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Google Is Buying Spirit Airlines’ Data for $10 Million to Train AI

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Spirit Airlines’ planes may be grounded for good, but years of data generated by the bankrupt carrier could soon have a second life inside Google’s artificial intelligence models.

Google has agreed to pay $10 million for a trove of Spirit’s corporate data, according to a deal disclosed in bankruptcy court late Monday. Judge Sean Lane is expected to rule on the proposed sale at a hearing Wednesday.

The purchase covers a wide range of information accumulated through the airline’s operations, including emails and other internal communications, spreadsheets, customer transactions, booking and frequent flyer records, and human resources information involving employees.

Spirit’s bankruptcy filing says the material has been stripped of information that could identify individuals.

A Google spokesperson said in a statement to CNN that it will not receive any personal information as part of the purchase.

“We acquired part of an enterprise dataset from Spirit Airlines, which can be helpful in improving our products and AI models.”

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That means anyone who flew Spirit, worked for the airline or communicated with people there could have contributed in some form to the enormous collection of business information Google is buying, though the company is also claiming personally identifying details will not be included.

The data drew interest from more than one artificial intelligence company. Mercor.io, an AI company, submitted the second-highest bid at $7.5 million before Google prevailed with its $10 million offer.

The competition for Spirit’s records comes as artificial intelligence plays a growing role in the airline industry. Numerous carriers have said they are increasingly using AI to set fares, improve scheduling and make other parts of their operations more efficient.

Spirit’s data became available under circumstances that are relatively rare in the airline business.

The discount carrier halted all operations in May and has spent the months since selling what remains of the company through the bankruptcy process. Much of what is being liquidated is what might be expected from a defunct airline — planes, equipment and real estate — but its years of accumulated information also proved valuable enough to attract multimillion-dollar bids from technology companies.

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Usually, a major airline’s bankruptcy ends differently.

Failing carriers are often acquired by another airline, with their aircraft, operations and corporate records absorbed into the buyer’s existing business. Their data consequently changes hands as part of the larger acquisition rather than being auctioned off as a standalone asset.

Spirit did not find such a buyer.

Instead, it became the first significant U.S. airline in about 25 years to be forced to stop flying altogether rather than being purchased and folded into another carrier.

That unusual collapse has allowed pieces of the former airline to be sold separately to buyers with little connection to commercial aviation—including, in Google’s case, a company interested in using Spirit’s anonymized business records to help improve AI.

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Fitbit Air Launch Stumbles As Google Health App Backlash Grows

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Google’s Fitbit Air officially launches today, marking the company’s first new Fitbit device in years. But for some early users, the debut has already been complicated by a frustrating setup problem.

A handful of customers who received the screenless fitness tracker ahead of the wider rollout have reported trouble pairing the device with their smartphones. The issue appears to have affected Android users in particular, with some encountering an “app update required” message when attempting to connect the tracker.

The problem stems from certain Android devices not yet having access to version 5.0 of the Google Health app, which is needed to support the Fitbit Air. While the device is only just beginning to reach customers, the early complaints have already sparked a broader discussion on Reddit.

An official Google employee responded that the company is working to speed up the Android app rollout.

“We are doing our best today to accelerate the rollout of the updated app on Android via Play to accommodate early deliveries, and it should be available shortly. Anyone on iOS should be able to update via the App Store already.”

Some users in the Reddit thread said they were able to get around the problem by side-loading the Google Health app. Still, the expectation is that Google will have a more permanent fix in place before the Fitbit Air reaches most customers who pre-ordered the tracker.

The launch-day issue comes at a significant moment for Fitbit. The Fitbit Air is Google’s first new entry in the Fitbit line in several years, and its screenless design has immediately invited comparisons to the Whoop Strap 5.0, another wearable built around health and fitness tracking rather than smartwatch-style notifications or display features.

Price is one of the biggest differences between the two devices. At $99.99, the Fitbit Air is positioned as a much cheaper alternative to the Whoop Strap, which requires a minimum annual subscription costing at least $199 before the device can be used at all.

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The Fitbit Air does have its own optional subscription component through Google Health Premium, but Google is not requiring that paid tier for the tracker’s core features. Instead, the subscription is built around extras such as Health Coach, Google’s new AI-powered personal trainer, which can help users build workout routines, track calorie intake and manage other fitness goals.

The transition became official on May 26, when Google moved users away from the old Fitbit app after months of previews and beta testing. While the change had been announced in advance, some longtime users appeared caught off guard when the familiar Fitbit experience was replaced by the newer Google Health interface.

The backlash has quickly spilled into the Google Play Store, where users have posted large numbers of one-star reviews criticizing the redesigned app. Many complaints focus on inaccurate sleep and workout tracking, missing or harder-to-find data, bugs, layout changes and the app’s more prominent use of AI features.

That emphasis on AI appears to be one of the more sensitive parts of the rollout. Some users have criticized Google for giving AI-powered summaries and coaching tools a prominent place in the app while basic fitness-tracking features still feel less reliable or harder to access than they were in Fitbit.

One recent reviewer objected to how much space the AI assistant appears to take up in the app.

“Why is the biggest button on the screen for AI questions? You’re a fitness app; the biggest button should be to add an activity. Stay in that lane.”

There currently appears to be no official way to revert to the old Fitbit app, and some reviewers have said they are considering canceling subscriptions or switching to rival fitness-tracking platforms.

Version 5.0 is part of a wider cleanup effort aimed at improving tracking, summaries, data reliability and how fitness information appears in the app. But for some users, the fixes may not be coming fast enough.

The company’s roadmap includes several workout-related repairs, including fixes for runs that were incorrectly appearing as general workouts, the addition of run splits to workout summaries, faster map loading and easier access to maps after exercises. Google is also working on export reliability, including TCX export issues tied to Fitbit Air, connected GPS and workouts recorded across multiple devices or linked apps.

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Sleep and nutrition tracking are also being targeted. Planned updates include fixes for missing Sleep Scores, a 24-hour sleep view that combines main sleep and naps, and changes that make naps easier to find across current and previous days. Nutrition fixes are expected to address duplicate logs when the same third-party app is connected in multiple ways, handle meal-type issues from MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, and LoseIt, and address over-reported energy burn for Pixel Watch users.

Google is also refining Health Coach, the controversial AI-powered feature included with Google Health Premium. Planned changes include shorter, more visual messages in the Today tab, improved instruction recall, fewer unnecessary non-answers, and expanded logging support through Ask Coach.

The Reddit discussion also gave users a rare chance to ask Google directly about future Google Health features. One user asked whether data collected by Google Health would eventually be able to sync with Apple Health and Apple Fitness. The same Google representative confirmed that support for that feature is on the way.

That Apple Health integration appears to be part of a broader push toward more advanced data sharing, with Google’s roadmap also referencing Smart Health Links for medical records and support for tools such as command line interfaces and AI skills. Those additions could make Google Health a more ambitious hub for fitness, nutrition, sleep and medical information, but they also raise the stakes for getting the basics right first.

For longtime Fitbit users, the app’s ability to correctly label a run, show accurate sleep data, preserve workout history and avoid duplicate nutrition logs may matter just as much as its newer AI features.

For now, Google’s most urgent task is getting Android users past the setup screen. If the app update reaches users quickly, the early pairing problem may remain a small launch-day stumble. But the larger test will come over the next several weeks, as Google tries to prove that the Fitbit Air’s rough start is part of a broader reset rather than a sign of deeper trouble in the Fitbit-to-Google Health transition.

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Google DeepMind Unveils AI Tool To Help Scientists Identify Genetic Drivers Of Disease 

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Google DeepMind has recently launched their newest artificial intelligence tool that they’re claiming will help scientists identify the genetic drivers of disease to ideally create new treatments.

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DeepMind is a “team of scientists, engineers, ethicists, and more working to build the next generation of AI systems safely and responsibly, By solving some of the hardest scientific and engineering challenges of our time” the company is “working to create breakthrough technologies that could advance science, transform work, service diverse communities – and improve billions of people’s lives.” 

The newest tool is known as AlphaGenome and it predicts how mutations interfere with the way genes are controlled, changing when they are switched on in which cells of the body, and whether their biological volume controls are set to high or low, according to reports from the Guardian. 

AlphaGenome could potentially be a game changer for treating a multitude of different diseases and disorders. Heart disease, autoimmune disorders, cancers, and mental health issues all are linked to mutations impacting gene regulation, but it’s difficult for experts to specifically identify which genetic mutations are responsible. 

In a press briefing regarding the new research and tool, DeepMind researcher Natasha Latysheva stated: 

“We see AlphaGenome as a tool for understanding what the functional elements in the genome do, which we hope will accelerate our fundamental understanding of the code of life.”

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The researchers trained AlphaGenome using public databases of both human and mouse genetics. This allowed the tool to learn connections between mutations in specific tissues, as well as their impact on gene regulation. 

The human genome has about 3 billion pairs of letters that comprise the DNA code. The AI can analyze up to 1 million letters of DNA code at once to predict how mutations will affect different biological processes, reports state. 

The team behind DeepMind believes that the tool will be able to help scientists map out which specific strands of genetic code are the most essential for the development of particular tissues, and pinpoint the most important mutations for driving cancer and other diseases. 

Carl de Boer, a researcher who was not involved in the work, said: 

“AlphaGenome can identify whether mutations affect genome regulation, which genes are impacted and how, and in what cell types. A drug could then be developed to counteract this effect.”

“Ultimately, our goal is to have models that are so good we don’t have to do an experiment to confirm their predictions. While AlphaGenome represents a significant innovation, achieving this goal will require continued work from the scientific community.”

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Zillow Stocks Get Crushed As Google Tests New Real Estate Listing Search Format

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Zillow shares have plummeted by over 9% on Monday over fears of what the future of online real estate might look like. Specifically, Google and its parent company Alphabet are running tests on adding real estate listings and sales into their search results. 

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Real estate tech strategist Mike DelPrete published screenshots that showed Google Search results with real estate listings powered by real estate data company HouseCanary. The listings allow users to view the full details on a property’s page, request a tour, and contact an agent. This model is very similar to how Zillow functions.

The Google real estate results, however, are just being tested and are only available in select markets and on mobile devices. 

Investors and experts in the field are already projecting Google’s success with this new search algorithm, leading to the decline in Zillow stocks. During Monday’s session, the stock was down by at least 11%, according to reports from CNBC.

Analysts from Wall Street stated that Zillow, however, is not very exposed to organic searching like Google’s new tool seems to be trying to capitalize on, so this drop in stock could be temporary. 

Alec Brondolo, a Wells Fargo analyst said that he would not “expect a meaningful financial impact from listings on Google shifting from organic to paid,” especially since Zillow is not overly dependent on organic search results for traffic. 

“The listings product appears similar to Google Hotel Metasearch results; introduction could increase traffic cost to Zillow, but disintermediation unlikely,” CNBC reports Brondolo said in a Monday note to clients. 

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“In the hotel category, Google merchandises hotel rooms in search results as a metasearch ad product for OTAs. We would expect a similar approach in real estate, with Zillow, Homes.com, Realtor.com, etc. bidding for home listing ad units rather than Google attempting to monetize directly with an ad product sold to agents.”

Some analysts, however, can see the longer term implications of Google’s new search tool and how it could compete with Zillow and other popular online real estate portals. 

Michael NG of Goldman Sachs wrote in a note to clients that he believes Google’s real estate listings show to be in an advertising format for buy-side agents, so it directly competes with Zillow’s Premier Agent program by “facilitating lead generation” for both agents and prospective buyers. 

“While we don’t expect a direct near-term impact on Zillow’s business, given that most of Zillow’s traffic is direct (e.g., Zillow.com, StreetEasy.com, mobile apps) and Google’s new product is currently limited to select markets and mobile browsers, we view this development as a long-term risk for real estate portals like Zillow,” Ng wrote.

Oppenheimer’s Jason Helfstein stated that Google’s expansion into real estate will likely impact the number of Zillow’s consumers; which hit up to 228 million in the third quarter. This could cause their ability to monetize to decrease. 

“The impact would likely take years to play out and would need to be rolled out across the US to meaningfully impact real estate portal traffic,” Helfstein said.

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Apple and Google Remove Apps That Track ICE Agents After Federal Pressure

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What began as a niche tool for community safety has erupted into a national flashpoint over technology, free speech, and government power. Apple and Google have pulled a series of apps that crowdsource sightings of U.S. immigration enforcement officers, sparking outrage from developers, civil rights advocates, and immigration organizations that say the move represents corporate capitulation to the Trump administration’s political agenda.

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Google Undercounts Its Carbon Emissions Despite ‘Net Zero’ Goal For 2030

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Back in 2021, Google set the goal of having net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, however, within the past four years they’ve been using more energy, especially with the company’s investment in artificial intelligence which requires a large amount of energy. 

In Google’s latest sustainability report, the company claimed its carbon emissions were increased by 51% between 2019 and 2024. However, in another report from non-profit advocacy group Kairos Fellowship, they claimed Google’s carbon emissions actually increased by 65% in that five year period. 

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Between 2010, when Google first made their greenhouse gas emissions public, and 2024, their total emissions increased by 1,515%, according to the report from Kairos. Between 2023 and 2024, Google saw its biggest increase within a one-year period with an increase of 26%. 

“Google’s own data makes it clear: the corporation is contributing to the acceleration of climate catastrophe, and the metrics that matter – how many emissions they emit, how much water they use, and how fast these trends are accelerating – are headed in the wrong direction for us and the planet,” said Nicole Sugerman, a campaign manager at Kairos Fellowship.

After the report from Kairos was published, Google released a statement questioning their findings. 

“The analysis by the Kairos Fellowship distorts the facts. Our carbon emissions are calculated according to the widely used Greenhouse Gas Protocol and assured by a third party. Our carbon reduction ambition has been validated by the leading industry body, the Science Based Targets initiative,” said a spokesperson, Maggie Shiels.

The authors of the Kairos report cited multiple factors as to why their report found different numbers than Google, including the use of a different metric for calculating the total emissions released. Google uses market-based emissions while Kairos uses location-based emissions. 

Location-based emissions are the average emissions the company produces from its use of local power grids. Market-based emissions include energy that the company has purchased in order to offset their total emissions, according to reports from the Guardian. 

“[Location-based emissions] represents a company’s ‘real’ grid emissions,” said Franz Ressel, the lead researcher and report co-author. 

“Market-based emissions are a corporate-friendly metric that obscures a polluter’s actual impact on the environment. It allows companies to pollute in one place, and try to ‘offset’ those emissions by purchasing energy contracts in another place.”

The energy that Google needed to power its data centers alone increased by 820% since 2010, which will likely increase further as the company releases and utilizes more AI products. 

“In absolute terms, the increase was 6.8 TWh, or the equivalent of Google adding the entire state of Alaska’s energy use in one year to their previous use,” said Sugerman.

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“It’s not sustainable to keep building at the rate [Google is] building because they need to scale their compute within planetary limits,” said Sugerman. 

“We do not have enough green energy to serve the needs of Google and certainly not the needs of Google and the rest of us.”

Google’s sustainability report stated that their water withdrawal increased 27% between 2023 and 2024 to 11 billion gallons of water. 

“[That is] enough to supply the potable water needs for the 2.5 million people and 5,500 industrial users in Boston and its suburbs for 55 days,” the Kairos report stated. 

Beyond just Google, all the major tech companies have been publicly pressured to utilize clean energy to grow their data centers. In fact, this week multiple organizations such as the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, League of Conservation Voters, Public Citizen and the Sierra Club, published an open letter in the San Francisco Chronicle and the Seattle Times to the CEOs of Google, Amazon and Microsoft to “commit to no new gas and zero delayed coal plant retirements to power your data centers.”

“In just the last two years alone, your companies have built data centers throughout the United States capable of consuming more electricity than four million American homes,” the letter stated. 

“Within five years, your data centers alone will use more electricity than 22 million households, rivaling the consumption of multiple mid-size states.”

The Kairos report has accused Google of relying “heavily on speculative technologies, particularly nuclear power,” as a means of achieving its goal of net zero emissions by 2030. 

“Google’s emphasis on nuclear energy as a clean energy ‘solution’ is particularly concerning, given the growing consensus among both scientists and business experts that their successful deployment on scale, if it is to ever occur, cannot be achieved in the near or mid-term future,” the report said.

The Kairos report concluded by alleging that Google presents its data in a misleading way. While they stated that they have improved their energy efficiency by citing only efficiency numbers rather than the absolute ones. 

“Since 2010, the company’s total energy consumption has increased 1,282%,” the report stated.

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YouTube Should Be Included In Australia’s Social Media Ban For Kids Under 16, Commissioner Says 

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Australia’s online safety chief has stated that YouTube should be included on the list of social media platforms that are banned for kids under the age of 16. The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, is urging the government to include the video-sharing platform to the new regulations which apply to apps like TikTok and Instagram. 

Grant is also recommending that the government update the under-16s social media ban to be more specific, and regulate things like stories, streaks, chatbots, and artificial intelligence which can also pose a major risk to young developing minds. 

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The ban was initially brought to legislation in December 2024, and will come into effect in December 2025. It’s currently unclear how exactly these online platforms will verify users’ ages, and the government has even stated that current confirmation technology is “not guaranteed to be effective.” 

At the time of its initial creation, then communications minister Michelle Rowland alluded that YouTube would be a part of the social media sites included in the ban. The Guardian Australia reported, however, that YouTube’s global chief executive personally lobbied with Rowland to give an exemption to the site which is owned by Google. 

Grant spoke with communications minister Anika Wells, offering advice over including YouTube in the ban and why it’s important:

“Given the known risks of harm on Youtube, the similarity of its functionality to other online services, and without sufficient evidence demonstrating that Youtube predominately provides beneficial experiences for children under 16, providing a specific carve out for Youtube appears to be inconsistent with the purpose of the Act.” 

Rowland said that YouTube was exempt from the ban because the site can be used to give young people access to “education and health support.” Grant said this reasoning is “not consistent with the purpose of the obligation to reduce the risk of harm.”

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Grant is planning to dissect this concern further in her press club speech, and will be referencing a relevant survey involving 2,600 children aged 10 to 15. 

“Alarmingly, around seven in 10 kids said they had encountered harmful content, including exposure to misogynistic or hateful material, dangerous online challenges, violent fight videos, and content promoting disordered eating.”

“Children told us that 75% of this harmful content was most recently encountered on social media. YouTube was the most frequently cited platform in our research, with almost four in 10 children reporting exposure to harmful content there.”

“This also comes as the New York Times reported earlier this month that YouTube surreptitiously rolled back its content moderation processes to keep more harmful content on its platform, even when the content violates the company’s own policies,” Grant will say. 

“Platform after platform are winding back their trust and safety teams and weakening policies designed to minimise harm, making these platforms ever-more perilous for our children.”

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Google Announces New AI Email Tool To Make Sorting, Responding, And Deleting Messages Easier

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Artificial intelligence is slowly taking over every sector of technology and the world. AI is often used to make life on the internet easier, and now, Google is tackling an issue many of us face in our daily online lives; organizing our emails. 

Demis Hassabis is the head of Google DeepMind, an artificial intelligence research lab that focuses on developing new and innovative AI tools, solutions, and technologies for users. Hassabis recently spoke at the SXSW London festival, a six-day event that brings together hundreds of major figures in the digital world. From music to film to technology as a whole, the event covers the successes of the industries and what’s to come in the future. 

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At this year’s SXSW London festival, AI was a major focus, as it’s being integrated throughout multiple sectors of the world’s biggest industries, and will only continue to be more present. 

Speaking at the event, Hassabis revealed that him and his team are working on a “next generation email” platform that’s meant to help users sort through their inbox, reply to the most important messages, and ensure they’re not wasting their time sorting through spam.

While speaking, Hassabis emphasized the role of AI in our society and the massive potential for growth in the future. He stated how he can see AI being used to cure diseases, solve the climate crisis, and bring peace to many parts of the world in the future, but for now, it’s being utilized to make parts of our day-to-day lives easier.

“The thing I really want – and we’re working on – is can we have a next-generation email. I would love to get rid of my email. I would pay thousands of dollars per month to get rid of that.”

Hassabis plans to create “something that would just understand what are the bread-and-butter emails, and answer in your style – and maybe make some of the easier decisions.”

Hassabis went on to discuss how he can see AI being used for protection against certain algorithms that are designed to drain tech users’ attention away from more important tasks. 

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“I’m very excited about the idea of a universal AI assistant that knows you really well, enriches your life by maybe giving you amazing recommendations, and helps to take care of mundane chores for you,” he said.

“[It] basically gives you more time and maybe protects your attention from other algorithms trying to gain your attention. I think we can actually use AI in service of the individual.”

When discussing the future of AI development generally, Hassabis stated that he was shocked to see how quickly artificial general intelligence (AGI) is being advanced in big tech spaces. AGI is a more human-like cognition version of AI that can work on a large amount of tasks. 

Since AGI is more advanced, Hassabis has called out major companies, as well as both the US and China to be collaborative when it comes to AGI. 

“I hope at least on the scientific level and a safety level we can find some common ground, because in the end it’s for the good of all of humanity. It’s going to affect the whole of humanity,” he said, predicting that AGI is likely to become more present in the next five to 20 years. 

“That is very short if you think about how momentous a moment that will be,” he stated. 

“I think it’ll be nothing short of a new Industrial Revolution, effectively. For something this fundamental, I think it’s important to try to have as much foresight ahead of time as you can.”

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Zuckerberg Testifies in Landmark Antitrust Trial Against Meta

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared as the first witness in a landmark antitrust trial defending his company, which owns Facebook, against accusations that it holds a monopoly in the social media industry. The trial is anticipated to last for another two months.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) initiated the case in 2020, alleging Meta unfairly cemented its dominance in the market by acquiring Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. The FTC aims to dismantle Meta by requiring the spin-off of Instagram or WhatsApp. In his opening statements Monday, Daniel Matheson, lead attorney for the FTC, stated, “There’s nothing wrong with Meta innovating. It’s what happened next that is a problem.”

Dressed in a dark suit and pale blue tie, Zuckerberg took the stand Monday, where he argued that there were enough competitors in the space, citing TikTok, YouTube, and X as significant rivals.

Central to the FTC’s case are internal emails from Zuckerberg dating back to 2011, in which he noted Instagram’s rapid growth. Another email in 2012 revealed Zuckerberg’s concern that his company was falling “so far behind that we don’t even understand how far behind we are… I worry that it will take us too long to catch up.”

“Acquiring these competitive threats has enabled Facebook to sustain its dominance—to the detriment of competition and users—not by competing on the merits, but by avoiding competition.”

On the stand, Zuckerberg dismissed these as “relatively early” thoughts on acquiring the app and emphasized that Meta substantially enhanced Instagram post-acquisition.

Zuckerberg further insisted that Instagram’s appeal was its advanced camera technology rather than its social networking capabilities and maintained that the company sought acquisitions to enhance its services rather than stifle competition.

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“Acquisitions to improve and grow have never been found unlawful, and they should not be found unlawful here,” Meta’s lead lawyer, Mark Hansen, argued. He characterized the FTC lawsuit as “misguided” and insisted that Meta “acquired Instagram and WhatsApp to improve and grow them alongside Facebook.”

“How can the FTC maintain this monopolization case when [Meta] has never charged users a cent?”

However, Matheson highlighted how Zuckerberg spoke about “neutralizing” Instagram, calling it “a smoking gun” back in his 2012 memo.

“They decided that competition was too hard and it would be easier to buy out their rivals than to compete with them.”

Meta, boasting 3.27 billion daily active users across its platforms as of last year, anticipates Instagram will generate more than half of its U.S. advertising revenue in 2025, according to market research firm Emarketer. “Instagram has also been picking up the slack for Facebook on the user front, particularly among young people, for a long time,” Emarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg told the Associated Press.

“The trial also comes as Meta is trying to bring back OG Facebook in an effort to appeal to Gen Z and younger users as they join social media. Social media usage is far more fragmented today than it was in 2012 when Facebook acquired Instagram, and Facebook isn’t where the cool college kids hang out anymore. Meta needs Instagram to continue growing, especially as more advertisers think Instagram-first with their Meta budgets.”

The trial unfolds amidst claims that Zuckerberg actively sought former President Trump’s intervention to dismiss the FTC’s case. The Wall Street Journal reported meetings between Zuckerberg and Trump, coinciding with Meta’s notable actions favoring Trump and his allies.

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These include a $1 million donation to Trump’s inaugural fund, the appointment of Trump ally and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White and former Trump advisor Dina Powell McCormick to Meta’s board. In January, Meta rolled back content moderation policies frequently criticized by Republicans as censorship. Additionally, Meta agreed to pay Trump $25 million to settle litigation over his account suspension following the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot.

When asked by the BBC to confirm Zuckerberg’s lobbying efforts, Meta spokesperson Chris Sgro avoided a direct response, instead focusing on the broader impact of any decision.

“Regulators should be supporting American innovation, rather than seeking to break up a great American company and further advantaging China on critical issues like AI.”

“The FTC’s lawsuit against Meta defies reality. The evidence at trial will show what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp compete with Chinese-owned TikTok, YouTube, X, iMessage and many others.”

This trial coincides with another significant antitrust case against Google. The Department of Justice recently succeeded in establishing Google’s monopoly over online search, where they hold a market share of around 90%, prompting ongoing discussions about potential divestitures.

However, experts like Laura Phillips-Sawyer, an associate professor of business law at the University of Georgia, suggest the FTC faces greater difficulty proving Meta’s market dominance, highlighting the comparatively competitive landscape in the social networking industry.

“I think they have a real uphill battle. They have a long road before any consideration of divestiture of Instagram or WhatsApp is considered.”

Amazon and Apple also remain subjects of ongoing antitrust litigation by U.S. authorities.

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Google To Potentially Invest Hundreds Of Millions Into Character.AI Startup 

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Google is currently in conversation to invest in Character.AI, an artificial intelligence chatbot platform startup. According to CTech News, Character.AI was created by Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas, two former employees of Google Brain. 

Google is prepared to invest “hundreds of millions of dollars” into Character.AI as it continues to train chatbot models to talk to users, according to sources who spoke to Reuters. 

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Character.AI and Google already have a standing relationship in which they use Google’s cloud services and Tensor Processing Units to train its chatbot models, so this investment would deepen that partnership. 

Character.AI allows users to log in and choose from a variety of celebrities, movie characters, creatures, etc. to chat with. Users can even create their own character chatbot to speak with. Subscription models cost $9.99 a month, but the platform is also free to use. 

According to data from Similarweb, reported by CalTech, “Character.AI’s chatbots, with various roles and tones to choose from, have appealed to users ages 18 to 24, who contributed about 60% of its website traffic. 

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The demographic is helping the company position itself as the purveyor of more fun personal AI companions, compared to other AI chatbots from OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard.”

Within the first six months of launching, Character.AI saw about 100 million visits every month. 

Reuters wrote that “The startup is also in talks to raise equity funding from venture capital investors, which could value the company at over $5 billion.

In March, it raised $150 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz at $1 billion valuation.

Google has been investing in AI startups, including $2 billion for model maker Anthropic in the form of convertible notes, on top of its earlier equity investment.”