Is Google A Buy Ahead Of Q1 Earnings Amid AI Spending War?
Here's what fundamental and technical analysis says about buying Google stock as generative artificial intelligence impacts its search advertising business.
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TechCrunchMeta AI tested: Doesn't quite justify its own existence, but free is free
Meta's new large language model, Llama 3, powers the imaginatively named "Meta AI," a newish chatbot that the social media and advertising company has installed in as many of its apps and interfaces as possible. It tends to regurgitate a lot of web search results, and it doesn't excel at anything, but hey — the price is right. You can currently access Meta AI for free on the web at Meta.ai, on Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and probably a few other places if those aren't enough.
- Yahoo Finance
Alphabet market cap tops $2 trillion after earnings beat, dividend announcement
Alphabet reported Q1 earnings on Thursday that beat estimates. The company also announced its first-ever dividend.
- TechCrunch
It's a sunny day for Google Cloud
Google Cloud, Google's cloud computing division, had a blockbuster fiscal quarter, blowing past analysts' expectations and sending Google parent company Alphabet's stock soaring 13%+ in after-hours trading. Google Cloud revenue jumped 28% to $9.57 billion in Q1 2024, bolstered by the demand for generative AI tools that rely on cloud infrastructure, services and apps. Google Cloud's operating income grew nearly 5x to $900 million, up from $191 million.
- Yahoo Finance
Meta’s Zuckerberg can't calm Wall Street’s nerves on AI spending, stock falls 10%
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to calm investors after the company announced it's going to spend more on AI but couldn't assuage concerns as shares fell more than 10% Thursday.
- Engadget
The world's leading AI companies pledge to protect the safety of children online
Leading artificial intelligence companies including OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Meta and others have jointly pledged to prevent their AI tools from being used to exploit children and generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
- Engadget
The Morning After: Meta crams its AI chatbot into your Instagram DMs
The biggest news stories this morning: Our favorite Sony wireless earbuds are on sale for a record-low price, Interstellar is coming back to theaters in September for its 10-year anniversary, Playdate revisited: Two years later.
- Yahoo Finance
Google seeks to monetize AI investments with AI security add-on for Workspace
Google's is adding more AI security features to its offerings as it seeks to better monetize its investments.
- TechCrunch
Generative AI is coming for healthcare, and not everyone's thrilled
Generative AI, which can create and analyze images, text, audio, videos and more, is increasingly making its way into healthcare, pushed by both Big Tech firms and startups alike. Google Cloud, Google's cloud services and products division, is collaborating with Highmark Health, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit healthcare company, on generative AI tools designed to personalize the patient intake experience. Amazon's AWS division says it's working with unnamed customers on a way to use generative AI to analyze medical databases for "social determinants of health."
- Engadget
Meta is stuffing its AI chatbot into your Instagram DMs
Meta's chatbot in Instagram isn't doing anything Instagram-specific, however. It's the same bot available in all other Meta apps.
- TechCrunch
Vana plans to let users rent out their Reddit data to train AI
In the generative AI boom, data is the new oil. From Big Tech firms to startups, AI makers are licensing e-books, images, videos, audio and more from data brokers, all in the pursuit of training up more capable (and more legally defensible) AI-powered products. Shutterstock has deals with Meta, Google, Amazon and Apple to supply millions of images for model training, while OpenAI has signed agreements with several news organizations to train its models on news archives.
- TechCrunch
Meta trials its AI chatbot across WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger in India and Africa
Meta has confirmed to TechCrunch that it is testing Meta AI, its large language model-powered chatbot, with WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger users in India and parts of Africa. The move signals how Meta plans to tap massive user bases across its various apps to scale its AI offerings. Meta announced plans to build and experiment with chatbots and other AI tools in February 2023.
- Engadget
US bill proposes AI companies list what copyrighted materials they use
A new bill would make AI companies detail which copyrighted materials they took data from.
- TechCrunch
With Vertex AI Agent Builder, Google Cloud aims to simplify agent creation
AI agents are the new hot craze in generative AI. On Tuesday at Google Cloud Next, the company introduced a new tool to help companies build AI agents. “Vertex AI Agent Builder allows people to very easily and quickly build conversational agents,” Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said.
- TechCrunch
Google.org launches $20M generative AI accelerator program
Google.org, Google's charitable wing, is launching a new program to help fund nonprofits developing tech that leverages generative AI. Called Google.org Accelerator: Generative AI, the program is to be funded by $20 million in grants and include 21 nonprofits to start, including Quill.org, a company creating AI-powered tools for student writing feedback, and World Bank, which is building a generative AI app to make development research more accessible. In addition to funding, nonprofits in the six-month accelerator program will get access to technical training, workshops, mentors and guidance from an "AI coach."
- Engadget
The US and UK are teaming up to test the safety of AI models
The UK and the US governments have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in order to create a common approach for independent evaluation on the safety of generative AI models.
- TechCrunch
Photo-sharing community EyeEm will license users photos to train AI if they don't delete them
EyeEm, the Berlin-based photo-sharing community that exited last year to Spanish company Freepik, after going bankrupt, is now licensing its users' photos to train AI models. Earlier this month, the company informed users via email that it was adding a new clause to its Terms & Conditions that would grant it the rights to upload users' content to "train, develop, and improve software, algorithms, and machine-learning models." Users were given 30 days to opt out by removing all their content from EyeEm's platform.
- TechCrunch
The IBM-HashiCorp coupling could be more complicated than it seems
When IBM announced its intention to acquire HashiCorp for $6.4 billion on Wednesday at market close, it was easy to conclude that the two companies should fit well together, but a deal comes down to more than strategy. In his meeting with analysts after Wednesday's announcement, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna saw HashiCorp as a critical piece of IBM's hybrid cloud management strategy, especially as it relates to generative AI. IDC analyst Stephen Elliot sees many companies using both Red Hat and HashiCorp infrastructure automation tools already, and putting the two sets of tools together makes sense for IBM.
- TechCrunch
Curio raises funds for Rio, an 'AI news anchor' in an app
The latest to join the fray is Rio, an "AI news anchor" designed to help readers connect with the stories and topics they're most interested in from trustworthy sources. The new app, from the same team behind AI-powered audio journalism startup Curio, was first unveiled at last month's South by Southwest Festival in Austin. It has raised funding from Khosla Ventures and the head of TED, Chris Anderson, who also backed Curio.
- Engadget
Drake deletes AI-generated Tupac track after Shakur’s estate threatened to sue
Drake apparently learned it isn’t wise to mess with Tupac Shakur — even nearly three decades after his death. Tthe Canadian hip-hop artist deleted the post with his track “Taylor Made Freestyle,” which used an AI-generated recreation of Shakur’s voice.
- Yahoo Finance
Microsoft beats Q3 top and bottom lines on cloud strength
Microsoft reported better than anticipated Q3 earnings on Thursday, powered by growth in its cloud products.