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2025-01-06
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Google CEO Sundar Pichai told employees last week that "the stakes are high" for 2025, as the company faces increased competition and regulatory hurdles and contends with rapid advancements in artificial intelligence. > Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are At a 2025 strategy meeting on Dec. 18, Pichai and other Google leaders, donning ugly holiday sweaters, hyped up the coming year, most notably as it pertains to what's coming in AI, according to audio obtained by CNBC. "I think 2025 will be critical," Pichai said. "I think it's really important we internalize the urgency of this moment, and need to move faster as a company. The stakes are high. These are disruptive moments. In 2025, we need to be relentlessly focused on unlocking the benefits of this technology and solve real user problems." Some employees attended the meeting in person at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California, and others tuned in virtually. Pichai's comments come after a year packed with some of the most intense pressure Google has experienced since going public two decades ago. While areas like search ads and cloud produced strong revenue growth, competition picked up in Google's core markets, and the company faced internal challenges including culture clashes and concerns about Pichai's vision for the future. Additionally, regulation is now heavier than ever. In August, a federal judge ruled that Google illegally holds a monopoly in the search market. The Justice Department in November asked that Google be forced to divest its Chrome internet browser unit. In a separate case, the DOJ accused the company of illegally dominating online ad technology. That trial closed in September and awaits a judge ruling. That same month, Britain's competition watchdog issued a statement of objections over Google's ad tech practices, which the regulator provisionally found are impacting competition in the U.K. "It's not lost on me that we are facing scrutiny across the world," Pichai said. "It comes with our size and success. It's part of a broader trend where tech is now impacting society at scale. So more than ever, through this moment, we have to make sure we don't get distracted." A Google spokesperson declined to comment. Google's search business still has dominant market share, but generative AI has served up all sorts of new ways for people to access online information, and has brought with it a host of new competitors. OpenAI's ChatGPT kicked off the hype cycle in late 2022, and investors including Microsoft have since propelled the company to a $157 billion valuation. In July, OpenAI announced it would launch a search engine of its own. Perplexity is also promoting its AI-powered search service and recently closed a $500 million funding round at a $9 billion valuation . Google is investing heavily to try and stay on top, principally through Gemini, its AI model. The Gemini app gives users access to a number of tools, including Google's chatbot. Pichai said "building big, new business" is a top priority. That includes the Gemini app, which executives said they see as Google's next app to reach half a billion users. The company currently has 15 apps that have hit that mark. "With the Gemini app, there is strong momentum, particularly over the last few months," Pichai said. "But we have some work to do in 2025 to close the gap and establish a leadership position there as well." "Scaling Gemini on the consumer side will be our biggest focus next year," Pichai later added. At the meeting, Pichai showed a chart of large language models, with Gemini 1.5 leading OpenAI's GPT and other competitors. "I expect some back and forth" in 2025, Pichai said. "I think we'll be state of the art." He acknowledged that Google has had to play catchup. "In history, you don't always need to be first but you have to execute well and really be the best in class as a product," he said. "I think that's what 2025 is all about." Executives took questions that were submitted by employees through Google's internal system. One comment read aloud by Pichai suggested that ChatGPT "is becoming synonymous to AI the same way Google is to search," with the questioner asking, "What's our plan to combat this in the upcoming year? Or are we not focusing as much on consumer facing LLM?" For the answer, Pichai turned to DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis, who said that teams are going to "turbo charge" the Gemini app and that the company has seen progress in the number of users since launching the app in February. He said "the products themselves are going to evolve massively over the next year or two." Hassabis described a vision for a universal assistant that "can seamlessly operate over any domain, any modality or any device." Project Astra, Google's experimental version of a universal assistant that the company announced in May, will be updated in the first half of the year. Another employee question asked whether Google will be able to get AI products to scale without charging $200 a month "like other companies." "Right now, we don't have any plans for this kind of subscription level," Hassabis responded, adding that he thinks the $20 monthly charge for Gemini advanced is a good value. "I wouldn't necessarily say never but there are no plans for that at the moment." Toward the end of the meeting, Google welcomed to the stage Josh Woodward, the head of Google Labs. He took the microphone as the Zombie Nation song "Kernkraft 400" played loudly in the background. "I'm going to try to do six demos in eight minutes," said Woodward, who's known for his high level of energy. Woodward started by showing off Jules, a coding assistant that's in a trusted tester's program. He said, "It's where the future of software development is headed." Woodward then shifted to AI notetaking product NotebookLM, which featured a series of updates in 2024, including a podcasting tool. Woodward demonstrated how the company is trying a new feature that allows the user to "call in" to a podcast. He then moved onto Project Mariner, an AI-powered multi-tasking Chrome extension. Woodward asked it to add the top restaurants from Tripadvisor to the Maps app. After a brief pause, the demo successfully worked, leading employees in attendance to erupt in applause. Throughout the meeting, Pichai kept reminding employees of the need to "stay scrappy." Google has gone through an extensive phase of cost cutting that included eliminating about 6% of its workforce in 2023 and a continued focus on efficiency. As of the end of the third quarter, Alphabet had 181,269 employees, down about 5% from the end of 2022. At one point, Pichai referenced Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin , who started the company 26 years ago, long before cloud computing or AI tools existed. "In early Google days, you look at how the founders built our data centers, they were really really scrappy in every decision they made," Pichai said. "Often, constraints lead to creativity. Not all problems are always solved by headcount." WATCH: Will AI stocks push higher in 2025?
December has historically been one of the wettest months of the year in Singapore. The heavy downpours in recent days have resulted in flash floods in the northern part of the island. Flash flood in Woodlands A flash flood was observed along Woodlands Avenue 10 on Nov. 22, where a 100m or so section of the road was affected, Shin Min Daily News reported. At one point, the water level reportedly reached 30cm high. Two cars trapped due to flood But that was apparently not the worst case of flooding that day. Two cars, a BMW and a Honda, were reportedly trapped as the water level reached the door handle level. via The BMW owner, a 74-year-old motorist, surnamed Lin (transliteration), said the rain affected visibility, causing her to misjudge the water level. "I saw that the outside of the car was full of water. I didn't dare to open the door. I waited for the water to recede before I got out of the car," she said. According to Shin Min , the water level receded at about 4pm, and many broken branches and leaves were seen left on the road. Traffic police and PUB personnel were at the scene. The road to Admiralty Road West was also reportedly completely blocked. PUB told Mothership it immediately deployed its quick response team to provide assistance to motorists and investigate the flooding incident near the junction of Woodlands Avenue 10 and Admiralty Road West. Flood caused Sembawang canal to overflow A video showing the severity of the flood situation in the northern part of Singapore also made the rounds on social media. One video showed floodwaters overflowing a river canal in front of the Sembawang God of Wealth Temple. The Sembawang God of Wealth Temple is located near Woodlands Avenue 10. Image via Google Maps. What video showed The video also showed the waters reaching the height of the seats at a bus stop. It also almost submerged the green railings around the river canal. Gif via Raven Qiu, Complaint Singapore/Facebook The water also completely covered the streets, making it impossible to distinguish the sidewalk and the road. Image via Google Maps and Raven Qiu, Complaint Singapore/Facebook. PUB told Mothership that the intense rainfall had temporarily overwhelmed the roadside drains along Woodlands Avenue 10 and the adjacent canal, Sungei Sembawang, which leads to the sea and is subject to tidal influence. The overflowing of drains and Sungei Sembawang coincided with the high tide of 2.7m, which prolonged the flooding. Flash flood warnings PUB issued numerous flash flood risk warnings across the island amid the heavy Friday afternoon rain. Flood risk warnings were issued for 19 locations across Singapore. It was noted that northern Singapore recorded the heaviest rainfall of 127.7mm from 2:15pm to 4:50pm, which is equivalent to 51 per cent of the country's average monthly rainfall in November. PUB said the onset of the northeast monsoon may cause moderate to heavy showers in the afternoons on most days. Such intense rainfall may briefly "overwhelm" canals and drains, leading to localised flash floods. However, these flash floods usually last an hour. Members of the public may use the MyENV application and subscribe to PUB's Flood Alerts Telegram Channel to receive heavy rain alerts and flood risk warnings. Top image via Lianhe Zaobao and Raven Qiu, Complaint Singapore/FacebookNoneRimini Street Announces New Management Console for Rimini ConnectTM Suite of Interoperability Solutions
Children shot dead after joining pot-banging protests in Mozambique Anthony Irungu / BBC The mourners at a cemetery in crisis-hit Mozambique's capital, Maputo, were strikingly young - children shedding tears as they bade farewell to a 16-year-old friend, who was shot dead while banging pots and pans in an opposition-organised protest against the outcome of last month's presidential election. "Antonio was shot in the mouth, and the bullet went through the back of his head," his uncle, Manuel Samuel, told the BBC. "We saw CCTV footage from nearby shops of police shooting at protesters," he added. Antonio Juaqim's killing is a tragic reminder of the volatile political climate in the southern African state since Frelimo - the former liberation movement in power since independence 49 years ago - was declared the winner of the poll. The electoral commission said Frelimo's presidential candidate, Daniel Chapo, won with a whopping 71% of the vote, compared to the 20% of his closest rival, Venâncio Mondlane. An evangelical pastor who contested the presidency as an independent after breaking away from the main opposition Renamo party, Mondlane rejected the declaration, alleging the poll was rigged. This was denied by the electoral commission, but Mondlane - who fled the country, fearing arrest - has rallied his supporters via social media to protest against the result. Every night at 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT), people have been banging pots and pans in their homes, as they heed Mondlane's call to send a loud message that they reject an extension of Frelimo's 49-year rule. Supporters of Venâncio Mondlane want a change of government Mr Samuel said the protest was first held on the night of 15 November when huge numbers of people took to the streets to bang pots, pans and bottles or to blow whistles.... Ian Wafula
Meta to build $10 billion AI data center in Louisiana as Elon Musk expands his Tennessee AI facility
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