Google Search Goes Agentic—and Doesn’t Need You Anymore

AI agents are everywhere. Every briefing I’ve attended for software companies over the past year has involved some mention of agents—using generative AI tools to automate digital tasks. Despite breakout moments at the start of 2026, like the plucky OpenClaw agent that early adopters used to manage their online life, most people are not yet … Read more

Demis Hassabis Thinks AI Job Cuts Are Dumb

Demis Hassabis, the CEO of Google DeepMind, is keen to talk about the coding skills of his company’s newest model, Gemini 3.5 Flash. The model has been trained to perform complex agentic coding tasks: translate large code bases from one language to another; find and fix bugs lurking deep in knotty code; and even write … Read more

Google Makes It Easy to Deepfake Yourself

One of the most immediately noticeable changes to Flow is the new video-generation model powering the experience: Omni Flash, succeeding Veo. Similar to how Google’s Nano Banana model brought more context about the world into the AI ​​image-creation process, the Omni Flash model overhauls video generation with richer detail throughout clips. Flow users can generate … Read more

Gemini Spark Is Google’s Response to OpenClaw’s 24/7 AI Agent

Gemini Spark is Google’s take on a steroided-out assistant agent that knows everything about you, announced as part of the company’s updates to its Gemini chatbot app at this year’s I/O developer conference. Software companies have been talking up AI agents for some time now, but I wasn’t impressed until I tried Anthropic’s Claude Cowork … Read more

Literary Prizewinners Are Facing AI Allegations. It Feels Like the New Normal

At first, the winners of the prestigious Commonwealth Short Story Prize for 2026 enjoyed the envy of their peers. But since their works of fiction earned this distinction, these authors have found themselves facing harsh scrutiny from the literary community, with several accused of enlisting generative artificial intelligence to write for them. The allegations have … Read more

Everything Announced at Google I/O 2026: Gemini, Search, Smart Glasses

Much weirder is voice editing in Google Docs, in a new feature called Docs Live. By describing with your voice what you want to write, an agent will dictate your words, generate text, pull in citations from the web, and aim to turn your stream-of-consciousness wishes into a coherent document. (Reminder: All this stuff may … Read more

Meta Employees Are Scrambling to Use Up Benefits Ahead of Layoffs

Ahead of Meta’s In the latest round of mass layoffs tomorrow, some employees are deserting offices, abandoning their work, and loading up on perks they might soon lose, several people at the company tell WIRED. Two employees describe a widespread rush to use up an annual $2,000 flexible benefit, which can cover a variety of … Read more

Former OpenAI Staffers Warn xAI’s Poor Safety Record Could Complicate SpaceX’s IPO

Two former OpenAI employees and a group of AI safety nonprofits are warning that Elon Musk’s AI lab, xAI, could become a liability for prospective investors in SpaceX, which is preparing to file what’s expected to be the largest initial public offering in Wall Street History. In a letters directed to investors published on Tuesday, … Read more

Tom Steyer Wants to Save California From Billionaires. But Also Doesn’t Want Them to Leave

For those concerned about the influence of Big Tech and billionaires on California’s future, Tom Steyer looks like an obvious choice. A billionaire who amassed his fortune after founding Farallon Capital Management, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds, Steyer quit the firm in 2012 and turned to philanthropy, political advocacy, and climate activism, among … Read more