Google expands AI Mode with extra features for search
These developments are follow-ups to announcements made during Google's I/O conference this spring. AI Mode began rolling out to all Google users in May, and Deep Think was also announced as an option for the Gemini 2.5 Pro model at that time.
Another AI tool teased at I/O was the ability for Gemini to place phone calls with Project Astra . This agentic option is also coming in a limited form to AI Mode. For starters, it will only be able to contact local businesses and its topics will be limited to inquiring about availability and pricing. When a person searches for companies or services, they may see an option such as "Have AI check prices" that will initiate a call to that business. These AI phone calls are rolling out today to all Search users, but Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers will have higher limits.
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Android Authority
12 minutes ago
- Android Authority
Why Google's August 20 event could make or break its Pixel lineup
Robert Triggs / Android Authority Pixel fans, our time has almost come. Yesterday, Google confirmed that its next Made by Google event is scheduled for August 20, and it's on this date that we'll see Google's latest batch of Pixel hardware. Although Google hasn't officially said what it's announcing, we have a good idea of what to expect. On August 20, Google is likely to announce the Pixel 10 series — consisting of the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, and Pixel 10 Pro Fold. We should also see the Pixel Watch 4, a new pair of Pixel Buds, and more. However, while all of that is great, none of it is what I'm most interested to see. If you're a Pixel fan like me, the real reason to look forward to August 20 is Google's new Tensor G5 chip. Because, depending on how good or bad the chip is, it could make or break this year's Pixel lineup. What are you most looking forward to from Google's August 20 event? 0 votes Pixel 10 NaN % Pixel 10 Pro/Pixel 10 Pro XL NaN % Pixel 10 Pro Fold NaN % Pixel Watch 4 NaN % Tensor G5 NaN % Other (let us know in the comments) NaN % August 20 is all about the Tensor G5 Robert Triggs / Android Authority As is usually the case for Made by Google events, Google will likely spend much of August 20 talking about its new smartphones. We'll probably hear Google go on and on about its refined designs, eye-friendly display technology, new camera features, Gemini updates, and so on. And that's all important! But the thing that really matters is the chipset powering this year's Pixel family. If the rumors are true, the Pixel 10 series will be powered by Google's new Tensor G5. That in of itself isn't surprising (we expect a new Tensor chip every year), but there are two key details that should make the G5 stand out: 1. It'll be Google's first 3nm chip, and 2. it's going to be the first Tensor chipset produced by TSMC instead of Samsung Foundry. Ever since Google introduced the world to Tensor chips with the Tensor G1 in the Pixel 6 lineup, the company's silicon has been plagued by two persistent issues – poor efficiency/battery life and overheating concerns. Has Google improved these things since its first Tensor chip? Absolutely. But even with the Tensor G4 in the Pixel 9 family, complaints persist. Battery life is better and the chip doesn't get as hot as its predecessors, but it's still not on the same level as its Qualcomm and MediaTek rivals. While Google gradually improves upon its previous chip designs, it's never been able to catch up to the competition. Joe Maring / Android Authority But this could finally change on August 20. Going from a 4nm Tensor G4 to a 3nm Tensor G5 should already be enough of an upgrade to ensure better chip efficiency and and thermals. But along with that, switching from Samsung to TSMC should come with the same benefits. TSMC's chip fabrication process has historically resulted in much more efficient chips than ones made by Samsung, and even if Google stuck with the 4nm Tensor G4 design for another year, TSMC production alone would likely be enough to see tangible battery life improvements. The fact that we're getting both of these things in the same year — a 3nm chip design and TSMC fabrication — the potential for the Tensor G5 is more promising than any Google-made chip that's come before it. And that's why, more than any specific Pixel phone Google's going to talk about on August 20, the Tensor G5 will have all of my attention. This is Google's big moment C. Scott Brown / Android Authority There is a key word to all of this: potential. Everything we're hearing about the Tensor G5 is incredibly promising, and if executed properly, it alone could help make this year's Pixel 10 phones some of the best on the market. But that success is not guaranteed. Transitioning from a 4nm chip to a 3nm one is not a simple change, nor is Google switching chipset foundries. These are things that should ultimately have positive outcomes for Google, but that all hinges on the G5's chip design being sound and Google not running into hiccups in its first run with TSMC. There's a world where everything goes off without a hitch and the Tensor G5 is the powerful, efficient, and thermally-stable silicon we've been waiting years for. But there's another world where that doesn't happen. There's a lot riding on the G5, and its success or failure may very well determine whether any of the Pixel 10 lineup is worth your attention. And now, we know for sure August 20 is where we'll get our first glimpse at which of those two scenarios we're going to get. The outcome of the Tensor G5 and the impact it'll have on the Pixel 10 series has me more excited (and anxious) about a Made by Google event than I've been in years, and I cannot wait to see how everything is going to shake out.
Android Authority
12 minutes ago
- Android Authority
I tested a new browser that makes Chrome feel outdated
Karandeep Singh / Android Authority AI is embedding itself into every nook of our digital lives faster than Elon Musk can type his next obnoxious tweet. First, it was an app that could talk to you in a natural voice. Then it spread to everyday voice assistants. And now, it's coming — strong-armed — for our main work app: web browsers. Google is pushing hard to make Gemini a core part of Chrome. The makers of Arc have already moved on to an AI-first browser. OpenAI is rumored to be working on its own Chrome alternative. But in one corner, Perplexity — the AI search engine that wants to replace Google — has quietly launched its own browser, Comet, with limited availability. I got to use an early version of its Mac app. And I have thoughts. A lot of thoughts. Mostly, though, using Perplexity's Comet feels like I just touched the future — the one we've been dreaming of. Would you switch to a browser that feels more like a co-pilot than a tool? 0 votes Yes, bring it on! NaN % No, not my thing NaN % Back to the future Karandeep Singh / Android Authority I realize the weight of repurposing an iconic movie title, and I do that with utmost sincerity. Comet feels otherworldly. Something… perplexing for real (geddit?). And I'll tell you how. When I first got access to Comet, I assumed it was yet another browser with an AI sidebar (which it does have) that helps you with translations, summaries, and other basic stuff using the current webpage. But Comet baffled me — in the best way — right from the first step. We've all been waiting for the reality where AI does stuff for us. We're partially there — Gemini, for example, integrates across Google services so you can ask it to add calendar entries using email context or generate music playlists based on your mood. But Comet takes things a couple of notches higher. It navigates websites, learns on the go if it fails, reattempts, verifies its actions, and does tasks on your behalf — all unsupervised. The name is Comet. Agent Comet Karandeep Singh / Android Authority Screenshot While watching the setup demo videos, something caught my eye, and I instantly started exploring it further. The video showed Comet managing tabs, adding items to carts, and more. Like the Rabbit R1 (remember that orange, wonderful rectangle?), I assumed it was trained only on specific websites, like the one in the video. My excitement ensured I proved myself wrong pretty quickly. I asked Perplexity — the default search engine (duh!) — to tell me a recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala. It gave me a solid recipe. Then I asked it to add the required ingredients to my Amazon cart — and that's when the magic started. A glow appeared on the webpage and the browser started navigating the site — without me touching anything. It looked up the ingredients and began adding them to the cart. It got stuck in a loop when it couldn't find fresh chicken (Amazon India doesn't sell it at my location), and it kept trying for several minutes. Out of pity (okay, impatience), I stopped its misery and gave it a simpler task: add ingredients for aglio e olio pasta. Voila, everything was in my cart within seconds. Karandeep Singh / Android Authority Screenshot For a more obscure test, I gave it a list of well-rated Indian shows pulled from a random tweet I came across and asked it to add them to my list on JustWatch, my cross-platform watchlist manager. Now, that's a service I wouldn't expect Comet to be trained on — and rightly so. It navigated the site, tried different sections to figure out where my list was, double-checked if it had missed anything, even inspected the site's code to verify its actions. Comet navigated the site, tried different sections to figure out where my list was, double-checked if it had missed anything, even inspected the site's code to verify its actions. I asked it to create a custom list — even I had to look up where to find that option, but Comet figured it out on its own using trial and error. After that I asked it to scan my 1000+ item watchlist and surface family-friendly movies and shows specifically in Hindi and Punjabi — and it did. If it got stuck, it tried another way, like when a movie poster wasn't hyperlinked and the click failed, it tried clicking the associated text. You can see all this reasoning live in the side panel. It can even access your Gmail account (requires account linking), tell you stuff about your inbox, and take actions like replying to emails or scheduling meetings. If you can't already tell, I came out impressed — mostly. It's that slow trainee who can't learn quickly enough Joe Maring / Android Authority I can truly see the potential. Comet can become the assistant you always wanted. It can do mundane things in one tab, like filling your Amazon cart using your browsing history, while you focus on your main task in another. Or you can just curiously observe it — like a kid watching a robot — as it takes several minutes to do something you could've done in five seconds. It works in parallel, without grabbing your attention. But it makes a lot of mistakes. It messes things up. And that's fair too as it's still in beta with limited access. Think of it as a newbie office trainee: slow to learn, needs to be walked through the process, often makes a mess, and needs supervision. You may find yourself repeating instructions or cleaning up after it, wondering why you didn't just do it yourself. It can do mundane things in one tab, like filling your Amazon cart using your browsing history, while you focus on your main task in another. But that's not the point. It's supposed to handle tasks that are too trivial to steal your focus — run them in the background while you work on what matters and let you step in only if it stumbles. And from what I've seen, things look promising on that front. I imagine it as an always-on assistant sitting quietly in the side panel, always listening. I tell it to do something in a new tab or on an existing page while I'm writing — where even glancing away could break the flow — and it gets it done by the time I'm finished. That's the future I want to live in. And that's the future I tasted, even if briefly, with Comet. I soooo want to switch Karandeep Singh / Android Authority When I recently tried out Arc's sister browser Dia, which also leans heavily into AI, I wasn't that tempted to switch. But Comet is different. It's not reinventing the wheel — it's building a new vehicle entirely. I know Gemini is getting deeply baked into Chrome, and it's unlikely Google isn't working on its own agentic overhaul. But right now, Comet looks like the spaceship that might one day fly between planets while the others are still circling the moon. To access it, though, you'll need Perplexity's $200/month plan. If you're wondering — no, it's not worth spending that much every month. That decision is likely to limit early adoption. Perplexity will have to offer it for free or at least bundle it with a cheaper plan if it wants to avoid monetizing user data and still remain accessible. There are still an awful lot of rough edges around AI's use to smooth out, and the voice input system via Assistant (which actually makes the browser stand out) can be sluggish — often taking minutes to analyze a command or a page. To access Comet, though, you'll need Perplexity's $200/month plan. If you're wondering — no, it's not worth spending that much every month. If you somehow manage to get access to Comet, I think you should give it a try, even if you're not in the market for a new browser. It'll give you a glimpse of what your current browser lacks — and what it could become. As for me, I'll try to hold off the urge to switch. But with how playful Comet is, I might give in. I just might.
Business Insider
13 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Robinhood CEO says the majority of the company's new code is written by AI, with 'close to 100%' adoption from engineers
At Robinhood, nearly all of the engineers are vibe coders. That's according to Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, who said on the 20VC podcast that the company's human-written code was hard to distinguish from AI-generated code. Among the company's engineers, "close to 100%" are using AI code editors, he said. When asked what percentage of Robinhood's new code is AI-generated, Tenev said that it was around 50%. That's a higher percentage than what Microsoft and Google have previously said, with CEOs Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai estimating around 30%. Tenev acknowledged that the 50% metric was imprecise, thanks to the upgrowth of "agentic" code editors. "We've moved from GitHub Copilot, which is an autocomplete system, to Cursor, and now things like Windsurf, where nearly all of the code is written by AI," Tenev said. "It's hard to even determine what the human-generated code is." Taking a guess, Tenev estimated the "minority" of new code at Robinhood was written by humans. Robinhood's stock price has been on a tear, trading up over 177% since the start of the year, with multiple factors driving its recent rally. Robinhood expanded its crypto venture by launching US private-stock tokens. Retail investors on Robinhood remain active, and the company continues to roll out new products like a predictions-market hub. On 20VC, Tenev said AI had contributed to the company's cost and efficiency stabilization, he said. "We have been pretty mum on how much we've been using it internally," Tenev said. "The impact that it's had on internal teams, ranging from software engineering to customer support, the really big internal teams, has been huge."
