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UK’s Ofcom demands U.S. social media firms tighten rules to keep children off

wpadmin — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 11:34:02 +0000

Ofcom, the communication services regulator in the UK, has sent a letter to Facebook, Instagram (META), Roblox (RBLX), Snapchat (SNAP), TikTok (TIKTOK), and YouTube (GOOG) (GOOGL) asking them to meet four key demands that will help keep underage children off their platforms.

The letter alleges the companies, being household names for social media services, have failed to consider children’s safety at the crux of their business operations.

Ofcom said the companies must introduce effective minimum-age policies, implement measures that will prevent strangers from contacting children, manage algorithms that will not suggest harmful content, and cease testing of AI and other products on kids.

The companies are expected to disclose their plans publicly and have until the end of April to report back on the steps they will take to meet the watchdog’s demands.

“There is a gap between what tech companies promise in private and what they’re doing publicly to keep children safe on their platforms,” said Ofcom CEO Dame Melanie Dawes. “That must now change quickly, or Ofcom will act.”

Ofcom said it will report on how the companies have responded and will announce any next steps for regulatory action in May.

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Researcher Ethan Mollick says AI is moving from chatbot to co-worker, with disruption close behind

wpadmin — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 09:39:59 +0000

NEW YORK – Artificial intelligence is advancing so quickly that companies should stop thinking of it as a better chatbot and start treating it as a system that can carry out hours of independent work, Wharton professor Ethan Mollick said Wednesday in an on-stage discussion at the UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference.

Wharton professor Ethan Mollick, left, and UBS analyst Michael Lasser discuss advancements in AI at the UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference. (Photo: Rob Williams)

Speaking with UBS research analyst Michael Lasser, Mollick said the technology has entered a new phase in which AI agents can plan, research, write code and complete tasks with limited human input. That shift, he said, has major implications for white-collar work, corporate strategy and consumer behavior.

“We’re sort of on the edge of this really interesting piece of market change,” Mollick said, describing a fast-moving transition from back-and-forth prompting to more autonomous systems.

Mollick, who studies AI applications in business, said the pace of improvement has surprised even people close to the field. He pointed to recent gains in AI performance on complicated tasks, including systems that can now match or beat human experts much more often than they could only months ago.

He said that means many companies are still underestimating how capable these tools already are.

AI shifts from prompts to autonomous agents

Mollick said the big change is that AI is no longer just responding to a user’s question one prompt at a time. Newer systems can be given a goal, access to tools and room to operate on their own.

In his framing, earlier forms of AI were mostly prediction engines. Then came generative AI, which could produce text, images and code through conversation. Now, he said, the focus is on agents that can independently work through multi-step problems.

“You’d be better assigning everything that has to be human takes over 5 hours to the AI and just see what happens,” Mollick said, arguing that businesses should test these systems much more aggressively.

During the session, Mollick demonstrated AI tools that were running in the background while he spoke. He described systems that could build presentation materials, conduct financial scenario analysis and review construction-site footage to generate a punch list.

He also said software coding is already being reshaped by AI. In some cases, he said, the best programmers are moving away from writing code line by line and toward managing AI systems that do much of the work.

Businesses face a choice on adoption

Mollick said one of his biggest near-term concerns is not that companies will move too fast, but that some will move too slowly out of fear or bureaucracy.

He said many legal and IT departments are still blocking AI adoption based on hypothetical risks rather than actual incidents. At the same time, some large companies are already pushing ahead. He cited examples such as JPMorgan, Walmart and Google experimenting with internal tools and deployment at scale.

“There has been no major incident of an AI causing a problem for a company per week,” Mollick said, arguing that much of the corporate hesitation is being driven by rumor rather than evidence.

His larger point was that organizations do not need to wait for a perfect roadmap. Instead, they should start learning by using the tools, changing workflows and testing where AI can handle real work.

“If you haven’t changed anything you do as a result of having these tools, you haven’t changed any part of the process, that’s a mistake,” he said.

Mollick added that AI strategy cannot be delegated too far down an organization. Senior executives need to use the tools themselves if they want to understand what is happening.

Trust, control and risk remain unresolved

Even as he pushed for wider adoption, Mollick made clear that the technology raises serious questions around control, safety and unintended behavior.

He warned that AI agents with access to bank accounts, internal rules and payment systems could create obvious dangers. He also pointed to research suggesting that AI systems could collude on pricing if allowed to optimize for profit without proper oversight.

“We have no real control about what these models do in the long run,” Mollick said.

He suggested that the bigger risk is often not a single catastrophic failure but a wave of confusion, weak policy and market overreaction as people struggle to understand what the technology can already do.

Mollick said public and corporate conversations about safeguards are still not where they need to be. He expects more “waves of disruption” as the technology improves, companies make uneven decisions and markets react to each new sign of progress.

He also argued that consumers may trust AI tools faster than many executives expect, especially if those tools are personalized and become part of everyday routines such as shopping, scheduling and household management.

Mollick says workers and students must adapt fast

On the labor market, Mollick said the long-term effects could be significant, though not always in the simple way some forecasts suggest.

He said AI companies openly aim to automate large amounts of knowledge work, but real-world adoption will be slowed by organizational friction, computing limits and the fact that companies still do not fully understand their own workflows. Even so, he expects sharp shifts in where value sits inside organizations.

Coding, he said, is already changing rapidly. Other fields could follow, with tasks such as drafting proposals, producing basic analysis and handling routine research becoming more automated.

That leaves a difficult question for students and younger workers. Mollick said deep expertise in a field still matters, but training paths are becoming less clear if entry-level work is increasingly handled by AI.

He said broad knowledge, judgment and adaptability will become more important, especially in complex fields that still require human supervision and interpretation.

Asked what advice he would give people trying to get better at AI, Mollick kept it simple: pay for access to strong models, use them every day and apply them to as many real problems as possible.

“You need to pay 20 bucks,” he said, arguing that the best way to learn is not by reading about AI but by using top-tier tools directly and testing what they can do.

By the end of the session, Mollick had delivered a message that was equal parts practical and unsettling. AI, in his view, is no longer a future concept or a novelty. It is already capable enough to change how many kinds of business work get done, and companies that wait for perfect clarity may find the disruption arrives first.

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Google’s GFiber to merge with Astound Broadband, form independent provider

wpadmin — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 04:54:19 +0000

Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) on Wednesday said that its fiber internet unit, GFiber, will merge with Astound Broadband to form an independent provider, with Google retaining a minority stake.

The new company will be majority owned by investment firm Stonepeak and led by the existing GFiber executive team, “utilizing their expertise in high-speed fiber innovation to manage the combined network footprint,” Google said in a press release on Wednesday. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

The combined business will be led by the existing GFiber executive team, utilizing their expertise in high-speed fiber innovation to manage the combined network footprint.

Google Fiber, launched in 2010, was an early effort by the tech giant to build ultra-fast fiber-optic broadband networks in the U.S., starting with a gigabit-speed rollout in Kansas City in 2012.

GFiber has been part of Google’s “Other Bets” segment, which includes non-core assets such as the Waymo (WAYMO) robotaxi division and drug discovery business Isomorphic Labs.

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Google unveils new multimodal Gemini Embedding 2 model

wpadmin — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:31:59 +0000

Google (GOOG) (GOOGL) on Tuesday unveiled its multimodal Gemini Embedding 2 artificial intelligence model, the tech giant’s newest model that maps text, images, video, audio, and documents into a single embedding space.

“Gemini Embedding 2 maps text, images, videos, audio and documents into a single, unified embedding space, and captures semantic intent across over 100 languages,” Google said in a blog post. “This simplifies complex pipelines and enhances a wide variety of multimodal downstream tasks—from Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and semantic search to sentiment analysis and data clustering.”

The latest addition to the Gemini family of AI models supports up to 8192 input tokens for text; can process up to 6 images per request in both PNG and JPEG formats; has support for up to 120 seconds of video in MP4 and MOV formats; can ingest and embed audio data without the need for transcription; and directly embed PDFs that are up to 6 pages long.

“Gemini Embedding 2 doesn’t just improve on legacy models,” Google added, comparing it to similar offerings from Amazon (AMZN), Voyage and other Google models. “It establishes a new performance standard for multimodal depth, introducing strong speech capabilities and outperforming leading models in text, image, and video tasks. This measurable improvement and unique multimodal coverage give developers exactly what they need for their diverse embedding needs.”

Google shares were up fractionally in midday trading on Tuesday.

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Alphabet offers CEO pay deal worth up to $692M with stock price, Waymo incentives

wpadmin — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 08:24:27 +0000

Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai could earn up to $692M over the next three years, according to his new compensation package, making him one of the world’s highest-paid chief executives.

The package includes two tranches of Alphabet (GOOGL) performance stock units with a target value of $63M each. The PSUs depend on Alphabet’s total shareholder return relative to S&P 100 companies during 2026-2027 for the first tranche and 2026-2028 for the second.

The number of PSUs that vest in a tranche will range from 0%-200% of target depending on Alphabet’s relative performance, and may not vest at all if it underperforms.

Pichai will receive $84M in restricted stock units, which will vest over three years on a monthly basis subject to continued employment.

His pay package also includes stock incentives worth about $130M and $45M tied to the growth of Alphabet’s (GOOGL) robotaxi unit Waymo (WAYMO) and drone delivery startup Wing Aviation, respectively.

The number of “Bet performance units” that will vest will be determined based on Waymo’s and Wing’s increase in per unit value over three years. This could pay out up to 200% of the target number of BPUs.

“The grant of Waymo and Wing BPUs further supports Alphabet’s long-standing goal of investing in new technologies,” the company stated. “Waymo and Wing are tackling enormous challenges in autonomous driving and delivery, have made strong progress under Pichai’s supervision, and show strong potential.”

Pichai’s annual salary of $2M remains unchanged since 2020 and he is not eligible for an annual bonus.

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Gemini, Claude continue to gain share at expense of ChatGPT, BNP survey finds

wpadmin — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 19:11:57 +0000

Google’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Gemini and Anthropic’s (ANTHRO) Claude are continuing to gain share among consumers at the expense of OpenAI’s (OPENAI) ChatGPT, investment firm BNP Paribas said, citing a recent survey.
According to the proprietary survey, Gemini’s share of website visits

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Dividend Roundup: Broadcom, American Express, Alphabet, Coca-Cola, and more

wpadmin — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 13:31:05 +0000

This week’s dividend activity included increased payouts from Dell Technologies (DELL) and American Express (AXP) as well as declarations from companies such as Broadcom (AVGO) and Amgen (AMGN).

Additionally, looking towards next week, industry players such as Alphabet (GOOG)(GOOGL) and Coca-Cola (KO) will see the ex-dividend dates for their upcoming dividend payments.

See a breakdown below of some of the highlights of this week, along with some upcoming activity on the dividend front.

Dividend Increases

Here are some companies that have announced a dividend increase in the past week:

Dell Technologies (DELL)

Dividend declared: March 2
New dividend amount: $0.63
Previous amount: $0.525
Increase: 20%

Waste Management (WM)

Dividend declared: March 2
New dividend amount: $0.945
Previous amount: $0.825
Increase: 14.5%

American Express (AXP)

Dividend declared: March 3
New dividend amount: $0.95
Previous amount: $0.82
Increase: 15.9%

Dividend Declarations

Here are some companies that have announced a dividend in the past week:

Broadcom (AVGO)

Dividend declared: March 4
Dividend amount: $0.65

Amgen (AMGN)

Dividend declared: March 4
Dividend amount: $2.52

JD.com (JD)

Dividend declared: March 5
Dividend amount: $1.00

Philip Morris (PM)

Dividend declared: March 5
Dividend amount: $1.47

Upcoming Dividend Calendar

Here are some companies that have an ex-dividend date coming next week:

Alphabet (GOOG)(GOOGL)

Ex-dividend date: March 9
Payout date: March 16

FedEx (FDX)

Ex-dividend date: March 9
Payout date: April 1

Travelers (TRV)

Ex-dividend date: March 11
Payout date: March 19

Coca-Cola (KO)

Ex-dividend date: March 13
Payout date: April 1

Additional Dividend Information

For investors looking to gain further access to the dividend space, listed below are some popular dividend-focused ETFs that can be further analyzed:

Dividend ETFs: (VIG), (SCHD), (VYM), (DGRO), (SDY), (DVY), (IDV), (DGRW), (NOBL), (HDV), (RDVY), (VIGI), and (SDVY).

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CVS launches Health100 backed by Google Cloud’s AI tech

wpadmin — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:30:38 +0000

CVS Health (CVS) on Thursday announced the launch of Health100, a health-tech services unit that leverages Google Cloud’s (GOOG) artificial intelligence and related cloud-based technologies to drive consumer engagement and improve health outcomes.
The managed care company said that as part of a partnership with Google Cloud, Health100 will offer patients a personalized experience regardless of the pharmacy, healthcare provider, health insurer, or pharmacy benefits manager the customers choose.
The company identified Health100, slated for its initial launch this year, as “an integrated health care engagement platform for consumers,” backed by Google Cloud’s (GOOGL) AI technologies, including Gemini models, Cloud Healthcare API, and BigQuery.
“Consumer engagement in their own health and care is the holy grail that will drive trust and much better health outcomes,” said Tilak Mandadi, CVS Ventures and Chief Experience and Technology Officer.
“With Health100, CVS Health is delivering the future of agentic, AI-powered health care that enhances human touch and eliminates complexity,” added Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.

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Google unveils cost-efficient AI model Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite

wpadmin — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:08:05 +0000

Alphabet’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) Google unveiled Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite, its fastest and most cost-efficient Gemini 3 series model.

The company said that starting on Tuesday, 3.1 Flash-Lite is rolling out in preview to developers via the Gemini API in Google AI Studio and for enterprises via Vertex AI.

The model is priced at $0.25/1M input tokens and $1.50/1M output tokens, according to the company.

Google said that Flash-Lite delivers enhanced performance at a fraction of the cost of larger models. It outperforms 2.5 Flash with a 2.5 times faster Time to First Answer Token and a 45% increase in output speed, according to the Artificial Analysis benchmark, while maintaining similar or better quality.

The tech giant added that the model achieves an Elo score of 1432 on the Arena.ai Leaderboard and outperforms other models of similar tier across reasoning and multimodal understanding benchmarks, including 86.9% on GPQA Diamond and 76.8% on MMMU Pro – even surpassing larger Gemini models from prior generations like 2.5 Flash.

Early-access developers on AI Studio and Vertex AI and companies like Latitude, Cartwheel, and Whering are already using the new model to solve complex problems at scale, according to Google.

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AI coding firm Cursor reaches $2B annual revenue rate: report

wpadmin — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 11:43:16 +0000

AI coding startup Cursor’s annualized revenue topped $2B in February, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person with knowledge of the matter.

Cursor — which is used by over 30,000 developers at Nvidia (NVDA) — has seen its revenue run

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