THE BIG STORY

Google Chats Up Generative AI

In December, faced with the first serious threat to its $162 billion franchise, Google declared a “code red” to find ways to incorporate generative AI—the technology behind ChatGPT—into its own products. At its annual I/O developer conference Wednesday, the New York Times reports, Google said it has now embedded its latest AI technology into more than two dozen products, including search updates and a feature to help users write emails in Gmail.

"We’ve been applying AI to make our products radically more helpful for a while," said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and parent Alphabet. "With generative AI, we’re taking the next step. With a bold and responsible approach, we’re reimagining all our core products, including search."

In addition, the company announced that the waitlist for its AI-powered chatbot Bard has been removed; it is now available to everyone.

Google hasn’t forgotten hardware: It also unveiled two new smartphones—the Pixel Fold, Google’s first folding phone; and the budget-friendly Pixel 7A, which costs $500. And it released the Pixel Tablet.

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INNOVATION

2023’s Most Innovative Firms Named

The firm at the top of the Most Innovative Companies 2023, Fast Company’s definitive chronicle of the novel ideas transforming business and society, is no surprise: OpenAI. But what about No. 2 McDonald's ("for cooking up cultural moments as addictive as its fries") and No. 3 Airbnb ("for redesigning its platform for the new era of travel")? Rounding out the top five are Holdfast Collective and Nubank, which edged out Microsoft.

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STARTUPS

New Ventures Grab Laid-Off Software Talent

Startups are recruiting a growing number of laid-off software developers, data scientists and engineers, tech recruiters and investors tell the Wall Street Journal. Amid ongoing layoffs at the tech sector’s largest employers, startups likely account for a big portion of recent employment gains in the sector as a whole.

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SOCIAL MEDIA

The Story Behind a 34-Year-Old Social Network

When ECHO was founded 34 years ago, the World Wide Web was still being invented, and browsers weren’t a thing. ECHO—which stands for “East Coast Hang Out”—was a hotbed of culturally minded early internet enthusiasts. In a conversation with the MIT Technology Review, founder Stacy Horn, now 66, recalls how she created a social network before there was a term for that.

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SPONSORED

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QUICK HITS

• Health care technology firm Casana says its Heart Seat has received clearance from the FDA for measuring heart rate and oxygen saturation. The Heart Seat was originally developed by Casana founder Nicholas Conn at RIT.
• LinkedIn recently added AI-generated profile summaries and job descriptions, but the professional social network isn’t stopping there—it’s now also experimenting with generative AI feed posts.
• Sweden is working on the world’s first permanent electric road—allowing electric cars and trucks to charge while driving—on a 21km route from Hallsberg to Örebro, located between the country’s two largest cities, Stockholm and Gothenburg.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“We are reimagining all our products, including search.”

‍—Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai
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