{"id":834815,"date":"2025-03-18T04:11:52","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T09:11:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/18\/the-download-google-playing-ai-search-catchup-and-forming-relationships-with-chatbots\/"},"modified":"2025-03-18T04:11:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T09:11:52","slug":"the-download-google-playing-ai-search-catchup-and-forming-relationships-with-chatbots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/18\/the-download-google-playing-ai-search-catchup-and-forming-relationships-with-chatbots\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: Google playing AI search catchup, and forming relationships with chatbots"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Plus: USAID cuts means the health of millions of people will suffer<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n

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This is today’s edition of\u00a0The Download<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

Is Google playing catchup on search with OpenAI?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2014Mat Honan<\/em><\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve been mulling over something that Will Heaven, our senior editor for AI, pointed out not too long ago<\/a>: all the big players in AI seem to be moving in the same directions and converging on the same things. Agents. Deep research. Lightweight versions of models. Etc.<\/p>\n

Google is no different. It\u2019s just announced it\u2019s adding new AI features from Gemini to search, and adding search features to Gemini.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What strikes me more than how well they work is that they are really just about catching up with OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT.\u00a0 And their belated appearance in March of the year 2025 doesn\u2019t seem like a great sign for Google. <\/strong>Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in The Debrief with Mat Honan, a weekly newsletter about the biggest stories in tech from our editor in chief. <\/strong>Sign up here<\/strong><\/a> to get the next one in your inbox on Friday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re interested in reading more about AI search, check out the following stories:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

AI chatbots have joined the chat<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Chatbots are changing how we connect to each other and ourselves. But are these changes for the better, and how should they be monitored and regulated?<\/p>\n

To learn more, join me for a live Roundtable session this Thursday at 12pm ET. I\u2019ll be chatting with MIT Technology Review editor Rachel Courtland and senior reporter Eileen Guo, and we\u2019ll be unpacking the landscape around chatbots. Register to ensure you don\u2019t miss out<\/a>!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The must-reads<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve combed the internet to find you today\u2019s most fun\/important\/scary\/fascinating stories about technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

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1 How Trump’s foreign aid cuts will hurt millions of peoples’ health<\/strong>
The world is going to struggle to cope with the loss of US support. (Vox<\/a>)
+ Hundreds of thousands of people are likely to lose their lives as a result. <\/em>(New Yorker<\/a> $)
+ The cuts could cause tuberculosis to become untreatable again. <\/em>(The Atlantic<\/a> $)
+ Top scientific universities are being forced to slash jobs. <\/em>(The Guardian<\/a>)
+ Pregnant women may die because of cuts to reproductive care. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

2 Left-leaning Americans are abandoning Tesla<\/strong>
And conservatives face an uphill climb to plug the sales gap. (NYT<\/a> $)
+ The company is turning its back on the typically pro-EV buyers that made it a success. <\/em>(WP<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

3 VC firms are rushing to invest in Israeli startups
<\/strong>They\u2019re betting that the firms are likely to do future business with the US. (WSJ<\/a> $)
+ Here\u2019s the defense tech at the center of US aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

4 NASA is scheduled to return the two stranded astronauts on Tuesday<\/strong>
A new crew arrived to relieve them of their duties over the weekend. (NPR<\/a>)
+ Let\u2019s see if they make it home this week or not. <\/em>(Ars Technica<\/a>)
+ Space travel is seriously hard on the human body. <\/em>(WP<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

5 Baidu\u2019s new reasoning AI model is designed to challenge DeepSeek<\/strong>
It claims Ernie X1 offers the same performance at half the price. (Insider<\/a> $)
+ DeepSeek\u2019s shock success is sparking a new wave of AI investment. <\/em>(Bloomberg<\/a> $)
+ Four Chinese AI startups to watch beyond DeepSeek. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

6 Alphabet has big plans for its laser-based internet project
<\/strong>Taara has been spun out of its moonshot incubator and into the real world. (FT<\/a> $)
+ It\u2019s a rival to Musk\u2019s Starlink network. <\/em>(The Verge<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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7 What if Bitcoin\u2019s mysterious creator is just a loser?
<\/strong>As the trail grows older, all signs point towards the shadowy figure being\u2026 a bit of a jerk. (NY Mag<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

8 Drone shows are bringing 3D artists\u2019 ideas to life
<\/strong>The only problem is, they come with a safety warning. (Rest of World<\/a>)<\/p>\n

9 Google\u2019s new Gemini AI model can remove watermarks from images<\/strong>
Naughty, naughty. (TechCrunch<\/a>)
+ It\u2019s easy to tamper with watermarks from AI-generated text. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

10 What is vibe coding, exactly?<\/strong>
Developers are giving in and letting AI dictate its own path. (The Information<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

Quote of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cTo a lot of people, putting Elon Musk in charge of protecting the middle class is like putting Jeffrey Dahmer in charge of protecting a morgue.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014Jesse Ferguson, a Democratic strategist, explains why Elon Musk\u2019s unpopular actions are likely to become a problem for the Trump administration, the Guardian<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The big story<\/strong><\/p>\n

How covid conspiracies led to an alarming resurgence in AIDS denialism<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/figure>\n
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August 2024<\/strong>Several million people were listening in February when Joe Rogan falsely declared that \u201cparty drugs\u201d were an \u201cimportant factor in AIDS.\u201d His guest on The Joe Rogan Experience, the former evolutionary biology professor turned contrarian podcaster Bret Weinstein, agreed with him.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the biggest podcast audience in the world, the two men were promoting dangerous and false ideas\u2014ideas that were in fact debunked and thoroughly disproved decades ago.<\/p>\n

These comments and others like them add up to a small but unmistakable resurgence in AIDS denialism\u2014a false collection of theories arguing either that HIV doesn\u2019t cause AIDS or that there\u2019s no such thing as HIV at all.<\/p>\n

These claims had largely fallen out of favor until the coronavirus arrived. But, following the pandemic, a renewed suspicion of public health figures and agencies is giving new life to ideas that had long ago been pushed to the margins. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Anna Merlan<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

We can still have nice things<\/strong><\/p>\n

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? <\/em>Drop me a line<\/em><\/a> or <\/em>skeet ’em at me<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

+ Happy St Patrick\u2019s Day<\/a>, if you\u2019re celebrating today!
+ This newsreader losing it over the name of an inspirational pig<\/a> is the most entertaining thing you\u2019ll see today ????
+ These one-pot pasta dishes<\/a> are exactly the kind of low-maintenance recipes you need for a weekday dinner.
+ Do you snerdle<\/a>? Me neither. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Rhiannon Williams<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plus: USAID cuts means the health of millions of people will suffer This is today’s edition of\u00a0The Download ,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Is Google playing catchup on search with OpenAI? \u2014Mat Honan I\u2019ve been mulling over something that Will Heaven, our senior<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":834816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24097,496,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-834815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-download","category-google","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}