google – Page 5

Google puts «test» ads in AI Mode — and they use AI for targeting

Google's ads in AI Mode have been spotted in the wild, yet Google is already serving ads in Overviews. — Ads are the lifeblood of Google and this was only a question of time. (Picture: Adobe)

If you’ve been using AI Mode or AI Overviews this week, you might have seen something familiar from Google: Ads.

Google has long been signaling their intent to start experimenting with ads in AI outputs, and thinks some relevant ads might be sufficient.

These ads can appear above, beneath and within the results, Google says. And adds:

— For ads to show within the AI Overviews, the ads must additionally be relevant to the content of the AI Overviews.

For Google’s AI Mode, they are still «testing» and have been running with select ads since May, 2025, writes Engadget.

To match you with relevant ads, or even glean some kind of intent from your query, Google uses AI, and then relies on its deep catalog of advertisers to find a match.

AI slop can ruin genuine recipes — and Thanksgiving

AI can offer impossible or unworkable recipes, so it's better to get your cooking guidance from expert pros instead of AI slop. — Always double check AI information — especially when it comes to what you eat. (Picture: Adobe)

Beware of AI generated recipes, Bloomberg writes.

This season is the first where AI use is prevalent, and while it might seem to offer easy guides, real recipe writers are sounding the alarm that AI slop is often just plain wrong — and sometimes also dangerous.

In practice, human expert recipe bloggers have seen their traffic drop from 40 to 80% on their Thanksgiving recipes — at a time when you should probably double check your information, and your common sense.

So, when Google’s AI overview tells you to bake a cake at three to four hours on 160°C, it is probably time to touch grass — or maybe the charcoal that would ensue.

Read more: Original reporting by Bloomberg, summary by Gizmodo.

Nvidia responds to report that Meta might use Google’s TPU chips

A deal between Meta and Google might see custom TPU chips installed on Meta's data centers, as the industry looks for Nvidia alternatives. — Talks between Meta and Google on custom chips has Nvidia slightly worried, but not much. (Picture: generated)

News on the talks was posted by The Information on tuesday, and caused Nvidia to drop 3% and Google to tease a $4 billion valuation in the markets.

Under the deal being discussed, Meta would start renting compute on Google’s Tensor Processing Units as early as next year, Reuters reports.

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Cloud honcho at Google says they need to double capacity every six months

Google needs to reach 1000x capacity in the next 4-5 years, they say at an all hands meeting. — Google is not immune to the ever increasing demand on AI infrastructure. (Picture: generated)

The demand for AI infrastructure is «the most critical and also the most expensive part of the AI race,» said Vice President at Google Cloud, Amin Vahdat, at a recent all hands meeting, reported by CNBC.

This comes as almost every other Big Tech company is increasing data center spending and Google has set aside $93 billion in «capital expenditures» this year to do the same.

This will be followed by a «significant increase» in 2026, but likely not matching OpenAI’s enormous $1.4 trillion data center spending.

They are aiming to «spend a lot,» and hit «the next 1000x in 4-5 years,» Vahdat is reported to have said.

That’s one thousand times more «capability, compute and storage networking» that he aims to add for «essentially the same cost, power and energy spend.»

Read more: The scoop at CNBC, writeups at Ars Technica and Gizmodo.

Google launches Gemini 3, blows out benchmarks and is less sycophantic

Apart from blowing up the benchmarks, Gemini 3 takes pride in telling you «what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear.»

— Like the generations before it, Gemini 3 is once again advancing the state of the art, says CEO Sundar Pichai on their launch page, and adds: — In this new chapter, we’ll continue to push the frontiers of intelligence, agents, and personalization to make AI truly helpful for everyone.

Debuting in preview across all of Google’s services, including AI Mode on their front page, the new model is «another big step on the path toward AGI,» Google says.

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Google invests $40 billion in Texas data centers

Google will invest $40 billion on three data centers in Texas, along with an energy buildout of some 6 gigawatts and a new solar plant. — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Sundar Pichai announcing the news. (Picture: Google)

Google joins the big players in building out staggering AI capabilities, with a new data center in Armstrong and two in Haskell County, near Abilene, hooked up to a solar and battery plant.

— This investment will create thousands of jobs, provide skills training to college students and electrical apprentices, and accelerate energy affordability initiatives throughout Texas, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said, according to Reuters.

The investments will be made through 2027, but Google says nothing of when they will come online.

They will also bring new funding for the power grid to support 6 gigawatts of «new energy generation and capacity» and will support some 1,700 new electrical apprenticeships with Google support.

This makes Texas the second largest data center state in the USA, after Virginia, notes the Texas Tribune.

— They say that everything is bigger in Texas — and that certainly applies to the golden opportunity with AI, Pichai said.

Read more: Google’s blog, writeups on Reuters, Texas Tribune.

Google brings its vast shopping data to AI Mode, complete with checkout

Will AI Mode revolutionize shopping for the AI age? Google is already making bets. — You can now find just the right product and comparison shop in AI Mode. (Picture: Google)

Google already has a massive database of some 50 billion product listings, that you might have tapped into when shopping for products using Google Search.

Now that data is being combined with AI Mode, giving you granular detail in natural language conversations to find just the right product.

People have been wondering about how to crack monetizable shopping features for a long time, and Google has been teasing ads in AI products for a while. This might be a first step.

A better way to shop?
The new feature will give you «rich visuals and the details you need,» and you can dig into the results or bring up products side by side for comparison.

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Google DeepMind unveils SIMA 2 — a self-improving 3D navigator agent

The old SIMA was good at following instructions, but the second version now has access to Gemini models and can explore 3D worlds on its own, with zero advance training.

That’s great for video games, where it can think and perform complex reasoning around its goals.

Learning from concepts
It can also learn across games, taking cues from «mining» in one game and transferring it to «harvesting» in another, meaning it can iterate and get better over time.

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Nano Banana arrives in Google Photos

Nono Bana has arrived in Google Photos, letting you conversationally edit your picutres. — You can now use natural language editing of your Google Photos, and get instant results — thanks to Nano Banana. (Picture: Google)

Google has announced a whole slew of AI features for the Photos app — bringing it up to date with their latest «conversational» image generator.

You can now ask the app to remove sunglasses in photos or fix a smile, but it can also respond to names you have tagged in your pictures, such as «make Engel smile.»

«Help me edit»
You can use the «Help me edit»-button in the editor and simply describe the style you want your pics to be in, from a Renaissance portrait to a picture from a children’s story book.

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Google launches Private AI Compute, a secure way to use cloud AI

Google's new cloud program will offer the same privacy as on-device computation. — Expanding from on-device AI, Google’s new tech will provide the same level of privacy. (Picture: Google)

Similar to Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, Google’s solution is to enhance apps on your phone, Chromebook or whatever else you are using, with extra power from Gemini in the cloud.

Most of Google’s AI features are handled on-device, but they are seeing the need for more computing power to move «from completing simple requests to AI that can anticipate your needs with tailored suggestions or handle tasks for you at just the right moment.»

The connections between the device and servers are encrypted, and the data transmitted is not available to anyone’s prying eyes — not even Google’s.

The new tech is not getting a wide rollout, and most AI queries will still be on-device. The only feature to use it is the Magic Cue in Android, and the Recorder app, that will be able to summarize transcripts in «a wide range of languages.»

This is foundational technology for Google, and they will be rolling out features across their services in short order, saying «This is just the beginning.»

Read more: Google’s launch page, writeups on The Verge and 9to5Google.

Google to start experimenting with ads in AI content

Robby Stein, of Google Search doesn't see ads going away, and lots of opportunity for them in Google's AI products. — Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search comments on advertising in Google’s AI. (Picture: screenshot).

In a wide-ranging interview on the podcast Silicon Valley Girl, Robby Stein, VP of Product for Google Search is positive about how advertising could get even more granular with all the extra information people can provide in their AI products, saying;

Ads not going away
— I don’t see them [ads] going away. The way people are using Google Search isn’t really changing, what is happening is that it’s expanding [with AI services], he opines.

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Big Tech doubles down on even bigger AI spend

Big tech will spend about a quarter of a trillion dollars on "capital expenditures" this year, according to quarterly reports. — Data center deals are flourishing and none of the big tech spenders feel they can afford not be in the race. (Picture: Adobe)

Quarterly results are in for Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta — and while the numbers are mixed, they all agree on big capital expenditures — needed for building data centers — for fiscal year 2025.

The coming AI wars will be fought with data centers and gigawatts, and nobody wants to lose out.

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Sundar Pichai: Gemini 3.0 is going to be released «this year»

With just two months left of the year, it's safe to the release of Gemini 3.0 is imminent. — Google has made «extraordinary progress» and are getting ready to debut Gemini 3.0 soon. (Picture: screenshot)

After many a rumor and speculation as to when Google would reply to OpenAI’s GPT-5 — we now have proof right from head of Google himself.

In a sitdown/interview with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at the Dreamforce 2025 conference, that goes long on the future of AI, cloud and innovations, he let this qoute rip:

— We kickstarted Gemini, we brought Google brain and Google deep mind together, and we’ve been rapidly iterating since then, he tells Benioff, then adds some forward looking comments:

Continue reading “Sundar Pichai: Gemini 3.0 is going to be released «this year»”

GPT-5 and Gemini 2.5 Pro scores Gold at International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics

GPT-5 and Gemini 2.5 Pro would make excellent research assistants, but are not yet suited for autonomous discoveries, the study finds. — One of the questions on the exams is calculating the distance of quasars. (Picture: screenshot)

Scientists and judges from the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) have given five top AI models a run through the exams from 2022 to 2025 — and top scores were awarded for the models from OpenAI and Google.

The IOAA is a top rated exam for global high school students and is held annually with some 300 participants from 64 countries, and consists of questions to demonstrate deep conceptual understanding, multimodal analysis and multi-step derivations.

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Google launches Computer Use model, CodeMender and AI Mode expansion

It's been a busy 24 hours for Google's AI works. — Google’s CodeMender wont be released just yet, but is being offered to «critical open source software.» (Picture: Google)

It’s been a busy 24-hour stretch for Google, launching two new models and an expansion of AI mode into Europe.

The CodeMender model is based on Google’s own research into finding zero-day vulnerabilities in computer programs, where they found lots of exploits, and stipulated that humans would struggle to keep up with AI scanners once implemented widely.

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