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Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google Unveils Gemini, Boosts Gen AI Efforts – Nasdaq

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Alphabet GOOGL is firing on all cylinders in the booming AI space on the back of its continuous efforts. Its division, Google, is leaving no stone unturned to make the most of Microsoft MSFT in the generative AI game.

The latest introduction of its new, advanced, powerful, large language model (“LLM”), namely Gemini, is a testament to the same.

Alphabet’s shares rallied 5%, closing at $136.93 on Dec 7, following the launch of Gemini.

Gemini is available in three different sizes, Gemini Ultra, which is its largest and most capable one; Gemini Pro, which is designed to offer scalability across various applications; and Gemini Nano, which is designed for specific tasks and mobile devices.

Gemini Ultra is expected to be launched next year and is based on a combination of 57 subjects, such as math, physics, history, law, medicine and ethics, to name a few. It is marked as the first model to outperform human experts in massive multitask language understanding.

Meanwhile, Gemini Pro and Gemini Nano will be licensed through Google Cloud so that they can be easily accessible to developers and enterprise customers from Dec 13.

GOOGL has powered its Bard chatbot and Search Generative Experience (“SGE”) with Gemini Pro. Gemini Nano is likely to turn out to be very useful for Android developers. Pixel 8 Pro models will include Gemini Nano features.

Google plans to power its upcoming Bard Advanced with Gemini Ultra.

Alphabet Inc. Price and Consensus

Alphabet Inc. price-consensus-chart | Alphabet Inc. Quote

 

Growth Prospects

Per an Allied Market Research report, the global generative AI market’s value is likely to hit $191.8 billion by 2032, witnessing a CAGR of 34.1% between 2023 and 2032.

A Fortune Business Insights report shows that the global generative AI market size is expected to reach $667.96 billion by 2030, seeing a CAGR of 47.5% between 2023 and 2030.

We believe Alphabet remains well-poised to capitalize on this upbeat scenario on the back of Google’s latest move as well as other endeavors. Currently, Alphabet carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Google, which forayed at the beginning of this year by unveiling its chatbot Bard, recently rolled out consulting services to bolster generative AI efforts. The new offerings include advice and tools through which Google Cloud strives to aid clients in adopting generative AI techniques.

These tools are designed to help customers boost automation in their business operations by generating content and summarizing information with the power of AI.

Google is set to add an AI-powered “Help me write” feature to Chrome for Desktop use. The new feature can adjust its writing style, including “Shorten” or “Elaborate” options, as well as “Casual” or “Formal” options.

Also, it is set to add a “Help me create a list” feature to its Keep Notes app for Android, assisting users in generating lists for various tasks, including planning, packing, grocery shopping and task completion.

Google’s recent expansion of SGE across 120 countries to boost the reach of its AI-powered conversational search feature globally remains positive.

Google to Take on Microsoft

The search giant had already entered into a cut-throat competition with Microsoft on the back of Bard, a counter to ChatGPT, a chatbot from the Microsoft-backed startup OpenAI.

Now, Google is set to elevate its game with Gemini, which it expects to take down OpenAI’s next-generation LLM — GPT-4. Gemini Pro has already outperformed GPT-3.5.

On the other hand, Microsoft continues to make strong efforts to boost its generative AI capabilities. Its integration of GPT-4 into its search engine Bing and browser Edge to deliver a ChatGPT-like experience to users remains noteworthy.

Microsoft Azure offers the Azure OpenAI Service, which enables the seamless application of LLM and generative AI techniques in various use cases.

It recently announced OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 AI image-synthesis model, fully integrated with ChatGPT, which challenges previous models by rendering images with complex descriptions and handling in-image text generation.

How Are Others Placed?

In addition to Microsoft, Google’s strong generative AI efforts pose a competitive threat to companies like Meta Platforms META, Amazon AMZN and Adobe ADBE, which are also making concerted efforts to capitalize on the abovementioned prospects.

Meta forayed into the space of LLMs with its state-of-the-art foundational language model known as Large Language Model Meta AI (“Llama”). In collaboration with Microsoft, Meta unveiled the next generation of Llama, called Llama 2. The social media giant also released Code Llama, an LLM that can use text prompts to generate and discuss code.

Amazon’s AWS recently announced the general availability of its fully managed service called Amazon Bedrock. It provides seamless access to high-performing foundation models (“FM”) from AI companies through an API. The company also made the Amazon Titan Embeddings model generally available. It added Meta’s Llama 2 to Amazon Bedrock as a new model, which will be available through API.

The e-commerce giant’s investment plans in Anthropic remain noteworthy. Amazon will invest $4 billion to acquire a minority stake in Anthropic. This investment will allow AWS to provide access to Anthropic’s future FMs to its customers. These FMs will be available through Amazon Bedrock.

Meanwhile, Adobe recently announced the commercial release of its family of creative, generative AI models — Firefly.

Adobe Firefly supports text prompts in over 100 languages, helps creators make several changes to their content, creates endless variations seamlessly and bolsters image generation capabilities.

Top 5 ChatGPT Stocks Revealed

Zacks Senior Stock Strategist, Kevin Cook names 5 hand-picked stocks with sky-high growth potential in a brilliant sector of Artificial Intelligence. By 2030, the AI industry is predicted to have an internet and iPhone-scale economic impact of $15.7 Trillion.

Today you can invest in the wave of the future, an automation that answers follow-up questions … admits mistakes … challenges incorrect premises … rejects inappropriate requests. As one of the selected companies puts it, “Automation frees people from the mundane so they can accomplish the miraculous.”

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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

Zacks Investment Research

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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Ottawa orders TikTok’s Canadian arm to be dissolved

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The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.

“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.

The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.

However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”

Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.

“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.

“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”

The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.

At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.

A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”

Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.

Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.

Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.

Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.

While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.

Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.

The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.

— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

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LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

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Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

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LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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