AI agents that browse, click, fill forms and buy now inherit their owners’ logged-in sessions. That convenience creates an unresolved security problem: prompt injection, where hidden text in a webpage, email, document or image is read as an instruction. The result is an attack surface inside the bank, inbox and cart. OWASP ranks it first: … Read more
Ask how much a single chatbot query costs the planet and the answers scatter wildly: anywhere from a tenth of a watt-hour to several watt-hours, and from five drops of water to roughly 45 millilitres. None of those figures is invented. Each measures a different thing, on a different model, inside a different data centre … Read more
A stolen smartphone is an expensive inconvenience. A stolen smartphone that is still unlocked — or whose passcode the thief watched you tap in — is a financial emergency. That is the thinking behind two features Google and Apple have been steadily building into their platforms: Anti-Theft Protection on Android and Stolen Device Protection on … Read more
Google researchers have shown that AI-designed binding proteins can be aimed at large, complex targets for a fraction of the usual compute bill — provided you shrink the target first. Their trick, which they call epitope excision, keeps only the patch of the protein where binding will occur instead of folding the whole molecule. With … Read more
Google has published a compact playbook for studying with Gemini Notebook, the assistant formerly known as NotebookLM, built around three capabilities that landed in September: roughly one-minute narrated summary videos, interactive learning guides and a wider menu of quiz formats. None of them is brand new this week, but together they form the most practical … Read more
AI-generated political advertising has moved from novelty to major line item in the 2026 U.S. midterms. The Wesleyan Media Project has identified 220 ads made at least partly with AI tools, backed by more than $137 million in spending—yet only 27% carried any disclaimer that the technology was used. The findings, released on October 15, … Read more
Google is rearranging how its AI-generated search answers point outward, pushing source links closer to the top of the response and testing a dedicated slot for authoritative pages. Hema Budaraju, vice-president of product management at Google Search, set out five updates for AI Mode and AI Overviews on 15 October, presenting them as an invitation … Read more
Google’s long-promised Universal Cart is now live for shoppers in the United States, appearing inside both Google Search and the Gemini app. Announced on October 15 in an official company blog post signed by Suresh Ganapathy, senior director of product for consumer shopping, the tool lets people collect items from competing merchants, monitor price movements … Read more
Since October 13, 2026, Google has moved against the prevailing narrative around AI-built software. Instead of tightening the screws, it has carved out a private lane inside Google Play for apps generated with artificial intelligence. Users in selected markets, including the United States, can now describe an Android app in Google AI Studio, generate it … Read more
Character.AI, the roleplay chatbot platform that spent five years turning conversational AI into mass entertainment, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States. Its operating company, Character Technologies, Inc., lodged a voluntary petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on 12 October 2026, reporting between $50 million and … Read more