Google has expanded its Search Live feature to all app users in the US after several months of testing.
The tool allows people to hold voice conversations with AI Mode inside Google Search and even share a live camera feed. With this, the system can interpret surroundings, respond in real time, and suggest web links for deeper exploration.
The feature, powered by a customised version of Google’s Gemini chatbot, can run in the background while other apps are open. Google highlighted uses ranging from travel help to troubleshooting tasks.
Search Live is currently available only in English in the US. It can be enabled in the Google app by tapping the new Live icon or through Google Lens by selecting the Live button at the bottom of the screen.
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Officials want to know how these companies detect fraudulent content and what safeguards they use to prevent scams. For app stores, the focus is on fake financial applications imitating legitimate banking or trading services.
For Booking.com, attention is paid to fraudulent accommodation listings, while Bing and Google Search face scrutiny over links and ads, leading to scam websites.
The Commission asked platforms how they verify business identities under ‘Know Your Business Customer’ rules to prevent harm from suspicious actors. Companies must also share details of their ad repositories, enabling regulators and researchers to spot fraudulent ads and patterns.
By taking these steps, the Commission aims to ensure that actions under the DSA complement broader consumer protection measures already in force across the European Union.
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Google is rapidly expanding AI Mode, its generative AI-powered search assistant. The company has announced that the feature is now rolling out globally in Spanish. Spanish speakers can now interact with AI Mode to ask complex questions that traditional Search handles poorly.
AI Mode has seen swift adoption since its launch earlier this year. First introduced in March, the feature was rolled out to users across the US in May, followed by its first language expansion earlier this month.
Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, and Brazilian Portuguese were the first languages added, and Spanish now joins the list. Google says more languages will follow soon as part of its global AI Mode rollout.
Google says the feature is designed to work alongside Search, not replace it, offering conversational answers with links to supporting sources. The company has stressed that responses are generated with safety filters and fact-checking layers.
The rollout reflects Google’s broader strategy to integrate generative AI into its ecosystem, spanning Search, Workspace, and Android. AI Mode will evolve with multimodal support and tighter integration with other Google services.
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The company has already invested over $1 billion in digital infrastructure, including subsea cable projects such as Equiano and Umoja, enabling 100 million people to come online for the first time. Four new regional cable hubs are being established to boost connectivity and resilience further.
Alongside infrastructure, Google will provide college students in eight African countries with a free one-year subscription to Google AI Pro. The tools, including Gemini 2.5 Pro and Guided Learning, are designed to support research, coding, and problem-solving.
By 2030, Google says it intends to reach 500 million Africans with AI-powered innovations tackling issues such as crop resilience, flood forecasting and access to education.
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To support this momentum, Google Cloud hosted its first AI Builders Forum in Silicon Valley, where hundreds of founders gathered to hear about new tools, infrastructure and programmes designed to accelerate innovation.
Google Cloud has also released a technical guide to help startups build and scale AI agents, including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and multimodal approaches. The guide highlights leveraging Google’s agentic development kit and agent-to-agent tools.
The support is bolstered by the Google for Startups Cloud Program, which offers credits worth up to $350,000, mentorship and access to partner AI models from Anthropic and Meta. Google says its goal is to give startups the technology and resources to launch, scale and compete globally.
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Three lawsuits have been filed in US federal courts alleging that Character.AI and its founders, with Google’s backing, deployed predatory chatbots that harmed children. The cases involve the family of 13-year-old Juliana Peralta, who died by suicide in 2023, and two other minors.
The complaints say the chatbots were designed to mimic humans, build dependency, and expose children to sexual content. Using emojis, typos, and pop-culture personas, the bots allegedly gained trust and encouraged isolation from family and friends.
Juliana’s parents say she engaged in explicit chats, disclosed suicidal thoughts, and received no intervention before her death. Nina, 15, from New York, attempted suicide after her mother blocked the app, while a Colorado, US girl known as T.S. was also affected.
Character.AI and Google are accused of misrepresenting the app as child-safe and failing to act on warning signs. The cases follow earlier lawsuits from the Social Media Victims Law Center over similar claims that the platform encouraged harm.
SMVLC founder Matthew Bergman stated that the cases underscore the urgent need for accountability in AI design and stronger safeguards to protect children. The legal team is seeking damages and stricter safety standards for chatbot platforms marketed to minors.
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Alphabet’s Google has announced new AI-powered features for its Chrome browser that aim to make web browsing more proactive instead of reactive. The update centres on integrating Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, into Chrome to provide contextual support across tabs and tasks.
The AI assistant will help students and professionals manage large numbers of open tabs by summarising articles, answering questions, and recalling previously visited pages. It will also connect with Google services such as Docs and Calendar, offering smoother workflows on desktop and mobile devices.
Chrome’s address bar, the omnibox, is being upgraded with AI Mode. Users can ask multi-part questions and receive context-aware suggestions relevant to the page they are viewing. Initially available in the US, the feature will roll out to other regions and languages soon.
Beyond productivity, Google is also applying AI to security and convenience. Chrome now blocks billions of spam notifications daily, fills in login details, and warns users about malicious apps.
Future updates are expected to bring agentic capabilities, enabling Chrome to carry out complex tasks such as ordering groceries with minimal user input.
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Broadcasters and advertisers seek clarity before the EU’s political advertising rules become fully applicable on 10 October. The European Commission has promised further guidance, but details on what qualifies as political advertising remain vague.
Meta and Google will block the EU’s political, election, and social issue ads when the rules take effect, citing operational challenges and legal uncertainty. The regulation, aimed at curbing disinformation and foreign interference, requires ads to display labels with sponsors, payments, and targeting.
Publishers fear they lack the technical means to comply or block non-compliant programmatic ads, risking legal exposure. They call for clear sponsor identification procedures, standardised declaration formats, and robust verification processes to ensure authenticity.
Advertisers warn that the rules’ broad definition of political actors may be hard to implement. At the same time, broadcasters fear issue-based campaigns – such as environmental awareness drives – could unintentionally fall under the scope of political advertising.
The Dutch parliamentary election on 29 October will be the first to take place under the fully applicable rules, making clarity from Brussels urgent for media and advertisers across the bloc.
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The US tech giant, Google, has introduced a new experimental app for Windows that combines web search, file discovery and Google Lens in a single interface.
The tool, known as the Google app for Windows, is part of Search Labs and is designed to allow users to find information faster instead of interrupting their workflow.
An app that can be launched instantly using the Alt+Space shortcut, opening a Spotlight-like bar similar to Apple’s macOS. Users can search local files, installed applications, Google Drive content and web results. It supports multiple modes, including AI-generated answers, images, videos, shopping and news.
A dark mode is available for those who prefer night-time use, and the search bar can be resized or repositioned on the desktop instead of staying fixed.
Google has also built its Lens technology, allowing users to select and search images directly on screen, translate text or solve mathematical problems. An AI Mode offers detailed replies, though it can be disabled or customised through the settings menu.
The experimental app is currently limited to English-speaking users in the US and requires Windows 10 or Windows 11. Google has not yet confirmed when it will expand availability to more regions.
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Google has unveiled the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), a new system enabling AI applications to send and receive payments, including stablecoins pegged to traditional currencies.
Developed with Coinbase, the Ethereum Foundation, and over 60 other finance and technology firms, AP2 aims to standardise transactions between AI agents and merchants.
The protocol builds on Google’s earlier Agent2Agent framework, extending it to financial interactions. AP2 supports credit and debit cards, bank transfers, and stablecoins, providing a secure and compliant foundation for automated payments.
By introducing a shared language for AI-led transactions, the system addresses risks linked to authorisation, authenticity, and accountability without human intervention.
The project reflects growing interest in stablecoins, whose circulation recently rose to $289 billion from $205 billion at the start of the year. Integrating stablecoins into AI could change how automated systems manage payments, from daily purchases to complex financial tasks.
Google and its collaborators emphasise AP2’s goal of interoperability across industries, offering flexibility, compliance, and scalability. The initiative makes digital money central to AI, signalling a shift in automated financial transactions.
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