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Every Silicon AI News story involving Google, month by month, newest first.

33 stories

6 stories

AI Models

Google’s Gemini 4 Hydrogen beats Argon on an outside test

Google’s new fast model costs $1.50 per million input tokens and $7.50 per million output tokens. Artificial Analysis, an independent testing firm, scores it 51 at its default setting, against 50 for the bigger Gemini 4 Argon. It is rolling out in the Gemini app, Search and the API.

Google released Gemini 4 Hydrogen on November 12 as the fast, everyday model of its Gemini 4 family. It follows Gemini 3.8 Flash. Google also added Orchestrator to Antigravity, its coding app, which switches between models within one session.

4 min read
Chips & Infrastructure

Google and Samsung’s Gemini glasses open for preorder

Warby Parker frames start at $395 and Gentle Monster frames at $449. The glasses have a camera, speakers and microphones, and Google lists no display. They go on sale in the US on December 10, and Gentle Monster’s also in South Korea.

Preorders opened on November 12 for the first Intelligent Eyewear collections, built by Samsung with Google, Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Wearers say “Hey Gemini” or tap the frame to ask about what they see, translate speech or get directions.

4 min read
AI Models

Google opens Gemini 4 Carbon to paying users

Paying developers, businesses and Google AI Ultra subscribers can now use Google’s strongest model. It costs $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens until November 30, then twice that. An outside test group scores it 60, behind Claude Fable 5.2 at 65.

Google made Gemini 4 Carbon available on November 10, two weeks after giving it first to a group of cyber defenders. It also started a preview of /swarm in Antigravity, its coding app, which turns one prompt into a team of AI agents.

3 min read
Chips & Infrastructure

Google adds two new TPU systems, one with AMD processors

TPU 8tx keeps data protected while the chip works on it, with AMD EPYC processors as hosts. TPU 8i Max puts two TPU 8i chips in one package for very long inputs. Google has given no date or price.

Google announced TPU 8tx and TPU 8i Max on November 9. With TPU 8t and TPU 8i from earlier this year, Google has introduced four TPU systems in one year, which it says is a first. Both new systems reuse existing chips in new setups.

3 min read
Chips & Infrastructure

Google plans $17B data centre in Wyoming, its first there

Google says it will pay for all the power the site uses, and its utility partner says those costs won’t shift to other customers. Google bought the site from Crusoe. The plan came two days after US voters backed limits on data centres.

Google announced the campus in Laramie County, near Cheyenne, on November 5. It will run partly on a planned 702-megawatt plant of fuel cells that use natural gas and capture carbon. On November 6, Crusoe said Google had acquired the site. No price was given.

4 min read
Chips & Infrastructure

Google’s satellite runs AI in orbit and sends back a haiku

Its Suncatcher prototype answered a first prompt with the Gemma 4 model, a month after launch. Google calls it the first AI response from a data-centre-class chip in orbit. Tests of heat and radiation come next.

Google said on October 30 that its Project Suncatcher prototype satellite has answered its first AI prompt in orbit. Engineers sent a prompt to Gemma 4, an open Google model on board, and asked for a haiku about being in space. The answer came down as the satellite passed over Svalbard, Norway.

3 min read

17 stories

Agents & Apps

Google takes ads in AI Mode to 10 more countries

Ads now appear in AI Mode answers in countries such as India, Canada and Australia, with Brazil, Mexico and the UK planned next. Google’s search sales grew 12%, more slowly than earlier this year.

Google said on October 28 that it is bringing ads in AI Mode, its chatbot-style search, to 10 countries outside the US. They include Australia, Canada, India, Nigeria and Singapore. In the US, ads will also start to appear in follow-up questions. The news came with Alphabet’s results, which showed search revenue up 12% to $63.35 billion.

3 min read
AI Models

Google’s Gemini 4 Carbon tops a new independent test

Google calls Carbon its strongest model, with top cybersecurity skills. Only some cyber defenders get it this week. Artificial Analysis already ranks it first, one point ahead of Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5.5.

Google announced Gemini 4 Carbon on October 28, two weeks after Gemini 4 Argon reached paying users. It goes first to a small group of cyber defenders and then to more trusted partners, Google says. There is no public app or API yet. Artificial Analysis, an independent testing firm, scores it 59 on its new Intelligence Index, the highest of any model.

3 min read
AI Models

Google’s Genie 4 builds worlds with sound you can steer

Google DeepMind’s new world model makes interactive scenes with sound and speech, and users can change them by typing. For now only trusted testers can use it, and nobody outside Google has tested its claims.

Google DeepMind released Genie 4 as a research preview for trusted testers on October 27. The model creates a world that people can move through, drawn frame by frame as they go, and change with text prompts. Google says Google AI Ultra subscribers and some developers will get it soon, but has given no date or price.

3 min read
Policy & Law

Linked Gmail and Photos data can now shape Google ads

Google’s privacy policy of October 16 adds an exception to its promise not to base ads on Gmail, Drive and Photos content. If people connect these apps to Search, that data may shape their ads. Google says advertisers never see the content itself.

Google’s privacy policy used to promise plainly that it doesn’t show personalised ads based on content from Drive, Gmail or Photos. The version in force since October 16 adds an exception for people who make that data available to other Google services that support personalised ads. Tech sites reported the change this week.

3 min read
AI Models

Google Cloud starts offering OpenAI’s GPT-6 models

GPT-6 Astra, GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Luna are in a private preview for some business customers now. OpenAI says wider access follows in the coming weeks.

Google Cloud customers can buy OpenAI’s models through Google’s marketplace and pay with their existing cloud budgets. The models are also coming to Google’s Antigravity coding tool.

3 min read
Agents & Apps

YouTube Music starts labelling songs made mainly with AI

A label on the player now shows when generative AI played a significant role in a song. Music partners declare their AI use, and YouTube also uses its own detection tools.

YouTube Music began showing labels on October 14 for songs created mainly with generative AI, for example when a model made the composition and the vocals. Tapping the label shows more information. YouTube says the labels will also come to the main YouTube app.

3 min read
Chips & Infrastructure

Google to buy power from a $4B fuel cell plant in Wyoming

American Electric Power will build a 702-megawatt plant of Bloom Energy fuel cells near Cheyenne and sell its power to Google for 20 years. It should run fully by the end of 2028.

American Electric Power (AEP), a big US utility, plans to spend about $4 billion on a 702-megawatt fuel cell plant near Cheyenne, Wyoming. Google will buy its power for 20 years. Google is building a large data centre campus nearby. The fuel cells make electricity from natural gas without burning it, and AEP plans to add carbon capture.

3 min read
AI Models

Google opens Gemini 4 Argon to paying users and developers

Since October 13, AI Pro and Ultra subscribers can use it in the Gemini app and in Search, and developers through the paid API. Free users don’t get it yet, and the launch price doubles on December 1.

Google released Gemini 4 Argon, its newest flagship model, to many more people on October 13, two weeks after it went only to cyber defenders. Subscribers to Google AI Pro and Ultra can use it in the Gemini app and in AI Mode in Search. Developers can use it through the paid Gemini API. Free users and AI Plus subscribers don’t get it for now.

3 min read
Agents & Apps

Google lets people install their own AI-made Android apps

Apps built with Google AI Studio can now be launched through Google Play with a standard Google account, without a developer account. They stay private, and sharing with friends is planned for the coming months.

Since October 13, people can put an Android app they built with Google AI Studio on their own devices through Google Play. It works for adults in the United States and some other markets. They need only a standard Google account, not the developer account that costs $25. The apps don’t appear in the public store.

3 min read
Agents & Apps

Google’s Gemini agent for work can also run on Claude

Google Cloud says the agent can work on a task for hours or days and pass parts to helper agents with their own email addresses. Google gave no price or launch date for most customers.

Google Cloud announced the Gemini agent on October 8 at its Gemini at Work event. It is one agent for questions, documents, images and code, and it works in Google Workspace, Microsoft 365 and Slack. It picks a model for each task, from Google’s Gemini or Anthropic’s Claude. Versions for finance and legal work are in preview.

3 min read
Agents & Apps

Google’s Playground turns text prompts into games

The experimental website from Google Labs is open to adults in the US. Players can share games or publish them in a gallery, and a Unity tool for 3D games is still in testing.

Google Labs launched Playground on October 7, a website where people make games by describing them in words, with no coding. It is open to users aged 18 and over in the US. Playing is free, and making games has weekly limits that are higher for paying subscribers. No outlet has published a full test yet.

3 min read
Safety & Security

Google opens its SynthID detector for AI media to everyone

The free website checks images, video and audio for hidden watermarks from Google, OpenAI, Nvidia and Kakao. It cannot spot AI media from makers that use other systems.

Google opened its SynthID Detector website to everyone on October 7, after more than a year with early testers only. People can upload a file and see if it carries a SynthID watermark. It works in English and reads about 20 file types. Google says it cannot catch every AI-made file.

3 min read
Chips & Infrastructure

Xreal’s Android XR glasses will start at $1,279

Only buyers who paid a deposit can preorder Aura now. Xreal says first shipments go to the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea, with orders for everyone in the coming weeks.

Xreal said on October 7 that its Aura glasses, which run Google’s Android XR, will cost $1,279 with 256GB of storage and $1,499 with 512GB. Preorders are open to people who paid for a reservation. Two outlets report that the first deliveries start in mid-November.

3 min read
Safety & Security

Google pauses a bug bounty, flooded by automated reports

Its open-source reward program stopped taking reports of flaws in its code on October 1. Google says most automated submissions were not valid, and promises an update in early 2027.

Google has paused the main part of its Open Source Software Vulnerability Reward Program. Since October 1, it no longer accepts reports of security flaws in the code of its open-source projects. Google blames a sharp rise in automated reports, most of which were not valid.

3 min read
AI Models

Free Gemini users get mostly Flash-Lite from October 9

Without a plan, Gemini now picks the model: most prompts go to the smallest, Flash-Lite. The cheapest paid plan loses Pro, and AI Pro subscribers gain Deep Think.

Google has updated its Gemini help pages: from October 9, people using the Gemini app without a Google AI plan get Auto by default. Most prompts go to the Flash-Lite model, and harder ones may go to Flash or Pro. Subscribers to AI Plus keep Flash-Lite and Flash but lose Pro, on a date Google will send them by email.

3 min read
Policy & Law

Judge dismisses publishers’ suits over Google’s AI Overviews

Chegg and Penske Media said Google’s AI answers take their content and their readers. A federal judge found no deal that obliged Google to send them traffic, only an expectation.

US District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington dismissed antitrust lawsuits by Chegg and Penske Media against Google on September 30, Reuters reports. Both said AI Overviews, the AI answers at the top of Google’s search results, use their content and cut the traffic Google sends them. The judge found they had shown no agreement with Google, only an expectation of traffic.

4 min read
Safety & Security

DeepMind watermarks AI-designed proteins for biosecurity

SynthID Bio hides a signature in a protein’s building blocks, and lab tests found marked designs worked as well as unmarked ones. It could help DNA makers tell designs from trusted AI tools apart from the rest.

Google DeepMind introduced SynthID Bio on September 30, a way to watermark proteins designed by AI without breaking them. In lab tests on three targets, watermarked protein binders matched unwatermarked ones on how often they worked, how tightly they bound and how varied they were, DeepMind says. It is sharing the code, lab data and model weights with researchers.

4 min read

10 stories

AI Models

Google’s Gemini 4 Argon goes to cyber defenders first

Google’s own tests put its new flagship first on 12 of 18 benchmarks. An independent index scores it level with GPT-6 Astra and behind Claude Opus 5.5, and there is no date for a wider release.

Google announced Gemini 4 Argon, its new flagship AI model, on September 30. For now it goes only to a group of trusted cyber defenders and to Google’s own teams, and Google gave no date for developers or consumers. Google says Argon leads its rivals on most of the tests it published. Artificial Analysis, which tests models independently, scores it level with OpenAI’s GPT-6 Astra.

4 min read
Policy & Law

Google sues to block EU orders opening Android to AI rivals

The two July orders give rival AI assistants equal access to Android features and share Google’s search data with competitors. Google says users’ privacy would suffer.

Google has filed challenges at the EU General Court against two Digital Markets Act decisions that the European Commission adopted on July 16, Reuters and Bloomberg report. One requires Google to give rival AI assistants the same access to Android features as its own Gemini. The other makes it share search data with rival search engines, including AI chatbots.

4 min read
Agents & Apps

Google’s Gemini can now talk to customers as a video avatar

Custom faces from a photo need Google’s approval.

Google made Gemini 3.8 Live with Live Avatar available to Gemini Enterprise customers on September 24. Businesses can build voice agents that appear as a person or a cartoon character, speak 97 languages, and look up data while they talk. Every video carries an invisible SynthID watermark.

4 min read
Chips & Infrastructure

Google will send its AI chips into orbit next week

It is the first real test of its idea for data centres in space.

Google said on September 24 that its first Project Suncatcher satellite, built with Planet, will launch on a SpaceX rideshare mission next week. The satellite carries four of Google’s TPU chips and will test how they cope with radiation, heat, and launch forces. Reports put the launch on October 1.

4 min read
AI Models

Google’s Gemini 4 has entered post-training

DeepMind’s new chief wants an early version out as soon as possible.

Koray Kavukcuoglu, the new head of Google DeepMind, said this week that Gemini 4 has entered post-training. He wants to release an early version as soon as possible, “much earlier” than the end of the year. He gave no date, and safety testing is still under way.

4 min read
Policy & Law

UK regulator wants AI assistants on Google’s choice screens

The competition regulator’s plan is still a proposal.

On September 23, the UK’s competition regulator proposed a search choice screen for new Android phones and for Chrome. It can list up to 12 services, including AI assistants such as ChatGPT or Perplexity if they meet technical and security criteria. Comments are due by October 9.

4 min read
AI Models

Google’s new Gemini voices can copy a person’s voice

That person must first read a consent line. No outside test has checked the safeguard.

Google released Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS and Flash-Lite TTS on September 23. The text-to-speech models speak more than 100 languages and cost about $0.54 to $0.81 per hour of audio until the end of the year. Both can clone a voice from a short sample after the voice’s owner records a consent statement.

5 min read