Google – Page 3

Google hints at big AirDrop expansion for Android “very soon”

AirDrop, android, file sharing, Google, IPhone, Tech / Paul Patrick / February 5, 2026

Android has its own AirDrop-like feature called Quick Share (formerly Google Nearby Share), but until recently, it couldn’t communicate with Apple’s AirDrop. As we reported in November, the European Union required Apple to implement the Wi-Fi Aware standard in AirDrop, which enabled Google to add support for the Pixel 10 lineup. Google confirmed it didn’t need to work with Apple at all to make that happen.

As part of the Quick Share updates, Google has added an extension to the Play Store that allows Quick Share to operate as a full, updatable APK rather than an element of Play Services. That should make it easier to roll out new features to the entire Android ecosystem. Currently, the extension only supports a smattering of Android phones, but we can expect that list to expand as AirDrop comes to more devices this year.

With AirDrop support, Android devices can send files to iOS and macOS devices without downloading third-party apps. However, the functionality requires Apple users to enable the “Everyone for 10 minutes” connectivity option. While Google can shoehorn Android into the Wi-Fi Aware system, it cannot use Apple’s contact-based sharing options. That probably won’t change with the pending update.

Of course, “very soon” in Google-speak can mean many things. The company does like to pair Android ecosystem updates with Pixel Drops, and the next one of those is expected in March, with changes to location privacy, At a Glance, and more.

Google hints at big AirDrop expansion for Android “very soon” Read More »

Google court filings suggest ChromeOS has an expiration date

aluminium, android, ChromeOS, Google / Rejus Almole / February 3, 2026

The documents suggest that Google will wash its hands of ChromeOS once the current support window closes. Google promises 10 years of Chromebook support, but that’s not counted from the date of purchase—Chromebooks are based on a handful of hardware platforms dictated by Google, with the most recent launching in 2023. That means Google has to support the newest devices through 2033. The “timeline to phase out ChromeOS is 2034,” says the filing.

Android goes big

From the start, the ChromeOS experience was focused on the web. Google initially didn’t even support running local apps, but little by little, its aspirations grew. Over the years, it has added Linux apps and Android apps. And it even tried to get Steam games running on Chromebooks—it gave up on that last one just recently. It also tried to shoehorn AI features into ChromeOS with the Chromebook Plus platform, to little effect.

Android was barely getting off the ground when ChromeOS began its journey, but as we approach the 2030s, Google clearly wants a more powerful desktop platform. Android has struggled on larger screens, but Aluminium is a long-running project to fix that. Whatever we see in 2028 may not even look like the Android we know from phones. It will have many of the same components under the hood, though.

Aluminum vs ChromeOS — Aluminium will have Google apps at the core. Credit: US v. Google

Google could get everything it wants with the upcoming Aluminium release. When running on powerful laptop hardware, Android’s performance and capabilities should far outstrip ChromeOS. Aluminium is also expected to run Google apps like Chrome and the Play Store with special system privileges, leaving third-party apps with fewer features. That gives Google more latitude in how it manages the platform and retains users, all without running afoul of recent antitrust rulings.

Google court filings suggest ChromeOS has an expiration date Read More »

Google Project Genie lets you create interactive worlds from a photo or prompt

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Google, Project Genie, world models / Paul Patrick / January 29, 2026

If that 60-second jaunt into the AI world isn’t enough, you can just run the prompt again. Because this is generative AI, the results will be a little different each time. Google also lets you “remix” its pre-built worlds with new characters and visual styles. The video generated of your exploration is available for download as well.

Still an experiment

Google stresses that Project Genie is still just a research prototype, and there are, therefore, some notable limitations. As anyone who has used Google Veo or OpenAI Sora to create AI videos will know, it takes a few seconds to create even a short clip. So, it’s impressive that Genie can make it feel interactive at all. However, there will be some input lag, and you can only explore each world for 60 seconds. In addition, the promotable events feature previously demoed for Genie 3, which allows inserting new elements into a running simulation, is not available yet.

While Google has talked up Genie’s ability to accurately model physics, the company notes that testers will probably see examples of worlds that don’t look or behave quite right. Testers may also see changing restrictions on content. The Verge was able to test Project Genie, and initially, it was happy to generate knockoffs of Nintendo games like Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda. By the end of the test, The Verge reports that some of those prompts were being blocked due to “interests of third-party content providers.”

Project Genie is only accessible from a dedicated web app—it won’t be plugged into the Gemini app or website. You can only access this tool for the time being with an AI Ultra subscription, which runs $250 per month. Generating all this AI video is expensive, so it makes sense to start with the higher tier. Google says its goal is to open up access to Project Genie over time.

Google Project Genie lets you create interactive worlds from a photo or prompt Read More »

Google begins rolling out Chrome’s “Auto Browse” AI agent today

AI, browser agent, Gemini, Google, Tech / Rejus Almole / January 28, 2026

Google began stuffing Gemini into its dominant Chrome browser several months ago, and today the AI is expanding its capabilities considerably. Google says the chatbot will be easier to access and connect to more Google services, but the biggest change is the addition of Google’s autonomous browsing agent, which it has dubbed Auto Browse. Similar to tools like OpenAI Atlas, Auto Browse can handle tedious tasks in Chrome so you don’t have to.

The newly unveiled Gemini features in Chrome are accessible from the omnipresent AI button that has been lurking at the top of the window for the last few months. Initially, that button only opened Gemini in a pop-up window, but Google now says it will default to a split-screen or “Sidepanel” view. Google confirmed the update began rolling out over the past week, so you may already have it.

You can still pop Gemini out into a floating window, but the split-view gives Gemini more room to breathe while manipulating a page with AI. This is also helpful when calling other apps in the Chrome implementation of Gemini. The chatbot can now access Gmail, Calendar, YouTube, Maps, Google Shopping, and Google Flights right from the Chrome window. Google technically added this feature around the middle of January, but it’s only talking about it now.

Sidepanel with Gmail integration

Gemini in Chrome can now also access and edit images with Nano Banana, so you don’t have to download and re-upload them to Gemini in another location. Just open the image from the web and type in the Sidepanel with a description of the edits you want. Like in the Gemini app, you can choose between the slower but higher-quality Pro model and the faster standard one.

Google begins rolling out Chrome’s “Auto Browse” AI agent today Read More »

AI Overviews gets upgraded to Gemini 3 with a dash of AI Mode

AI, ai overviews, Artificial Intelligence, generative ai, Google, search / Mike M. / January 27, 2026

It can be hard sometimes to keep up with the deluge of generative AI in Google products. Even if you try to avoid it all, there are some features that still manage to get in your face. Case in point: AI Overviews. This AI-powered search experience has a reputation for getting things wrong, but you may notice some improvements soon. Google says AI Overviews is being upgraded to the latest Gemini 3 models with a more conversational bent.

In just the last year, Google has radically expanded the number of searches on which you get an AI Overview at the top. Today, the chatbot will almost always have an answer for your query, which has relied mostly on models in Google’s Gemini 2.5 family. There was nothing wrong with Gemini 2.5 as generative AI models go, but Gemini 3 is a little better by every metric.

There are, of course, multiple versions of Gemini 3, and Google doesn’t like to be specific about which ones appear in your searches. What Google does say is that AI Overviews chooses the right model for the job. So if you’re searching for something simple for which there are a lot of valid sources, AI Overviews may manifest something like Gemini 3 Flash without running through a ton of reasoning tokens. For a complex “long tail” query, it could step up the thinking or move to Gemini 3 Pro (for paying subscribers).

AI Overviews gets upgraded to Gemini 3 with a dash of AI Mode Read More »

“Wildly irresponsible”: DOT’s use of AI to draft safety rules sparks concerns

AI, AI hallucination, Artificial Intelligence, department of transportation, Gemini, Google, Policy / Mike M. / January 26, 2026

At DOT, Trump likely hopes to see many rules quickly updated to modernize airways and roadways. In a report highlighting the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s biggest “wins” in 2025, the White House credited DOT with “replacing decades-old rules with flexible, innovation-friendly frameworks,” including fast-tracking rules to allow for more automated vehicles on the roads.

Right now, DOT expects that Gemini can be relied on to “handle 80 to 90 percent of the work of writing regulations,” ProPublica reported. Eventually all federal workers who rely on AI tools like Gemini to draft rules “would fall back into merely an oversight role, monitoring ‘AI-to-AI interactions,’” ProPublica reported.

Google silent on AI drafting safety rules

Google did not respond to Ars’ request to comment on this use case for Gemini, which could spread across government under Trump’s direction.

Instead, the tech giant posted a blog on Monday, pitching Gemini for government more broadly, promising federal workers that AI would help with “creative problem-solving to the most critical aspects of their work.”

Google has been competing with AI rivals for government contracts, undercutting OpenAI and Anthropic’s $1 deals by offering a year of access to Gemini for $0.47.

The DOT contract seems important to Google. In a December blog, the company celebrated that DOT was “the first cabinet-level agency to fully transition its workforce away from legacy providers to Google Workspace with Gemini.”

At that time, Google suggested this move would help DOT “ensure the United States has the safest, most efficient, and modern transportation system in the world.”

Immediately, Google encouraged other federal leaders to launch their own efforts using Gemini.

“We are committed to supporting the DOT’s digital transformation and stand ready to help other federal leaders across the government adopt this blueprint for their own mission successes,” Google’s blog said.

DOT did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment.

“Wildly irresponsible”: DOT’s use of AI to draft safety rules sparks concerns Read More »

Google begins offering free SAT practice tests powered by Gemini

AI, Artificial Intelligence, education, Google / Paul Patrick / January 22, 2026

It’s no secret that students worldwide use AI chatbots to do their homework and avoid learning things. On the flip side, students can also use AI as a tool to beef up their knowledge and plan for the future with flashcards or study guides. Google hopes its latest Gemini feature will help with the latter. The company has announced that Gemini can now create free SAT practice tests and coach students to help them get higher scores.

As a standardized test, the content of the SAT follows a predictable pattern. So there’s no need to use a lengthy, personalized prompt to get Gemini going. Just say something like, “I want to take a practice SAT test,” and the chatbot will generate one complete with clickable buttons, graphs, and score analysis.

Of course, generative AI can go off the rails and provide incorrect information, which is a problem when you’re trying to learn things. However, Google says it has worked with education firms like The Princeton Review to ensure the AI-generated tests resemble what students will see in the real deal.

The interface for Gemini’s practice tests includes scoring and the ability to review previous answers. If you are unclear on why a particular answer is right or wrong, the questions have an “Explain answer” button right at the bottom. After you finish the practice exam, the custom interface (which looks a bit like Gemini’s Canvas coding tool) can help you follow up on areas that need improvement.

Google begins offering free SAT practice tests powered by Gemini Read More »

Google adds your Gmail and Photos to AI Mode to enable “Personal Intelligence”

AI, Artificial Intelligence, Gemini, generative ai, Google, search / Tim Belzer / January 22, 2026

Google believes AI is the future of search, and it’s not shy about saying it. After adding account-level personalization to Gemini earlier this month, it’s now updating AI Mode with so-called “Personal Intelligence.” According to Google, this makes the bot’s answers more useful because they are tailored to your personal context.

Starting today, the feature is rolling out to all users who subscribe to Google AI Pro or AI Ultra. However, it will be a Labs feature that needs to be explicitly enabled (subscribers will be prompted to do this). Google tends to expand access to new AI features to free accounts later on, so free users will most likely get access to Personal Intelligence in the future. Whenever this option does land on your account, it’s entirely optional and can be disabled at any time.

If you decide to integrate your data with AI Mode, the search bot will be able to scan your Gmail and Google Photos. That’s less extensive than the Gemini app version, which supports Gmail, Photos, Search, and YouTube history. Gmail will probably be the biggest contributor to AI Mode—a great many life events involve confirmation emails. Traditional search results when you are logged in are adjusted based on your usage history, but this goes a step further.

If you’re going to use AI Mode to find information, Personal Intelligence could actually be quite helpful. When you connect data from other Google apps, Google’s custom Gemini search model will instantly know about your preferences and background—that’s the kind of information you’d otherwise have to include in your search query to get the best output. With Personal Intelligence, AI Mode can just pull those details from your email or photos.

Google adds your Gmail and Photos to AI Mode to enable “Personal Intelligence” Read More »

Google temporarily disabled YouTube’s advanced captions without warning

Google, Tech, youtube / Kris Guyer / January 20, 2026

YouTubers have been increasingly frustrated with Google’s management of the platform, with disinformation welcomed back and an aggressive push for more AI (except where Google doesn’t like it). So it’s no surprise that creators have been up in arms over the suspicious removal of YouTube’s advanced SRV3 caption format. You don’t have to worry too much just yet—Google says this is only temporary, and it’s working on a fix for the underlying bug.

Google added support for this custom subtitle format around 2018, giving creators more customization options than with traditional captions. SRV3 (also known as YTT or YouTube Timed Text) allows for custom colors, transparency, animations, fonts, and precise positioning in videos. Uploaders using this format can color-code and position captions to help separate multiple speakers, create sing-along animations, or style them to match the video.

Over the last several days, creators who’ve become accustomed to this level of control have been dismayed to see that YouTube is no longer accepting videos with this Google-created format. Many worried Google had ditched the format entirely, which could be problematic for all those previously uploaded videos.

Google has now posted a brief statement and confirmed to Ars that it has not ended support for SRV3. However, all is not well. The company says it has temporarily limited the serving of SRV3 caption files because they may break playback for some users. That’s pretty vague, but it sounds like developers made a change to the platform without taking into account how it might interfere with SRV3 captions. Rather than allow those videos to be non-functional, it’s disabling most of the captions.

Google temporarily disabled YouTube’s advanced captions without warning Read More »

OpenAI to test ads in ChatGPT as it burns through billions

advertising, AI, AI assistants, AI bubble, Biz & IT, chatbots, chatgpt, chatgtp, Fidji Simo, generative ai, Google, machine learning, openai, sam altman / Tim Belzer / January 16, 2026

Financial pressures and a changing tune

OpenAI’s advertising experiment reflects the enormous financial pressures facing the company. OpenAI does not expect to be profitable until 2030 and has committed to spend about $1.4 trillion on massive data centers and chips for AI.

According to financial documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal in November, OpenAI expects to burn through roughly $9 billion this year while generating $13 billion in revenue. Only about 5 percent of ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly users pay for subscriptions, so it’s not enough to cover all of OpenAI’s operating costs.

Not everyone is convinced ads will solve OpenAI’s financial problems. “I am extremely bearish on this ads product,” tech critic Ed Zitron wrote on Bluesky. “Even if this becomes a good business line, OpenAI’s services cost too much for it to matter!”

OpenAI’s embrace of ads appears to come reluctantly, since it runs counter to a “personal bias” against advertising that Altman has shared in earlier public statements. For example, during a fireside chat at Harvard University in 2024, Altman said he found the combination of ads and AI “uniquely unsettling,” implying that he would not like it if the chatbot itself changed its responses due to advertising pressure. He added: “When I think of like GPT writing me a response, if I had to go figure out exactly how much was who paying here to influence what I’m being shown, I don’t think I would like that.”

An example mock-up of an advertisement in ChatGPT provided by OpenAI. Credit: OpenAI

Along those lines, OpenAI’s approach appears to be a compromise between needing ad revenue and not wanting sponsored content to appear directly within ChatGPT’s written responses. By placing banner ads at the bottom of answers separated from the conversation history, OpenAI appears to be addressing Altman’s concern: The AI assistant’s actual output, the company says, will remain uninfluenced by advertisers.

Indeed, Simo wrote in a blog post that OpenAI’s ads will not influence ChatGPT’s conversational responses and that the company will not share conversations with advertisers and will not show ads on sensitive topics such as mental health and politics to users it determines to be under 18.

“As we introduce ads, it’s crucial we preserve what makes ChatGPT valuable in the first place,” Simo wrote. “That means you need to trust that ChatGPT’s responses are driven by what’s objectively useful, never by advertising.”

OpenAI to test ads in ChatGPT as it burns through billions Read More »

TSMC says AI demand is “endless” after record Q4 earnings

AI, AI chips, AI infrastructure, Amazon, arizona, Biz & IT, C.C. Wei, datacenters, Google, machine learning, microsoft, NVIDIA, semiconductors, Taiwan, TSMC / Tim Belzer / January 16, 2026

TSMC posted net income of NT$505.7 billion (about $16 billion) for the quarter, up 35 percent year over year and above analyst expectations. Revenue hit $33.7 billion, a 25.5 percent increase from the same period last year. The company expects nearly 30 percent revenue growth in 2026 and plans to spend between $52 billion and $56 billion on capital expenditures this year, up from $40.9 billion in 2025.

Checking with the customers’ customers

Wei’s optimism stands in contrast to months of speculation about whether the AI industry is in a bubble. In November, Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned of “irrationality” in the AI market and said no company would be immune if a potential bubble bursts. OpenAI’s Sam Altman acknowledged in August that investors are “overexcited” and that “someone” will lose a “phenomenal amount of money.”

But TSMC, which manufactures the chips that power the AI boom, is betting the opposite way, with Wei telling analysts he spoke directly to cloud providers to verify that demand is real before committing to the spending increase.

“I want to make sure that my customers’ demand are real. So I talked to those cloud service providers, all of them,” Wei said. “The answer is that I’m quite satisfied with the answer. Actually, they show me the evidence that the AI really helps their business.”

The earnings report landed the same day the US and Taiwan finalized a trade agreement that cuts tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15 percent, down from 20 percent. The deal commits Taiwanese companies to $250 billion in direct US investment, and TSMC is accelerating the expansion of its Arizona chip fabrication facilities to match.

TSMC says AI demand is “endless” after record Q4 earnings Read More »

Many Bluetooth devices with Google Fast Pair vulnerable to “WhisperPair” hack

bluetooth, Google, Security, Tech / Paul Patrick / January 15, 2026

Pairing Bluetooth devices can be a pain, but Google Fast Pair makes it almost seamless. Unfortunately, it may also leave your headphones vulnerable to remote hacking. A team of security researchers from Belgium’s KU Leuven University has revealed a vulnerability dubbed WhisperPair that allows an attacker to hijack Fast Pair-enabled devices to spy on the owner.

Fast Pair is widely used, and your device may be vulnerable even if you’ve never used a Google product. The bug affects more than a dozen devices from 10 manufacturers, including Sony, Nothing, JBL, OnePlus, and Google itself. Google has acknowledged the flaw and notified its partners of the danger, but it’s up to these individual companies to create patches for their accessories. A full list of vulnerable devices is available on the project’s website.

The researchers say that it takes only a moment to gain control of a vulnerable Fast Pair device (a median of just 10 seconds) at ranges up to 14 meters. That’s near the limit of the Bluetooth protocol and far enough that the target wouldn’t notice anyone skulking around while they hack headphones.

Once an attacker has forced a connection to a vulnerable audio device, they can perform relatively innocuous actions, such as interrupting the audio stream or playing audio of their choice. However, WhisperPair also allows for location tracking and microphone access. So the attacker can listen in on your conversations and follow you around via the Bluetooth device in your pocket. The researchers have created a helpful video dramatization (below) that shows how WhisperPair can be used to spy on unsuspecting people.

Many Bluetooth devices with Google Fast Pair vulnerable to “WhisperPair” hack Read More »