Google is testing a new feature called “Daily Listen,” which generates personalised AI-powered podcasts based on users’ Discover feeds. The feature, currently rolling out to US users in the Search Labs experiment, provides a five-minute audio summary of topics tailored to individual interests. Each podcast includes links to related stories, allowing listeners to explore subjects in greater depth.
The experience is integrated with Google’s Discover and Search tools, using followed topics to refine content recommendations. Daily Listen functions similarly to NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews, which create AI-generated audio summaries based on shared documents. Users who have access to the feature will see a “Daily Listen” card on their Google app’s home screen, displaying a play button and episode length.
Once launched, the podcast plays alongside a rolling transcript, offering a seamless blend of text and audio. Google aims to enhance how users consume news and stay informed, making the experience more interactive and personalised. The feature reflects the company’s ongoing push into AI-driven content delivery.
Nvidia has voiced strong opposition to a reported plan by the Biden administration to impose new restrictions on the export of AI chips, urging the outgoing president to avoid making a decision that could impact the incoming Trump administration. The company warned that such measures would harm the US economy, hinder innovation, and benefit adversaries like China. Nvidia’s Vice President, Ned Finkle, called the policy a “last-minute” move that would leave a legacy of criticism from both US industry and the global community.
The proposed restrictions, as reported by Bloomberg, aim to limit AI chip exports to certain countries, particularly targeting China to prevent the enhancement of its military capabilities. While some nations would face outright bans, the rules would also cap the computing power that can be exported to others. The Biden administration has yet to confirm the details, and requests for comment from the White House and the Commerce Department went unanswered.
Industry groups, including the Information Technology Industry Council, which represents major tech firms like Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta, have expressed concern about the policy. They argue that it would impose arbitrary limitations on US companies’ global competitiveness and risk ceding market leadership to foreign rivals. Nvidia warned that these restrictions could push international markets toward alternative technologies, undermining the US technology sector.
President-elect Donald Trump, who begins his second term on January 20, previously enacted technology export restrictions to China during his first term, citing national security concerns. Nvidia’s statement reflects apprehension about the continuity of US policy on AI chip exports under the new administration.
The Government of Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India, and Google Cloud have partnered to launch a pioneering open network for agriculture, powered by Google’s Gemini and enabled by the Beckn Protocol. The initiative will provide millions of farmers with seamless access to essential services, including advisory, credit, mechanisation, and market linkages, all through a single platform.
The network is designed to be open and decentralised, allowing any service provider—from input suppliers to financial institutions and government agencies—to connect with farmers. Google’s Gemini framework facilitates easy access by enabling voice command interactions in multiple languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, and Punjabi, with more languages to be added in the future.
The Beckn Protocol ensures interoperability and decentralisation, making the network an innovative alternative to traditional, closed-market systems. It encourages the development of customised solutions, fostering competition and innovation within the agricultural ecosystem.
The open network is part of Uttar Pradesh’s broader vision to digitise agriculture, double farmers’ incomes, and bridge the digital divide using AI technologies. The initiative also serves as a model for other regions, demonstrating how digital public infrastructure (DPI) can transform agriculture on a large scale.
The Uttar Pradesh government aims to empower farmers with the tools and resources they need to thrive in the 21st century. By leveraging the Beckn Protocol and Google Cloud’s DPI-in-a-box solution, the network enables the decentralised exchange of value, making agri-commerce and advisory services more accessible. Through this collaboration, Uttar Pradesh seeks to accelerate progress in agriculture while fostering innovation and enhancing its farming community’s economic and social impact.
AT&T has introduced a new initiative offering bill credits to customers affected by network outages, aiming to rebuild trust after a series of major service disruptions in 2024. The scheme, called AT&T Guarantee, will provide automatic credits to fibre customers experiencing outages of 20 minutes or more and wireless users facing at least an hour of disruption. The move follows a nationwide service failure last February, which lasted over 12 hours and blocked millions of calls, including thousands of emergency calls to 911.
The telecom industry has faced growing scrutiny over the reliability of its networks, with rivals such as T-Mobile and Verizon also experiencing significant outages. AT&T executives acknowledged that customer dissatisfaction had led to market share losses in recent years. In response, the company has invested over $140 billion in network improvements and nearly $1 billion in customer care and operations. The new guarantee is part of a broader effort to ensure dependable connectivity and restore consumer confidence.
Despite previous challenges, AT&T has maintained strong performance in customer satisfaction rankings, topping J.D. Power’s survey for business wireless service among large enterprises for three consecutive years until 2023. The company believes the new initiative will strengthen its position in the market by demonstrating a commitment to service reliability and customer compensation when expectations are not met.
Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk is strengthening its collaboration with a United States tech firm Valo Health to develop new treatments for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases using artificial intelligence and human data. The agreement, originally signed in 2023, has been expanded to cover up to 20 drug candidates, nearly doubling the initial scope of 11 treatments.
The expansion comes as Novo seeks to maintain its competitive edge in the booming obesity drug market, expected to be worth $150 billion in the next decade. A recent clinical trial for its weight-loss drug candidate, CagriSema, delivered underwhelming results, increasing pressure to develop a successor to its best-selling drug, Wegovy. Rival pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly is also pushing forward with its own obesity treatments, intensifying the race for dominance in the sector.
Under the revised deal, Valo Health will receive up to $190 million in near-term payments and milestone payments of around $4.6 billion, significantly increasing its earnings potential compared to the original agreement, which offered up to $2.7 billion. Novo hopes the collaboration will lead to groundbreaking therapies that extend the health benefits of weight-loss drugs beyond obesity treatment.
Halliday, a wearables startup, has launched a pair of smart glasses at CES 2025 that project a tiny digital screen directly into the wearer’s eye. Using a device called the DigiWindow, the glasses display notifications, language translations, and navigation directions in real time without the need for bulky AR lenses.
Priced at $489, the glasses use a small green light to beam an almost 9cm round display into the user’s line of sight. The innovative approach makes US based Halliday’s glasses slimmer, lighter, and more affordable than many augmented reality prototypes. Users can even fit prescription lenses into the frames without affecting the display.
Key features include real-time translation for 40 languages and a proactive AI assistant that offers helpful information during conversations. The device is controlled via a ring worn on the finger, allowing users to navigate its features with thumb gestures. While the AI assistant wasn’t available for testing, the display technology impressed with its functionality.
Halliday’s smart glasses are already available for preorder at a discounted price of $369 via Kickstarter. Shipping is expected to begin in March 2025. The company hopes its sleek design and practical applications will set the glasses apart from other wearables still stuck in prototype stages.
San Francisco-based startup Based Hardware has unveiled Omi, a wearable AI assistant designed to improve productivity. Launched at the Consumer Electronic Show, the device responds to voice commands when worn as a necklace or can attach to the side of the head using medical tape, activating through a unique “brain interface.”
Unlike other AI gadgets that aim to replace smartphones, Omi is meant to complement existing devices. It can answer questions, summarise conversations, and manage tasks like to-do lists and meeting schedules. The startup’s founder, Nik Shevchenko, claims that Omi’s brain interface allows users to interact without saying a wake word by recognising mental focus. However, this feature has yet to be widely tested.
Based Hardware built Omi on an open-source platform to address privacy concerns. Users can store data locally and even develop their own apps for the device. Priced at $89, the consumer version will ship later in 2025, while a developer version is already available.
Omi enters a growing market of AI gadgets that have struggled to meet expectations. Shevchenko hopes Omi’s focus on practical productivity tools will set it apart, but the device’s success will likely depend on whether users embrace its experimental brain interface feature.
Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, is preparing to launch a controversial feature for its chatbot, Grok, called ‘Unhinged Mode.’ According to a recently updated FAQ on the Grok website, this mode will deliver responses that are intentionally provocative, offensive, and irreverent, mimicking an amateur stand-up comedian pushing boundaries.
Musk first teased the idea of an unfiltered chatbot nearly a year ago, describing Grok as a tool that would answer controversial questions without self-censorship. While Grok has already been known for its edgy responses, it currently avoids politically sensitive topics. The new mode appears to be an effort to deliver on Musk’s vision of an anti-‘woke’ AI assistant, standing apart from more conservative competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The move comes amid ongoing debates about political bias in AI systems. Musk has previously claimed that most AI tools lean left due to their reliance on web-based training data. He has vowed to make Grok politically neutral, blaming the internet’s content for any perceived bias in the chatbot’s current outputs. Critics, however, worry that unleashing an unfiltered mode could lead to harmful or offensive outputs, raising questions about the responsibility of AI developers.
As Grok continues to evolve, the AI industry is closely watching how users respond to Musk’s push for a less restrained chatbot. Whether this will prove a success or ignite further controversy remains to be seen.
Elon Musk has echoed concerns from AI researchers that the industry is running out of new, real-world data to train advanced models. Speaking during a livestream with Stagwell’s Mark Penn, Musk noted that AI systems have already processed most of the available human knowledge. He described this data plateau as having been reached last year.
To address the issue, AI developers are increasingly turning to synthetic data, information generated by the AI itself, to continue training models. Musk argued that self-generated data will allow AI systems to improve through self-learning, with major players like Microsoft, Google, and Meta already incorporating this approach in their AI models.
While synthetic data offers cost-saving advantages, it also poses risks. Some experts warn it could cause “model collapse,” reducing creativity and reinforcing biases if the AI reproduces flawed patterns from earlier training data. As the AI sector pivots towards self-generated training material, the challenge lies in balancing innovation with reliability.
Meta is set to trial a new feature allowing users in Germany, France, and the United States to browse eBay listings directly on Facebook Marketplace. Transactions will still be completed on eBay’s platform, but the integration aims to provide Facebook users with a wider selection of products while giving eBay sellers greater exposure.
The move follows a hefty $840 million fine imposed by the European Commission in November over alleged anticompetitive practices related to Facebook Marketplace. While Meta continues to appeal the decision, it says it is working to address regulators’ concerns. The European Commission has yet to comment on the latest development.
Meta’s partnership with eBay reflects broader efforts by tech companies to expand online marketplaces and enhance user experience. The initiative is expected to benefit both buyers and sellers by increasing reach and streamlining access to listings.
