Waymo Recalls 80% of Robotaxis for Updates as L.A.'s Service Industry Goes Cyborg
Waymo, owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, recently issued a recall for more than 80% of its fleet of 1,500 cars operating in Los Angeles, Austin, Phoenix, and San Francisco. Those Jaguar I-Pace robotaxis are under scrutiny after several high-profile incidents found the high-tech vehicles on the wrong side of the road, slowly crashing into telephone poles or trapping customers inside while doing donuts. This is at least the third recall and software update since last year when the company reported nine collisions, according to TechCrunch. 'Driverless cars,' Waymo said in a statement. 'Reduced injury causing collisions by 81% compared to expected human performance.' A Waymo in West Hollywood recently gave a little love tap to an Uber Eats Serve bot attempting to cross La Cienega Boulevard with someone's dinner. Next year, Volkswagen plans to roll out it's retro van ID Buzz AD on L.A. streets in partnership with Uber, right as Zoox, Amazon's capsule-shaped pushmi-pullyu hits the road.
The concerns are not stopping the mechanical men from their goal of eliminating the puny mortal workforce. 'The robots don't take time off,' Shahan Ohanessian, CEO of cyborg-run convenience store VenHub told NBC. 'They're working seven days a week and they don't really celebrate holidays.' He also noted that the machines recently installed in Glendale and North Hollywood are bulletproof should anyone choose to go to war with our new robot overlords.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Google brings its AI-powered marketing tools to India after ‘Google tax' repeal
Google has launched a suite of its AI-powered advertising tools in India, which debuted in the U.S. in May, as the repeal of the so-called 'Google tax' has made the South Asian market more attractive to global tech firms selling online ads. In March, the Indian government scrapped its 6% levy on digital advertisements, effective in April, as a move to address some of the trade concerns raised by the Trump administration. The United States Trade Representative had criticized the levy by calling it 'discriminatory and unreasonable,' as domestic companies were exempt. Its repeal would ease costs for tech giants, including Google, Meta, and Amazon. On Thursday, Google hosted the local version of its Marketing Live event to debut its AI-powered tools for Indian marketers. One of the tools is 'Generated for You', available within Product Studio, that identifies relevant content opportunities across shopping catalogs and pre-generates images and videos via AI that merchants can save or publish across Google platforms. Another tool is an opt-in feature called Smart Bidding Exploration in search campaigns, which is built on existing Smart Bidding and uses AI to find newer, qualified leads that merchants wouldn't have captured or bid on typically. Plus, Google introduced new agentic capabilities in Google Ads and Analytics. 'These agentic tools can learn from advertising inputs, including datasets, landing pages, assets, and real-time campaign performance, to take the guesswork out of achieving business goals,' Dan Taylor, Vice President for Global Ads at Google, said at a virtual media roundtable. Google brought AI Max for Search Campaigns, which aims to enhance search ad campaign performance by identifying more relevant and high-performing search queries by learning from brands' landing pages, their existing ads, and existing keyword lists. Indian online marketplace for used electronics goods, Cashify, saw its conversions up by 15% and customer acquisition costs reduced by 12% after deploying AI Max during its early testing, Google said. Google also announced that ads will start appearing on AI Overviews in India later this year. Additionally, the company has introduced its shoppable connected TV ads on YouTube in India. YouTube's masthead on mobile will now also start serving ads in the country. YouTube on connected TVs has been the most-watched streaming service on television in India over the past year, said Roma Datta Chobey, managing director of Digital Native Industries at Google India. Similarly, the country has been a significant market for YouTube Shorts, with short videos on the platform viewed trillions of times since launch. As many as 87% of Indian consumers watch YouTube or Shorts as part of their shopping journey, Chobey said. India's digital advertising presence is growing, as the world's second-largest internet market continues to see more users come online. The country's digital ad market is projected to grow over 20% year-over-year, reaching nearly $7 billion by the end of 2025, per a recent Dentsu Digital Advertising report. 'India is such a thriving digital ecosystem. We have the largest number of users who are actively trying and testing our products. So, that's really the reason behind us getting these innovations to India faster,' Chobey said, in response to TechCrunch's question about the timing of the new AI ad tools. India has long been a key market for Google, not just because it hosts the company's largest user base but also due to consistent growth in ad revenues. In fiscal year 2024, Google's gross ad revenue in India increased 11% year-over-year to ₹312.21 billion ($3.6 billion), while its net advertising revenue rose 18% to ₹27.43 billion ($320 million). Sign in to access your portfolio

WIRED
2 hours ago
- WIRED
Elon Musk Unveils Grok 4 Amid Controversy Over Chatbot's Antisemitic Posts
Jul 10, 2025 2:34 AM In a livestream with xAI colleagues, the billionaire entrepreneur described current AI systems as 'primitive' and not for 'serious' commercial Musk on Thursday unveiled Grok 4, the latest AI model from xAI, his multibillion-dollar initiative to rival OpenAI and Google. Without citing detailed evidence, Musk claimed that the model aces standardized tests and exhibits doctorate-level knowledge in a wide array of different disciplines. 'Grok 4 is a postgrad-level in everything,' Musk said during an hour-long live broadcast, which began after midnight in New York. 'At least with respect to academic questions, Grok 4 is better than PhD level in every subject. No exceptions.' xAI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from WIRED about whether it plans to publish an official technical report about Grok 4 detailing its capabilities and limitations. Competing AI developers, such as OpenAI and Google, have routinely released similar publications for their models. Users can access Grok 4 through the Grok website or app for $30 a month. Access to a larger version known as Grok 4 Heavy costs $300 per month. Later this year, xAI aims to release additional models that are well suited for software coding tasks and generating video, according to Thursday's presentation. Musk, who serves as xAI's CEO, did not address recent criticism of Grok. Over the past few days, a version of the AI built into Musk's X social media platform praised Adolf Hitler and provided antisemitic responses to multiple prompts from X users. In response, xAI, which owns X, announced Tuesday it would be taking action to 'to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X.' On Wednesday, Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, announced she was leaving the company without elaborating on her reasoning or plans. During Thursday's livestream, Musk said that, according to his 'biological neural net,' AI systems should be optimized 'to be maximally truth seeking' and encouraged 'to be truthful, honorable, good things—like the values you want to instill in a child that would ultimately grow up to be incredibly powerful.' Musk cofounded xAI in 2023 after OpenAI released ChatGPT and triggered a surge of investment in generative AI technologies that can automatically produce text, code, audio, images, and videos. xAI launched the first version of Grok in November of that year, and Grok 2 debuted last August. Grok 3, which was released this past February, is available for free. Musk has said that Grok was designed to have a sense of rumor and rebelliousness. On its website, xAI says its mission is to create accurate AI systems and help people obtain knowledge. Thursday's late night product announcement began over an hour behind schedule and featured Musk sitting on a couch with two xAI colleagues in front of a dark background. The trio boasted about Grok's capabilities, displaying slides that aimed to show how the model outperforms other AI programs. But Musk also acknowledged it still has significant weaknesses. 'These are still primitive tools, not the kind of tools that serious commercial companies use,' he said. Musk predicted that Grok would discover new technologies next year, if not as soon as later this year. Yet, he said, 'at times it may lack common sense, and it has not yet invented new technologies, or discovered new physics.' He added that xAI would 'close the loop around usefulness' so that the technology is 'not just book smart, but actually practically smart.' At another point during the livestream, Musk described Grok as 'partially blind' because it still struggles to process and generate images, adding that updates to address the limitation were in the works. Beside offering one-off subscriptions, xAI aims to generate revenue by selling Grok's technology to businesses and governments that want to develop custom chatbots. Public job postings show the company also wants to use its AI technology to boost X's advertising business. xAI raised $12 billion from investors last year, according to company announcements and US regulatory filings. Last month, Morgan Stanley disclosed that it had also helped xAI secure $5 billion in debt and that Musk's company had raised an additional $5 billion by selling shares. xAI's investors include several venture capital funds with close ties to Musk as well as investment giants such as BlackRock and Fidelity. The funding has enabled xAI to purchase vast numbers of advanced computer chips and develop a data center in Memphis, Tennessee to train and operate Grok, which the company calls Colossus. Musk said Thursday that Grok 4 was made possible by xAI's increased computing capacity.


TechCrunch
2 hours ago
- TechCrunch
Google brings its AI-powered marketing tools to India after ‘Google tax' repeal
Google has launched a suite of its AI-powered advertising tools in India, which debuted in the U.S. in May, as the repeal of the so-called 'Google tax' has made the South Asian market more attractive to global tech firms selling online ads. In March, the Indian government scrapped its 6% levy on digital advertisements, effective in April, as a move to address some of the trade concerns raised by the Trump administration. The United States Trade Representative had criticized the levy by calling it 'discriminatory and unreasonable,' as domestic companies were exempt. Its repeal would ease costs for tech giants, including Google, Meta, and Amazon. On Thursday, Google hosted the local version of its Marketing Live event to debut its AI-powered tools for Indian marketers. One of the tools is 'Generated for You', available within Product Studio, that identifies relevant content opportunities across shopping catalogs and pre-generates images and videos via AI that merchants can save or publish across Google platforms. Another tool is an opt-in feature called Smart Bidding Exploration in search campaigns, which is built on existing Smart Bidding and uses AI to find newer, qualified leads that merchants wouldn't have captured or bid on typically. Plus, Google introduced new agentic capabilities in Google Ads and Analytics. Agentic capabilities in Google Analytics Image Credits:Google 'These agentic tools can learn from advertising inputs, including datasets, landing pages, assets, and real-time campaign performance, to take the guesswork out of achieving business goals,' Dan Taylor, Vice President for Global Ads at Google, said at a virtual media roundtable. Techcrunch event Save up to $475 on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $450 on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW Google brought AI Max for Search Campaigns, which aims to enhance search ad campaign performance by identifying more relevant and high-performing search queries by learning from brands' landing pages, their existing ads, and existing keyword lists. Indian online marketplace for used electronics goods, Cashify, saw its conversions up by 15% and customer acquisition costs reduced by 12% after deploying AI Max during its early testing, Google said. Google also announced that ads will start appearing on AI Overviews in India later this year. Additionally, the company has introduced its shoppable connected TV ads on YouTube in India. YouTube's masthead on mobile will now also start serving ads in the country. YouTube Shoppable Masthead now in India Image Credits:Google YouTube on connected TVs has been the most-watched streaming service on television in India over the past year, said Roma Datta Chobey, managing director of Digital Native Industries at Google India. Similarly, the country has been a significant market for YouTube Shorts, with short videos on the platform viewed trillions of times since launch. As many as 87% of Indian consumers watch YouTube or Shorts as part of their shopping journey, Chobey said. India's digital advertising presence is growing, as the world's second-largest internet market continues to see more users come online. The country's digital ad market is projected to grow over 20% year-over-year, reaching nearly $7 billion by the end of 2025, per a recent Dentsu Digital Advertising report. 'India is such a thriving digital ecosystem. We have the largest number of users who are actively trying and testing our products. So, that's really the reason behind us getting these innovations to India faster,' Chobey said, in response to TechCrunch's question about the timing of the new AI ad tools. India has long been a key market for Google, not just because it hosts the company's largest user base but also due to consistent growth in ad revenues. In fiscal year 2024, Google's gross ad revenue in India increased 11% year-over-year to ₹312.21 billion ($3.6 billion), while its net advertising revenue rose 18% to ₹27.43 billion ($320 million).