent sorting material. A new sharing workflow lets users paste an entire list of email addresses, letting teams collaborate without entering each address individually. Both features are live for all NotebookLM users and are part of a broader push to integrate the tool with Gemini and make notebook projects free for anyone using the Gemini web platform. Read more →

Google is investing between $10 billion and $40 billion in Anthropic, a rapidly growing AI startup, valuing the company at $350 billion. This move follows Amazon's recent $5 billion investment in Anthropic, which also includes potential for further investment based on performance. Read more →

Alphabet's Google will invest $10 billion in AI startup Anthropic now, with an option to add $30 billion if the firm hits performance targets. The agreement also secures five gigawatts of Google‑provided TPU capacity by 2027 and mirrors a similar multi‑billion‑dollar pact the startup struck with Amazon earlier this year. Anthropic, fresh from a $30 billion funding round, will rely on Google’s silicon and cloud infrastructure as part of the deal, underscoring the growing trend of circular investments in the artificial‑intelligence sector. Read more →

Alphabet’s Google Cloud announced a multi‑phase deal that could total $40 billion for AI lab Anthropic. The first tranche of $10 billion values the startup at $350 billion, with an additional $30 billion tied to performance milestones. The partnership expands Anthropic’s access to Google’s tensor processing units and adds roughly 5 gigawatts of compute capacity over five years. The move follows Anthropic’s rollout of its latest model, Mythos, and comes as the firm also secures funding from Amazon and eyes a possible IPO later this year. Read more →