How Google Will Make Money on AI
Happy Thursday and welcome to the free weekly readers.
A classic day of tech stories with Google considering how to make money off AI and Apple pivoting from cars to robots.
Thanks to the paid subscribers who get this every day!
Have an excellent Thursday.
Tom
Big Story
"Google might make users pay for AI features in search results | Ars Technica"
A lot of us have wondered how Google would make money off search if it leaned into responses generated by Large Language Models, since those responses might stop people from liking on ads. Not to mention covering gate expense of running the models. Well, the Financial Times' sources say one option Google is considering, is only showing your he generated responses if you pay for a subscription.
Google already reserves the use of its most powerful models for paid users. The AI Premium Tier of Google One is $10 a month more expensive and gives access to Gemini Advanced. Plain Gemini use is still free.
These stories always feel muddled by people trying to sort the Silicon Valley hype from the rhetoric of conference room meetings that consider multiple possibilities. It would make some kind of sense for Search Generative Experience to be included in the existing Google One plans as a perk. It would not make sense to me to charge people to add generated answers to search. Especially because the free version has not proven that compelling yet. So far personally, I use the SGE results as guides to what to click on rather than replacements. Mostly because I just don't trust them. I'm only one data point of course, but it appears that SGE is not ripping up Google's business model quite yet.
The challenge if it does improve, which it probably will, would be to show people how good it is in order to make them pay. That's why it feels like something Google would want to offer as a perk of current subscriptions. Current subscribers raving to friends and tech reviewers describing how useful it is, would be the path to getting people on board. Eventually you might be able to break it out as its own product.
I also think Google will likely keep a version of it free with ads embedded int he results. They've been testing that too. Whatever the case, it's clear Google plans to integrate generated responses into search and it will change the way Google's business model works one way or another.
Other Stories
"Gurman: Apple working on personal robotics as next skunkworks project - 9to5Mac"
"Apple (AAPL) Explores Home Robots After Abandoning Car Efforts - Bloomberg"
"Report: Apple is Exploring Smart Home Robots After Abandoning Car Plans"
"Apple is developing personal robots for your home, Bloomberg says"
"Magnetic Phone Mount with Face Tracking | Belkin"
Regular readers will remember I surmised that Apple would take a lot of the research and talent it developed in researching automated cars and use it for other products. Now Bloomberg's Mark Gurman's sources say Apple is exploring the idea of a mobile robot that can follow people around their home. You know, like Amazon's Astro, the robot nobody seems to be able to find a use for. Gurman also mentions a tabletop device that moves a display around, which sounds similar to what Belkin showed off for iPhones at CES. I'm assuming it will have more capabilities? Or perhaps not, as Gurman also says that particular product has been added and removed from the road map multiple times over the years.
It is easy to take pot shots at Apple for this, but this is how you develop the next big thing. You try and you only ship when it's good enough. Car things never got good enough, and I personally don't fault Apple for trying. I very much don't fault Apple for not foisting something inferior on us because they spent money researching. You have to be willing to take no for an answer and Apple did with cars. So, let's see what they discover with mobile robotics.
"Google reveals launch date of Android Find My Device network"
We saw that Apple was likely updating iOS's ability to detect trackers from third parties, which would clear one concern Google had to launching its own "Find My Device" tracking network. The interoperability is part of a voluntary standard developed by Google and Apple. Google sent an email Thursday telling users that the Find My Device network would launch in three days, aka April 7 or 8. Android users will get a notification when the service goes live so they can opt out. You can opt out before that on the web if you want.
"Paid ChatGPT customers can now use AI to edit DALL-E images"
Open AI just launched a feature for paid subscribers that lets them use text prompts to refine and edit images from DALL-E. ChatGPT handles the text and communicates with the DALL-E model. DALL-E also now lets users choose the aspect ratio of the image as well as add styles like motion blur. Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Venturi Astrolab will design Lunar Terrain Vehicles, aka LTVs. These LTVs must be capable of remote driving so NASA engineer on Earth can move them around in addition to local driving.
"NASA selects three companies to advance Artemis lunar rover designs - SpaceNews"
NASA's Artemis project aims to land the next people and the first woman on the Moon. To that end it needs a new lunar rover for them to move about in, and NASA just announced the three companies that will work on rover concepts.
"Cable lobby vows “years of litigation” to avoid bans on blocking and throttling | Ars Technica"
I off-handedly referred to the fact that every time we change regulations with the FCC not much changes and attributed that to public pressure. I should have also added that state laws designed specifically for the internet do exist in multiple states and those are good pressure points too. Karl Bode at Techdirt put it like this "Every so often you’ll see somebody advertise their ignorance by insisting the original net neutrality rules must not have mattered because the internet didn’t immediately explode after the repeal. That ignores the fact that ISPs largely behaved because a swath of states."
Bode worries that state laws might get superseded by FCC classifications based under federal law which is a concern that would have to get fought in the courts. And the cable companies have signaled they are ready to drag this out. All of this goes back to my central belief that the US Congress needs new legislation on this rather than the constant FCC ping pong.
"X’s ‘complimentary’ Premium push gives people blue checks they didn’t ask for - The Verge"
Blue checks aren't what they used to be, and some people even prefer not to have them I guess. But X will now give free Premium subscriptions and the blue checks that go with them to accounts that have at least 2,500 followers who pay for X's premium service. Which makes me wonder how the verification works in those cases.
"Robot delivery firm Kiwibot buys Taipei chipmaker, citing US/China tensions | TechCrunch"
Worry about access to chipmaking tech has caused Kiwibot to buy a whole robotics chipmaker in Taiwan. Just to be safe. I guess the pressure is working.
Interesting Reads
"Bullying in Open Source Software Is a Massive Security Vulnerability"
"Waymo self-driving cars are delivering Uber Eats orders for first time"
"Want to keep getting Windows 10 updates next year? Here's what it will cost | ZDNET"
"Kiss Sell Music Catalog, Publishing, Imagery to ABBA Voyage Company"
"10 Years After Facebook Bought Oculus, What's Next for Meta's VR Plans? - CNET"
"Microsoft Edge will let you control how much RAM it uses soon - The Verge"
"Rooms, a 3D design app and ‘cozy game,’ gets a major update as users jump to 250K | TechCrunch"
"Google Books Is Indexing AI-Generated Garbage"
"BlackBerry reports surprise profit on demand for cybersecurity services | Reuters"