Vol. I · No. 199WED, NOV 4, 2026
Archive

The Archive

Search the full wire by company, model, lab, or keyword. Every story we have ever aggregated.

Google invests millions in Mark Zuckerberg’s efforts to create a ‘virtual cell’

Google DeepMind, Meta, and AI drug discovery startup Isomorphic Labs are jointly investing $300 million into Biohub, the nonprofit biomedical research organization founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, as reported by Reuters. The funding is part of a $1.8 billion initiative to build AI datasets that could allow researchers to "ask, predict, and answer biological questions digitally," helping find new ways to prevent and manage diseases. Founded in 2016, Biohub aims to combat diseases through the creation of a "virtual cell" that researchers can use to carry out simulations....

·

Introducing Playground: Create and play custom games

Google launches Playground, an experimental gaming platform for creating and sharing custom games.

·

Google is about to remove free access to Gemini Flash and Pro

Starting on October 9th, anyone using Google Gemini on a free plan will be limited to the Flash Lite model. Free users can currently choose from Gemini Flash Lite, Flash, and Pro, but now you'll need a $4.99/month Google AI Plus subscription to access the standard Flash model. However, that subscription is also getting a downgrade - it will soon no longer include Gemini Pro. Google says AI Plus subscribers will receive an email letting them know when they'll lose access to it. After these changes, access to the top-tier Gemini Pro model and a "Deep Think" advanced reasoning option will be res...

·

Gemini Call for Me might tell your mom you’re running late

Google may be expanding its "Call for Me" AI feature beyond business calls so you can use it to send messages to friends and family. Android Authority reports finding a "Gemini Calling" introductory screen in an APK teardown with examples that include "Call Mom and tell her I will be 15 minutes late" and "Call John and ask if he is coming for dinner." Based on those examples, even with this expansion, Gemini would likely be limited to basic, text message-like calls. While Google's AI might not automate an entire catch-up phone call with your relatives, it could deliver quick messages to peopl...

·

OpenAI is adding text watermarking in ChatGPT and Codex

An invisible, machine-readable watermark in text output is rolling out to ChatGPT and Codex, but only for users in the European Union at first. OpenAI says its textGrain watermarking "matched or exceeded" other approaches like Google DeepMind's SynthID for text, which is also the basis for the watermarking Anthropic announced in August. Like OpenAI, Anthropic made the move to meet the requirements of the EU's AI Act; however, not everyone was happy to learn about the addition. OpenAI also included scores from AI benchmarks showing similar performance from watermarked and unwatermarked text. B...

·

Our minds aren’t equipped to handle AI

Norbert Wiener, godfather of cybernetics, once said, "The thought of every age is reflected in its technique." For the past century, our thought has been reflected in our computers, including by those in the AI industry. Google's Demis Hassabis calls the brain "a biological approximation to a Turing machine." Elon Musk puts it more bluntly, declaring that "people should just think of the brain as a biological computer." (Musk's brain often worries me.) But humans are more complex than a straightforward comparison to computers gives us credit for - and far more than most of the AI industry see...

·

EmTech Future 2026: When AI Meets Everything

Yossi Matias, Vice President & Head of Google Research, explores how AI is beginning to reshape biology, infrastructure, manufacturing, and science, and why its greatest impact may come when it intersects with other fields. Step inside the newsroom with our MIT Technology Review editors for sharp analysis and unpublished insights from the team that researches…

·

Google’s new Guided Vision feature can help you read the fine print

Guided Vision is launching in Gemini Live on compatible Android devices today to use AI to give real-time audio descriptions of anything you point your phone's camera at. By sharing your camera in Gemini Live, you can have Google's AI help with things like reading small text, describing your surroundings, finding or identifying objects around you, and describing details on specific objects. Like the VoiceOver Live Recognition feature Apple has added to the iPhone and Vision Pro, it's designed for people who are blind, have low vision, or want assistance in specific situations. In addition to ...

·

Judge dismisses antitrust lawsuits over Google’s AI Overviews

A federal judge has dismissed a pair of antitrust lawsuits filed by Chegg and Rolling Stone parent company Penske Media Corporation, which accused Google of driving away web traffic with its AI-powered search features, as reported earlier by Reuters. US District Judge Amit Mehta takes Google's side in a ruling on Wednesday, writing that PMC and Chegg's claims don't stand up to antitrust law. In lawsuits filed last year, Chegg and PMC accused Google of abusing its monopoly power by coercing publishers into supplying content for AI Overviews for free, or risk disappearing from search results. T...

·

Google announces Gemini 4 and says it’s so capable that only ‘trusted cyber defenders’ can have it right now

Google today revealed its next AI frontier model, which it's calling Gemini 4 Argon. The new model delivers "frontier performance in complex workflows across real-world software engineering, enterprise knowledge work like legal and finance, and cybersecurity defense," according to chief AI architect and Google DeepMind SVP Koray Kavukcuoglu. But the company is limiting access at first to a "set of trusted cyber defenders," and Kavukcuoglu says that Google is "actively engaged in the U.S. government's voluntary process for pre-release model access while we gradually expand access." Kavukcuoglu...

·

Introducing SynthID Bio

Google DeepMind demonstrates SynthID Bio, embedding watermarks into AI-generated proteins without degrading function.

·

Google reportedly tests paying publishers for AI search results

Google has launched a pilot program that pays publishers for their contributions to its AI-powered search features, according to a report from The Information. The pilot program reportedly includes around 100 publishers and comes as Google faces scrutiny over the impact of its AI features on web traffic. Digiday first reported on the pilot program, which began less than a year ago. As part of the test, Google is reportedly paying participating publishers for how much their content contributed to AI Overviews and AI Mode in Search, as well as its Gemini chatbot. One publisher that joined the p...

·

Here’s how tech leaders will self-police AI safety under Trump’s deal

Anyone else getting “The Last Supper” vibes from this photo taken at the White House tech gathering? | Photographer: Tierney L. Cross/The Washington Post/Bloomberg via Getty Images We now have the full details of the "morally binding" AI safety deal announced by President Trump yesterday, in which top executives agreed to self-regulate their artificial intelligence technology. The accord, officially titled the Joint Commitment On Frontier Responsibilities, was shared online by tech founder and presidential advisor David Sacks, and has been signed by Google's Sundar Pichai, Anthropic's Dario A...

·
30 matches