US-based Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, has unveiled a new version of its flagship artificial intelligence (AI) model Gemini.
The new Gemini Pro 1.5 model is capable of processing several times more audio, video and text than the GPT-4 model, on which the popular ChatGPT chatbot is based, Wired writes.
In particular, Gemini Pro 1.5 can simultaneously process 1 hour of video, 11 hours of audio, 700 thousand words or 30 thousand lines of program code.
As part of the demonstration, it analyzed the transcript of conversations with the crew of the Apollo 11 spacecraft, presented as a 402-page PDF file, and found several funny moments in it on demand, including the words of the astronauts that the contact was delayed due to a break to eat sandwiches.
Google expects that the new features of the model will allow developers to create new kinds of applications based on it.
The new version of Gemini is already available to them on the AI Studio platform and through Vertex AI’s cloud-based application programming interface (API).
There is no word on when the model will be released to the general public.
Google Corporation has doubled its funding for Ukrainian companies as part of its startup support fund in Ukraine in 2022, allocating $10 million, Michał Kramarz, head of Google for Startups, CEE, said at the Tech Emerging Europe Advocates Meeting 2023 conference in Warsaw.
“The Ukrainian startups supported by the fund received $10 million in funding during the war and were able to hire 216 additional employees during 2022. But what is also very important: they were able to grow revenue by 200% year over year, which means that even in difficult times, in times of war, in a situation that requires resilience, they were able to achieve incredible results,” he said.
Kramarz reminded that last March Google announced creation of a $5 million fund to support startups in Ukraine, which was supposed to give grants of up to $100 thousand without any participation in the companies’ capital. Selected startups could also count on mentoring from the corporation, product support and Cloud loans.
“We received 1.7 thousand applications from startups in Ukraine, of which 300 were selected. Of that number, in turn, we originally planned to select 50, but the startups were so good that we said: let’s at least try to support more,” he said.
Kramarz did not say exactly how many companies were chosen, but said it could not have been 100 or 200, because if that were the case, the financial support program for each company would have been very low.
The representative of the corporation also reported on the launch of an online training program from Google for people who lost their jobs because of the war, but who remained in Ukraine and were willing to work. In three weeks, 32,000 people have gone through the program, and 10% of them have received positive feedback.
Google also supports women with its Founders Fund, which aims to level the playing field for everyone.
In addition, 60 startup founders from Ukraine and Belarus are hosted by Startups Campus Google in Warsaw.
Kramarz said he hopes the ecosystems of Poland, Ukraine and Britain will work even more together after the war than they do now.
“We have amazing skills. We have wonderful people. Let’s try to work more closely,” he said.
The most popular search on Google in 2022 was a browser word game Wordle. In the search line the name of this game was entered more often than the words “Ukraine” or “Queen Elizabeth”.
The game was created by programmer Josh Wardle back in 2013, but it did not become popular then. In 2021, the game was redesigned, and after that it caused a furor. Just a few months later, The New York Times bought the game, and it is now playable on the newspaper’s website and mobile app. You can often see that people on the subway, for example, are often playing word composition.
Among the news topics on Google, the most popular was the situation in Ukraine. It is followed by news about Elizabeth II, who passed away on September 8. “Election results,” “Powerball number” and “Monkeypox” rounded out the top five most popular news topics.
When searching for recipes, users were most interested in Indian cuisine, particularly the dish Panir pasanda. This is a kind of curry made from paneer cheese.
Because of scandals in the world of showbiz, users often googled the names of famous people. For example, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, as well as Will Smith t Chris Rock were among the top five most searched stars on a Google search.
As for athletes, Internet visitors in 2022 most often read about tennis player Novak Djokovic.
Google will provide a $2 million grant and its experts from Google.org Fellowship for the development of digital education in Ukraine, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine said in a Telegram channel on Friday.
As handwriting in the Ministry of Digital Transformation, it will help Ukrainians get a new profession, learn digital literacy and find a job.
In addition, as part of a joint project with Google.org, the Ministry of Digital plans to update the platform of the national project “Dia. Digital Education.”
It is planned, in particular, to introduce elements of artificial intelligence to create an individual training plan, interactive simulators that will bring the user closer to real situations in the profession; as well as recommendations for requalification and professional development.
In addition, the platform wants to implement job searches according to direction and success in training.
“Also, the grant from Google.org involves the creation of a special educational application and the development of new educational series and projects,” said in the report of the Ministry of Information.
In addition, the functionality of the platform and educational products will be translated into English.
The team of the project “Dia. Digital Education” will work together with specialists from the Google.org Fellowship team.
Product managers, software engineers, and marketing managers from Google will help scale Project Dia. Digital Education” for six months.
The goal of the project is to help Ukraine solve the issue of unemployment among IDPs and contribute to the economic revival of the country. The partner of the project is the Eastern Europe Foundation.
Google has decided to maintain special conditions for Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) until the end of the war, exempting them from paying for Google Workspace, which was introduced in the rest of the world on July 1, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov has said.
“Since July, Google has been introducing a paid subscription to Google Workspace, but we have agreed on special conditions for our small and medium-sized enterprises. Until the end of the full-scale war, these services will be free,” Fedorov wrote on the Telegram channel on Monday.
He also thanked Google for its regular assistance and support to Ukraine, in particular, for providing the country with $15 million in assistance and free use of Google Workspace by Ukrainian teachers, as well as donating 43,000 laptops to schools.
Google Workspace includes corporate mail, cloud storage and other services.
Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov calls for the opening of separate representative offices of Google and YouTube in the country.
“The team of the Ministry of Digital Transformation is to meet with the Google team. We will talk about the company’s development plans in Ukraine. We really want to see separate representative offices of Google, YouTube in Ukraine,” Fedorov said on the air of the Ukraine 24 TV channel during his working visit to Washington (the United States).
According to him, during military aggression, it is necessary that the content is moderated in Ukraine, and not in Russian offices.
