Google fired 28 employees on Wednesday following their involvement in protests against a cloud-computing contract shared with Amazon by the Israeli government. The termination came after nine employees were arrested during sit-in protests at Google offices in Sunnyvale, California, and New York City. The group, known as No Tech for Apartheid, has been protesting Google’s deal with Israel since 2021, expressing concerns about bolstering government surveillance and discrimination against Palestinians.
In response to the protests, Google stated that the fired employees had ‘physically impeded other employees’ work’ and violated company policies. The company engaged law enforcement to remove protesters from the premises after multiple requests to leave were refused. The fired employees, locked out of their work devices and informed of their termination via email, expressed shock and anger at Google’s decision, calling it a disproportionate response to their advocacy efforts.
Members of the No Tech for Apartheid group are considering legal action against Google for alleged labour law violations. Despite protesters asserting that they did not impede others from working during the sit-in, Google proceeded with terminations. Meanwhile, Amazon, also involved in the contract, witnessed employee participation in the protests without reports of arrests or firings. Amazon has yet to respond to inquiries regarding the situation.
The proposed California Journalism Preservation Act seeks to mandate digital platforms like Google and Meta to pay a ‘journalism usage fee’ to news outlets when their content is used alongside digital ads. Lawmakers and supporters argue that tech companies benefit financially from sharing content without adequately compensating publishers. The California State Senate President Pro-Tempore criticised Google’s action, calling it an abuse of power and a threat to public safety.
The president and CEO of the California News Publishers Association accused Google of suppressing California news and emphasised the need for legislative action. Google has opposed similar measures in other countries, citing concerns about business uncertainty.
Why does it matter?
Google’s decision to remove links to California news websites calls attention to the ongoing debate over legislation requiring tech giants to pay news outlets for content usage. As more people shift from traditional news outlets to online platforms, there’s growing concern about the increasing control tech companies have over content access. Previous reactions from Google to similar laws in Canada and Australia, where negotiations and voluntary agreements were pursued instead of direct payment for links, suggest a potential trend in how the situation might unfold in California.
Three major players in the AI field, OpenAI, Google, and Mistral, have unveiled new versions of their cutting-edge AI models within 12 hours, signalling a burst of innovation anticipated for the summer. Meta’s Nick Clegg hinted at the imminent release of Meta’s Llama 3 at an event in London, while Google swiftly followed with the launch of its Gemini Pro 1.5, a sophisticated large language model with a limited free usage tier. Shortly after, OpenAI introduced its milestone model, GPT-4 Turbo, which, like Gemini Pro 1.5, supports multimodal input, including images.
In France, Mistral, a startup founded by former Meta AI team members, debuted Mixtral 8x22B, a frontier AI model released as a 281GB download file, following an open-source philosophy. While this approach is criticised for potential risks due to a lack of oversight, it reflects a trend towards democratising access to AI models beyond the control of tech giants like Meta and Google.
Experts caution that the prevailing approach centred on large language models (LLMs) might be reaching its limitations. Meta’s chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, challenges the notion of imminent artificial general intelligence (AGI) and emphasises the need for AI systems capable of reasoning and planning beyond language manipulation. LeCun advocates for a shift towards ‘objective-driven’ AI to achieve truly superhuman capabilities, thereby highlighting the ongoing evolution and challenges in the AI landscape.
Google unveiled its latest proprietary chip, Axion, demonstrating a willingness to reduce reliance on major chipmakers and bolster its position in the competitive AI landscape. Axion is tailored to manage vast datasets crucial for AI applications and can be grouped into clusters of thousands of chips to enhance performance significantly. According to Google, Axion CPUs outperform existing ‘general-purpose’ chips by about 30%, a move aimed at supporting AI applications within its data centres. Unlike chips aimed at specific business segments, Axion marks Google’s first foray into AI-centric chips for data centre operations.
While customers of Alphabet’s subsidiary will access Axion through Google’s cloud services later this year, the chip won’t be directly purchasable. Google’s vice president, Amin Vahdat, who oversees proprietary chips, emphasised a collaborative approach, avoiding direct competition with longtime partners like Intel and Nvidia. Vahdat views Google’s entry into the chip market as an opportunity to grow the industry collectively, aiming to expand the market rather than capture a share directly from competitors.
In response to Google’s announcement, semiconductor giants like Intel and Nvidia are intensifying their AI chip offerings. Intel recently introduced Gaudi 3, which is expected to be available by the third quarter, focusing on AI applications like training large language models such as ChatGPT. On the other hand, Nvidia plans to launch its latest generation of its H100 chip later this year. Despite Nvidia’s stock decline following Google’s chip reveal, the company has seen substantial growth driven by demand for its powerful chips, now facing heightened competition from rivals like Google in the AI chip market.
Following the news of Axion, Alphabet’s stock rose by 2.4% initially, reflecting investor optimism about Google’s strategic move into AI chips. However, gains moderated later in the day, with Alphabet’s stock closing up 1.28% at approximately $158. Google’s entry into the chip market signals a pivotal shift in its AI strategy, poised to influence the broader semiconductor landscape and competition among major players like Intel and Nvidia.
In a surprising departure from its usual modus operandi, Google unveiled open-source tools at its Cloud Next conference, traditionally known for closed-source offerings. This shift aims to cultivate developer goodwill and further Google’s ecosystem ambitions. Among the notable releases is MaxDiffusion, a collection of reference implementations of diffusion models tailored for XLA devices, such as Google’s tensor processing units (TPUs) and recent Nvidia GPUs.
Another significant launch is JetStream, designed to boost the performance of generative AI models, particularly text-generating ones. Limited currently to TPUs with future promises of GPU compatibility, JetStream boasts up to a threefold improvement in ‘performance per dollar’ for models like Google’s Gemma 7B and Meta’s Llama 2.
Google has also expanded its MaxText collection, adding Gemma 7B, OpenAI’s GPT-3, Llama 2, and models from the AI startup Mistral. These models, optimised for TPUs and Nvidia GPUs, are customisable and fine-tunable to meet developers’ requirements, maximising hardware utilisation for enhanced energy efficiency and cost optimisation.
Collaborating with Hugging Face, Google introduces Optimum TPU, which aims to facilitate the integration of certain AI workloads onto TPUs, particularly text-generating models. Despite its current limitations—it supports only Gemma 7B and is restricted to model running rather than training—Google promises future enhancements. The collaboration underscores Google’s commitment to democratising access to advanced AI hardware, hinting at further developments in the pipeline.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is reportedly considering acquiring the marketing software company HubSpot. Despite experts’ views that it would not stifle competition in the market, the deal could face consequential opposition from regulators, even though Google is still preliminarily considering the potential deal and assessing the associated antitrust risks.
Several industry analysts and antitrust experts believe that an acquisition of HubSpot by Google would not negatively impact competition, considering major players like Salesforce, Adobe, Microsoft, and Oracle in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software sector. Google does not currently compete in CRM, and the acquisition could strengthen HubSpot’s position with Google’s cloud-computing capabilities, leading to improved offerings and pricing for customers.
However, experts also anticipate that a Google-HubSpot deal would likely face challenges from US and EU antitrust regulators due to their increasing concerns about tech giants expanding through acquisitions. Former general counsel of the US Senate antitrust subcommittee, Seth Bloom, noted that such a deal would likely encounter a harsh reception from regulators and could lead to a lengthy court battle.
The reported consideration of a major acquisition like HubSpot reflects Google’s desire to strategically deploy its substantial cash reserves, estimated at $110 billion, to generate returns. Google has historically avoided large acquisitions since it purchased Motorola Mobility over a decade ago, focusing instead on smaller deals in advertising. Despite its investments in AI, Google’s shareholder returns have trailed behind competitors like Microsoft and Meta Platforms in recent months, prompting interest in potential transformative acquisitions like HubSpot.
Google has initiated legal action against two alleged crypto scammers for distributing fraudulent cryptocurrency trading apps through its Play Store, deceiving users and extracting money from them. Based in China and Hong Kong, the accused developers uploaded 87 deceptive apps that reportedly conned over 100,000 individuals. According to Google, users suffered losses ranging from $100 to tens of thousands per person due to these schemes, which have been operational since at least 2019.
The lawsuit marks Google’s proactive stance against such scams since Google swiftly removed the fraudulent apps from its Play Store. The company’s general counsel, Halimah DeLaine Prado, emphasised that holding these bad actors accountable is crucial to safeguarding users and maintaining the integrity of the app store. The company claims it incurred over $75,000 in economic damages while investigating this fraud.
The scam reportedly enticed users through romance messages and YouTube videos, urging them to download fake cryptocurrency apps. The scammers allegedly misled users into believing they could profit by becoming affiliates of the platforms. Once users invested money, the apps displayed false investment returns and balances, preventing users from withdrawing funds or imposing additional fees, ultimately leading to more financial losses.
Google’s legal action accuses the developers of violating its terms of service and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The company seeks to block further fraudulent activities by the defendants and aims to recover unspecified damages. The legal move represents Google’s commitment to combating app-based scams and protecting users from deceptive practices on its platform.
Google has settled a lawsuit accusing the tech giant of clandestinely tracking the internet activity of users who believed they were browsing privately. Filed in Oakland, California, federal court, the settlement terms await approval from US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. Though Google is not facing any damages, individual users retain the right to sue the company. According to lawyers representing the plaintiffs, the settlement is estimated to be valued between $5 billion and $7.8 billion.
The class action, initiated in 2020, represents millions of Google users who utilised private browsing settings from 1 June 2016. Allegations against Google include claims that its analytics, cookies, and apps allowed unauthorised tracking, turning the company into a repository of sensitive user information. Under the settlement, Google will update its disclosures regarding data collection during private browsing sessions and enable users to block third-party cookies for five years.
Google has responded by emphasising its commitment to user privacy, asserting that data collected during ‘Incognito’ mode browsing is not associated with individual users. According to Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda, the company is pleased to settle the lawsuit, which it has consistently deemed meritless. Plaintiffs’ lawyer David Boies views the settlement as a significant step towards holding dominant technology companies accountable for their practices, describing it as a ‘historic step requiring honesty and accountability’.
The agreement, which follows a preliminary settlement in December, prevents a scheduled trial in February 2024. Although specific terms of the settlement were not disclosed initially, plaintiffs’ lawyers intend to pursue unspecified legal fees from Google in the future. The lawsuit highlights ongoing debates surrounding online privacy and the responsibilities of tech giants like Google in safeguarding user data.
Google has announced the suspension of all political advertisements in South Korea leading up to the country’s general elections in April, as per The Korea Times. The ban encompasses all Google-owned platforms, including YouTube, Google Search, and the Google Play Store.
Google also intends to guide users to credible information about voting methods and voter registration by providing links on its homepage. Additionally, the company plans to offer election-related information panels in YouTube search results, connecting users with trustworthy sources for further details.
As South Korea joins the lineup of nations with significant elections in 2024, Google is part of its efforts to combat misinformation and address voter bias, echoing similar initiatives taken after major elections globally. However, it is uncertain whether Google will apply this policy to other election-bound countries like India.
Why does it matter?
As reported by Medianama, this isn’t the first time Google has implemented such a ban; it previously did so after the US Presidential election in 2020 and before elections in the Philippines, Canada, and Singapore. While it’s unclear if this trend will continue in other countries gearing up for elections, Google has already established stricter regulations in India. These include identity verification, pre-certification by the Election Commission, and transparency measures through initiatives like the Google Ads Transparency Centre.
The Malaysian government and Google have announced a strategic collaboration aimed at fostering inclusive growth opportunities in Malaysia’s rapidly expanding digital economy. The partnership aims to enhance the digital competitiveness of businesses, irrespective of their size, through various initiatives such as skilling programs, investments in digital infrastructure, responsible AI innovation, and the adoption of cloud-first policies.
Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim stated how “This latest commitment by Google, aimed at accelerating local innovation and talent development in the field of AI, will certainly boost the nation’s digital competitiveness, in line with the Madani Economy Framework and the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP 2030)“.
Google, through the Go Cloud program will offer learning pathways for upskilling 300,000 Malaysians by 2026. The online courses in these learning paths focus on improving the application of generative AI, data analytics, and cloud-based productivity tools for individuals. This would be an extension of Google’s Gemilang program, which has already offered 31,000 Google Career Certificate scholarships to underprivileged individuals. Overall, the initiative will enable Malaysians to obtain professional certifications in high-demand fields like data analytics, IT support, e-commerce, and digital marketing without any cost while serving as an entry-level pathway for relevant jobs. Additionally, Google will also provide support in refining Malaysia’s existing Cloud First Policy by offering policy expertise and incorporating the latest advancements in cloud computing and AI through its Secure AI Framework.
