Tech
Google’s proposed search result changes get thumbs up from EU airlines
Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google’s proposed changes to its search results to comply with EU tech legislation has received the thumbs up from lobbying group Airlines for Europe whose members include Air France KLM and Lufthansa (LHAG.DE).
Google has announced a series of changes in search result formats in recent months following conflicting demands from price-comparison sites, hotels, airlines and small retailers, with the latest tweaks announced last month.
It is trying to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which prohibits it from favouring its own products and services on its platform or risk fines as much as 10% of its global annual turnover.
“In the spirit of finding a DMA-compliant solution in a timely fashion, the airline industry has shown it is willing to compromise,” Airlines for Europe said in a letter to the European Commission dated Dec. 20 and seen by Reuters.
The airline group expressed support for the horizontal layout for same sized boxes for airlines and comparison sites in search results as well as the colour blue to distinguish them from other elements.
But it said prices displayed in search results should be the same in the graphic as those in the boxes. It also expressed concerns about Google’s proposal for a purely indicative date rather than specific dates for consumers looking to book flights.
Countries negotiating a global treaty to curb plastic pollution failed to reach agreement on Monday.
“Characteristics such as dates are an integral part of the general search process of consumers looking for air travel and the switch to a purely indicative date will downgrade their experience significantly,” the group.
Google has said it may return to an old format of 10 blue links in search results that it used years ago if its rivals – such as airlines and price comparison sites – cannot agree on its proposals to comply with the DMA and not promote its own products.
OpenAI and Japanese conglomerate SoftBank (9984.T) will each commit $19 billion to fund Stargate, a joint venture to develop data centers for artificial intelligence in the U.S., the Information reported on Wednesday.
The ChatGPT maker will hold a 40% interest in Stargate, and would act as an extension of OpenAI, the report said, citing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaking to colleagues. His comments imply SoftBank would also have a 40% interest, the report added.
OpenAI and SoftBank did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that OpenAI, SoftBank Group and Oracle (ORCL.N) will unveil Stargate and invest $500 billion over the next four years to help the United States stay ahead of China and other rivals in the global AI race.
Stargate will initially deploy $100 billion and the rest of the funding is expected over the next four years. The project is being led by SoftBank and OpenAI.
Taiwan’s HTC (2498.TW) said on Thursday it will sell part of its unit for extended reality (XR) headsets and glasses to Google (GOOGL.O) for $250 million and transfer some of its employees to the U.S. company.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of this year, HTC said.
The two companies will also explore further collaboration opportunities, HTC added.
Google said in a separate statement that the deal will accelerate the development of the Android XR platform and strengthen the ecosystem for headsets and glasses.
Lu Chia-te, HTC vice president and general counsel, told reporters the company had granted its intellectual property rights to Google as a non-exclusive license.
“Therefore, this is not a buyout nor an exclusive licence. In the future, HTC will still retain the ability to use, utilise, and even further develop it without any restrictions,” he said.
Microsoft’s (MSFT.O) LinkedIn has been sued by Premium customers who said the business-focused social media platform disclosed their private messages to third parties without permission to train generative artificial intelligence models.
According to a proposed class action filed on Tuesday night on behalf of millions of LinkedIn Premium customers, LinkedIn quietly introduced a privacy setting last August that let users enable or disable the sharing of their personal data.
Customers said LinkedIn then discreetly updated its privacy policy on Sept. 18 to say data could be used to train AI models, and in a “frequently asked questions” hyperlink said opting out “does not affect training that has already taken place.”
This attempt to “cover its tracks” suggests LinkedIn was fully aware it violated customers’ privacy and its promise to use personal data only to support and improve its platform, in order to minimize public scrutiny and legal fallout, the complaint said.
The lawsuit was filed in the San Jose, California, federal court on behalf of LinkedIn Premium customers who sent or received InMail messages, and whose private information was disclosed to third parties for AI training before Sept. 18.
It seeks unspecified damages for breach of contract and violations of California’s unfair competition law, and $1,000 per person for violations of the federal Stored Communications Act.
A lawyer for Prince Harry on Wednesday said the Duke of Sussex had reached a settlement with Rupert Murdoch’s news conglomerate.
LinkedIn said in a statement: “These are false claims with no merit.”
A lawyer for the plaintiffs had no immediate additional comment.
The lawsuit was filed several hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a joint venture among Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Oracle (ORCL.N) and SoftBank (9984.T), with a potential $500 billion of investment, to build AI infrastructure in the United States.
OpenAI, SoftBank each commit 19bn dollars to Stargate AI data center
Taiwan’s HTC to sell part of XR unit to Google for 250mn dollars
Microsoft’s LinkedIn sued for disclosing customer information to train AI models
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