Unidentified governments are surveilling smartphone users via their apps' push notifications, a U.S. senator warned on Wednesday. In a letter to the Department of Justice, Senator Ron Wyden said foreign officials were demanding the data from Alphabet's Google and Apple. Apps of all kinds rely on push notifications to alert smartphone users to incoming messages, breaking news, and other updates...

Google (GOOG, GOOGL) unveiled its newest generative AI model, the Gemini chatbot. Created to handle text, images, video, and other content, Gemini comes in three versions — Ultra, Pro, and Nano — to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT and other rivals. Yahoo Finance Tech Editor Dan Howley analyzes Gemini's features, examining its capabilities versus market alternatives, and talking about Google's broader strategy moving forward. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live...

Google, upping the ante in the artificial intelligence arms race, finally launched its project Gemini on Wednesday, Dec. 6. The new model, which comes in three different sizes — ultra, pro and nano — is rolling out across Google's suite of products. Part of this roll-out involves an enhancement to Google's AI-powered chatbot Bard, which will now use a version of Gemini Pro for "more advanced reasoning, planning, understanding and more."...

Alphabet on Wednesday introduced its most advanced artificial intelligence model, a technology capable of crunching different forms of information such as video, audio and text. Called Gemini, the Google owner's highly anticipated AI model is capable of more sophisticated reasoning and understanding information with a greater degree of nuance than Google's prior technology, the company said. "This new era of models represents one of the biggest science and engineering efforts we’ve undertaken as a company," Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai wrote in a blog post...

Google took its next leap in artificial intelligence Wednesday with the launch of project Gemini, an AI model trained to behave in human-like ways that's likely to intensify the debate about the technology’s potential promise and perils. The rollout will unfold in phases, with less sophisticated versions of Gemini called “Nano” and “Pro” being immediately incorporated into Google’s AI-powered chatbot Bard and its Pixel 8 Pro smartphone. With Gemini providing a helping hand, Google promises Bard will become more intuitive and better at tasks that involve planning...