Connect with us

Published

on

Google announced its new series of Pixel smartphones, including the Google Pixel 10 Pro, which has new AI and durability features.

Google on Wednesday debuted its latest line of Pixel smartphones that prominently feature the Gemini assistant as artificial intelligence increasingly becomes the battleground where device companies compete.

The Alphabet company announced the Pixel 10 family of smartphones, saying the devices can use Google’s AI to do smart tasks, like quickly surfacing the address of an Airbnb when someone sends a text asking for it.

The Pixel 10 series includes several models and incorporates new AI and camera features. The baseline model, the Pixel 10, starts at $799 and is available in several colors. A more powerful Pixel 10 Pro starts at $999, and the Pixel 10 Pro XL with a larger screen and 256GB of base storage starts at $1,199. Google is also releasing an updated version of its folding phone, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, that starts at $1,799.

Google’s Pixel phone launch comes before Apple is expected to announce new iPhone models in September. While the Pixel typically has single-digit market share — far behind brands like Samsung, Motorola and Apple — the devices enable Google to release cutting-edge Android features without going through third-party hardware makers. The Pixel line of devices also allows Google to showcase how it believes its Android software compares with that of the iPhone.

The latest series of smartphones also have the potential to serve as a funnel for Google’s artificial intelligence services and subscriptions. Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis previously described a vision for a universal assistant that “can seamlessly operate over any domain, any modality or any device.” Hassabis told employees at an all-hands meeting last year that “the products themselves are going to evolve massively over the next year or two.”

Google’s Gemini models are considered by critics to be more advanced than the models underpinning Apple Intelligence, the iPhone’s built-in AI suite.

Earlier this year, Apple delayed a big update to Siri until 2026, creating an opening for Google to secure a lead among AI-eager customers with its well-respected Gemini assistant, which can already hold a natural conversation and manage calendars and other apps. A Google Pixel 10 ad released earlier this month poked fun at Apple’s Siri delays.

“If you buy a new phone because of a feature that’s coming soon, but it’s coming soon for a full year, you could change your definition of soon, or change your phone,” the Pixel ad said.

Among the Pixel 10’s key AI features is “Magic Cue,” which Google said is an AI product that “brings a new level of personalized intelligence and helpfulness.”

If calling an airline, Magic Cue surfaces flight details “as soon as you dial,” the company says, adding that it is meant to anticipate the users’ needs and suggest “relevant information and helpful actions based on the context on your phone.”

Google released an updated version of its folding phone, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, which will cost at least $1799.

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold, meanwhile, has the largest inner display among devices with foldable screens at 8 inches, Google said. The screen is built with two layers of anti-impact film for added drop protection. It also has a new “high-strength” hinge that the company says can handle over 10 years of folding.

Google touts the Fold’s “split screen” abilities which allows users to navigate to different apps on the two screens.

“Imagine planning a trip with friends by comparing flight details in one app and checking hotel availability in another,” the company said.

Already, Samsung appears to be gaining momentum with its line of foldable Galaxy Z Fold 7 phones. Analysts say Apple is expected to release its first foldable-screen iPhone as soon as 2026.

The Pixel series also incorporates Gemini Live, a Google product that allows back-and-forth chat about what the phone is “seeing” on its screen in real time. It’s built on Google’s image recognition prototype Project Astra, which the company announced last year.

For the smartphone camera, Google announced a new assistant called “Camera Coach,” that can describe the scene of a photo, offer suggestions, and recommend the best angle and lighting. It can also find and combine similar photos into one “where everyone looks their best.”

The Pixel 10 Pro phones come with a one-year subscription to Google’s “AI Pro” plan, which is typically $19 a month and gives users some extra Gemini features, priority access to AI products like NotebookLM and Veo 3 as well as extra storage.

Despite Google’s unique smartphone offerings, there haven’t been major signs that artificial intelligence has yet become a key driver of smartphone sales, or that users are deciding to switch from Apple’s platform to Android due to AI offerings. No major manufacturer has claimed the features have significantly boosted sales. But analysts say that eventually, Google could crack an AI feature that catches on among users and starts to erode Apple’s installed base. 

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

Perplexity offers $34.5 billion for Google Chrome

Continue Reading

Technology

OpenAI forms expert council to bolster safety measures after FTC inquiry

Published

on

By

OpenAI forms expert council to bolster safety measures after FTC inquiry

OpenAI’s EMEA startups head Laura Modiano spoke at the Sifted Summit on Wednesday, 8 October.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

OpenAI on Tuesday announced a council of eight experts who will advise the company and provide insight into how artificial intelligence could affect users’ mental health, emotions and motivation. 

The group, which is called the Expert Council on Well-Being and AI, will initially guide OpenAI’s work on its chatbot ChatGPT and its short-form video app Sora, the company said. Through check-ins and recurring meetings, OpenAI said the council will help it define what healthy AI interactions look like.

OpenAI has been expanding its safety controls in recent months as the company has faced mounting scrutiny over how it protects users, particularly minors.

In September, the Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into several tech companies, including OpenAI, over how chatbots like ChatGPT could negatively affect children and teenagers. OpenAI is also embroiled in a wrongful death lawsuit from a family who blames ChatGPT for their teenage son’s death by suicide.

Read more CNBC tech news

The company is building an age prediction system that will automatically apply teen-appropriate settings for users under 18, and it launched a series of parental controls late last month. Parents can now get notified if their child is showing signs of acute distress, for instance.

OpenAI said it began informally consulting with members of its new expert council as it was building its parental controls. The company brought on additional experts in psychiatry. psychology and human-computer interaction as it formalized the council, which officially launched with an in-person session last week.

In addition to its expert council, OpenAI said it is also working with researchers and mental health clinicians within the Global Physician Network who will help test ChatGPT and establish company policies. 

Here are the members of OpenAI’s Expert Council on Well-Being and AI:

  • Andrew Przybylski, a professor of human behavior and technology at the University of Oxford. 
  • David Bickham, a research scientist in the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital. 
  • David Mohr, the director of Northwestern University’s Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies.
  • Mathilde Cerioli, the chief scientist at Everyone.AI, a nonprofit that explores the risks and benefits of AI for children.
  • Munmun De Choudhury, a professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Interactive Computing. 
  • Dr. Robert Ross, a pediatrician by training and the former CEO of The California Endowment, a nonprofit that aims to expand access to affordable health care. 
  • Dr. Sara Johansen, a clinical assistant professor at Stanford University who founded its Digital Mental Health Clinic.
  • Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, a professor of psychology at Hunter College.

If you are having suicidal thoughts or are in distress, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for support and assistance from a trained counselor

WATCH: FTC launches inquiry into AI chatbots acting as companions

FTC launches inquiry into AI chatbots acting as companions

Continue Reading

Technology

Oracle Cloud to deploy 50,000 AMD AI chips, signaling new Nvidia competition

Published

on

By

Oracle Cloud to deploy 50,000 AMD AI chips, signaling new Nvidia competition

We're still early in the AI cycle, says Bernstein's Stacy Rasgon

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure on Tuesday announced it will deploy 50,000 Advanced Micro Devices graphics processors starting in the second half of 2026.

AMD shares climbed about 2%. Oracle shares sank 4% while Nvidia was more than 3% lower.

The move is the latest sign that cloud companies are increasingly offering AMD’s graphics processing units as an alternative to Nvidia’s market-leading GPUs for artificial intelligence.

“We feel like customers are going to take up AMD very, very well — especially in the inferencing space,” said Karan Batta, senior vice president of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

Oracle will use AMD’s Instinct MI450 chips, which were announced earlier this year.

They are AMD’s first AI chips that can be assembled into a larger rack-sized system that enables 72 of the chips to work as one, which is needed to create and deploy the most advanced AI algorithms.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appeared with AMD CEO Lisa Su at a company event in June to announce the product.

Read more CNBC tech news

Earlier this month, OpenAI announced a deal with AMD for processors requiring 6 gigawatts of power over multiple years, with a 1-gigawatt rollout starting in 2026. As part of the deal, and if the deployment goes well, OpenAI may end up owning as many as 160 million shares of AMD, or about 10% of the company.

In September, OpenAI entered into a five-year cloud deal with Oracle that could be worth as much as $300 billion.

OpenAI has historically been closely linked with Nvidia, whose chips were used to develop ChatGPT. Nvidia’s chips dominate the market for data center GPUs with more than 90% market share. Nvidia also invested in OpenAI in September.

But OpenAI leaders say the company needs as much computing power as possible, which means it needs AI chips from multiple suppliers. OpenAI also has plans to design its own AI chips with Broadcom.

“I think AMD has done a really fantastic job, just like Nvidia, and I think both of them have their place,” Batta said.

Tuesday at Oracle AI World, founder and Chairman Larry Ellison is set to take the stage and share his views on the latest OpenAI deal and what his company is doing to stay ahead of its main cloud competitors – Microsoft, Amazon and Google

“Oracle has already shown it is willing to place big bets and go all in to meet the AI moment. The company must now prove that beyond capacity, it can capitalize on its massive underlying data and enterprise capabilities … to add meaningful value to the enterprise AI wave,” said Daniel Newman, CEO of The Futurum Group, on the sidelines of Oracle’s conference.

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon

hide content

Oracle and AMD one-day stock chart.

Continue Reading

Technology

Major real estate developers are fast becoming power brokers

Published

on

By

Major real estate developers are fast becoming power brokers

Aerial view of the Apple Data Center in Mesa near Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. on August 6, 2017. Picture taken on August 6, 2017. Apple plans to build its second data center in China at Ulanqab City in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Jim Todd | Reuters

A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.

The sudden surge in demand for data is fast creating new commercial real estate sectors – not just data centers, but so-called quantum real estate and powered land.

The former refers to structures designed to house specialized quantum computers. The latter is land prepared and ready for data center operations, with a focus on obtaining a reliable and sufficient power supply. That land would have to be secured with the permits, utility commitments and infrastructure needed to deliver power to a data center.

There are currently about 20,000 acres of powered land sitting under operational data centers around the world. Roughly 40,000 acres of powered land, almost 2 billion square feet, are needed to support current projections for data center growth over the next five years, according to a new research paper from Hines, a global real estate investment manager. That’s equivalent to just under the size of three Manhattans or about 1½ times the size of Paris.

Hines, which has been developing data centers for more than 20 years, has pivoted to a new business in just the past year. It is now securing power and entitlements for hyperscale sites. What that means on the ground is mapping grids, negotiating with landowners and providing financial guarantees to grid operators, who now demand it.

“The challenge isn’t building walls anymore. It’s getting megawatts to the site,” said David Steinbach, Hines’ global chief investment officer. “Hines is focused on this front-end work, making land AI-ready before the buildings even rise.”

Get Property Play directly to your inbox

CNBC’s Property Play with Diana Olick covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, delivered weekly to your inbox.

Subscribe here to get access today.

Steinbach said powered land has become its own investable asset class, because power rights themselves are scarce and valuable. Once grid connections and permits are secured, you’ve created a tradeable asset with clear demand from hyperscalers and operators, he said. 

The competition for powered land is being led more by tech companies and energy producers than real estate developers, but Hines clearly doesn’t want to be left behind. 

The smartest capital today isn’t chasing square footage — it’s enabling computation,” said Steinbach, citing the recent Nvidia deal with Intel to co-develop chips for data centers and personal computers. “Nvidia‘s $5 billion bet on Intel isn’t just a chip deal, it’s a seismic signal that AI infrastructure is the new oil.”

In August, Silver Lake, a global private equity firm focused on technology investment, along with Commonwealth Asset Management, a real estate and infrastructure investment firm, announced the launch of a powered land platform aimed at data center development. It will deploy $400 million of capital “to assemble a global portfolio of strategically located powered land sites to address the key scarce input in meeting the escalating demand for data centers,” according to a news release.

The platform is currently operating in and targeting high-growth markets across the U.S., Canada and the U.K., where power access is becoming increasingly scarce.

“This investment represents a long-term commitment to not only meeting the immediate needs of AI-driven data center growth but also positioning the company as a leader in the future of digital infrastructure and a one-stop shop for rapidly growing developers and hyperscalers,” said Lee Wittlinger, managing director at Silver Lake, in the release. “Our innovative approach to land and power solutions, combined with strategic relationships with key energy partners, will enable us to meet the evolving demands of hyperscalers with a holistic, differentiated approach.”

Data center hubs will now have to expand beyond already crowded markets like northern Virginia and into power-rich regions in the Midwest and Texas. Hines’ research paper points to big opportunities right now in Europe, where undersupply and growing demand could mean big potential for both developers and investors. It also highlights the Middle East as an emerging market with growing potential as governments there invest heavily in artificial intelligence, renewables and grid infrastructure.

This is not to say that this new concept of powered land is without challenges, including securing the appropriate land, managing entitlement processes with local governments, and working with utility providers to obtain sufficient commitments.  

“This isn’t just a tech story,” said Steinbach. “It’s a building cycle story reshaping how and where the real estate business develops for decades to come.”

Continue Reading

Trending