From ChatGPT to Gemini: how AI is rewriting the internet

Big players, including Microsoft, with Copilot, Google, with Gemini, and OpenAI, with GPT-4o, are making AI chatbot technology previously restricted to test labs more accessible to the general public. How do these large language model (LLM) programs work? OpenAI’s GPT-3 told us that AI uses “a series of autocomplete-like programs to learn language” and that these programs analyze “the statistical properties of the language” to “make educated guesses based on the words you’ve typed previously.” Or, in the words of James Vincent, a human person: “These AI tools are vast autocomplete systems, trained to predict which word follows the next in any given sentence. As such, they have no hard-coded database of ‘facts’ to draw on — just the ability to write plausible-sounding statements. This means they have a tendency to present false information as truth since whether a given sentence sounds plausible does not guarantee its factuality.” But there are so many more pieces to the AI landscape that are coming into play (and so many name changes — remember when we were talking about Bing and Bard before those tools were rebranded?), but you can be sure to see it all unfold here on The Verge. Amazon’s revamped Alexa might launch over a month after its announcement event Vox Media and other publishers sue Cohere for copyright and trademark infringement. Thomson Reuters wins an early court battle over AI, copyright, and fair use AI chatbots are distorting news stories, BBC finds ChatGPT drops its sign-in requirement for search Google’s Gemini app adds access to ‘thinking’ AI models ChatGPT’s agent can now do deep research for you Gemini AI can automatically turn your spreadsheets into charts OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on DeepSeek R1: “an impressive model.” DeepSeek says its newest AI model, Janus-Pro can outperform Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 3. Meta AI will use its ‘memory’ to provide better recommendations DeepSeek’s top-ranked AI app is restricting sign-ups due to ‘malicious attacks’ OpenAI has added its o1 model to Canvas. Character.ai responds to a wrongful death lawsuit aimed at its chatbots. Google’s Gemini is already winning the next-gen assistant wars Microsoft opens testing for Windows AI search “Recording is hard, so let AI do it” is a bad take. Microsoft drops its GitHub Copilot Workspace waitlist. Microsoft is reverting its Bing AI image generator because of quality complaints Las Vegas police release ChatGPT logs from the suspect in the Cybertruck explosion Gemini can now tell when a PDF is on your phone screen Nvidia’s $249 dev kit promises cheap, small AI power Dexcom adds AI reports to its OTC glucose monitor. Google’s Whisk AI generator will ‘remix’ the pictures you plug in Google says the next version of its Sora competitor is better at real-world physics. Instagram’s head says social media needs more context because of AI Listen y’all, it’s a sabotage. Searching for the first great AI app Gemini AI can now summarize what’s in your Google Drive folders Google’s AI enters its ‘agentic era’ Google built an AI tool that can do research for you Google launched Gemini 2.0, its new AI model for practically everything YouTube’s AI-powered dubbing is now available to many more creators Microsoft is giving Copilot a new taskbar UI and keyboard shortcut on Windows X’s new ‘Aurora’ image generator is gone. X gives Grok a new photorealistic AI image generator Sundar Pichai says Google Search will ‘change profoundly’ in 2025 ChatGPT now has over 300 million weekly users OpenAI’s 12 days of ‘shipmas’ include Sora and new reasoning model ChatGPT’s search results for news are ‘unpredictable’ and frequently inaccurate Former Android leaders are building an ‘operating system for AI agents’ Bluesky won’t use your posts for AI training, but can it stop anyone else? Artists say they leaked OpenAI’s Sora video model in protest Anthropic says Claude AI can match your unique writing style Is AI hitting a wall? Messenger video calls will look and sound better — and add AI backgrounds Niantic is building a ‘geospatial’ AI model based on Pokémon Go player data Google Gemini can remember things now “Oregon -14 Wisconsin Texas.” ESPN is testing a generative AI avatar called ‘FACTS’ Google’s Gemini AI now has its own iPhone app Perplexity is starting its ads experiment this week. Line go up. Google’s AI ‘learning companion’ takes chatbot answers a step further Sold. Google says Sundar didn’t actually entertain the idea of splitting off AI from search. Universal Music partners with AI company building an ‘ethical’ music generator Hospitals use a transcription tool powered by an error-prone OpenAI model Google is reportedly developing a ‘computer-using agent’ AI system OpenAI plans to release its next big AI model by December Anthropic’s latest AI update can use a computer on its own Meta AI could start remembering things about your WhatsApp chats. Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s next move: another AI startup. A DA charged himself with murder, according to AI. Meta suggests AI Northern Lights pics are as good as the real thing Agents are the future AI companies promise — and desperately need