The Verge's guide to an easier move
In what's become a bit of a Decoder tradition, I spoke with Google CEO Sundar Pichai in person after I/O. The conference this year was all about AI, particularly a slew of actual AI products, not just models and capabilities. To Sundar, this marks the beginning of a new era for search and the web overall. So I had to ask: what happens to the web when AI tools and eventually agents do most of the browsing for us? It was a very Decoder conversation.
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Tom's Guide
29 minutes ago
- Tom's Guide
This AI video generator is going viral, and it's completely free to use
AI video generators are having a bit of a moment. Whether it's Google's Veo 3, complete with audio integration, or something like Kling 2 or Runway that are creating movie-quality clips with ease, the technology has come a long way. But along with the big-name companies vying for the best AI video generator, there are some smaller underdogs of the AI video world. One that recently caught my eye was Hailouai. I kept seeing videos generated by the model popping up on sites like X, with users showing off their impressive generations. This isn't the first time we've talked about Haliuo, in fact, we were impressed by a major update it revealed late last year. But the AI company is back in people's minds with its most recent updated called the Director model. In this version, like a few other big AI video generators, you can input camera angles and movements, to give your videos a bit more action. This new update gives users on Hailuo a bit more control over what they are producing. It allows for the alteration of camera angles in prompts in two ways. Users can either choose from a pre-selection of options like 'downward tilt' or 'right walking' or they can come up with their own. Like most video generation experiences, creativity can either reward or hinder you. Sometimes, getting too complicated with camera angle suggestions resulted in a complete mess of an experience, or the model would ignore it completely. I found more success when using Hailuo by focusing on the options I had been given. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. You can choose to either make a video from scratch with a text prompt or use an existing image that you want to edit. You can also add an image of someone and ask for them to be dropped into a scene. This option comes with an incredibly long list of warnings about use of that image and follows the same concerns that come with deepfakes on any platform. All of this technology can be found in competitors like Runway, Kling and Higgsfield. One of the major benefits of Haliuo is how good the free version of its software is. The load times are slightly slower, and you are still limited in credits, but that limit is pretty high. You will be able to get 20 to 30 videos generated before you near the end of your credit limit and there are ways to get more without having to sign up for a paid plan. However, on the free plan, your images and videos will have watermarks on them - something to keep in mind if you plan to use these videos commercially. Once you've made an account on Hailuai, you'll land on the homescreen. You should have roughly 1,000 credits at this point. Videos cost around 30 credits and images just 1. On the left hand side there are four ways to interact with the AI generation. For this particular activity, we want the 'create video' section. Here, you can choose to turn images into video, text to video or input your subject reference (an image of a person to edit). Most importantly here, you want to change your model at the bottom to T2V-01-Director to add the camera angles change. Then, by clicking the small camera in the bottom right corner, you'll be able to choose the camera angle style for your video. Once that's all selected, and you've put your prompt in, click the generate button in the bottom right. It will take a few minutes to generate but compared to other free video generators is actually quite fast. This isn't the best AI video generator on the market, but considering how good its free plan is (and then how affordable the paid plans are) its a great choice for those not wanting to fork out large amounts of money to generate a few videos. Hailuo offers all of the same features you'd see in leading models and, quite frankly, in some ways more. You can even ask Deepseek for assistance on your prompt directly from the Hailouai app. With such stiff competition in this market, Hailoai is keeping up surprisingly well with the likes of OpenAI and Gemini, even offering the ability to add sound (at the expense of more credits of course).
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Analysts unveil bold forecast for Alphabet stock despite ChatGPT threat
Analysts unveil bold forecast for Alphabet stock despite ChatGPT threat originally appeared on TheStreet. You typed in a question and clicked a few links, and Google could get paid if you landed on an ad. For years, that simple cycle helped turn Google into a trillion-dollar titan. But now, that model is under threat. 💵💰💰💵 AI-powered chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT are rapidly changing how people find answers. Instead of browsing through links, users are getting direct summaries on AI. These 'zero-click' searches quietly erode the economics that built the modern internet. The number of users is growing fast. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in April that ChatGPT already has 'something like 10% of the world" in terms of users, pegging the number closer to 800 million, Forbes reported. Even Google seems to know it. It's giving AI answers, called AI Overviews, right at the top of the page. "What's changing is not that fewer people are searching the that more and more the answers to Google are being answered right on Google's page. That AI box at the top of Google is now absorbing that content that would have gone to the original content creators," Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said in a CNBC interview. Alphabet () , Google's parent company, isn't showing any cracks just yet. In April, the company posted first-quarter revenue of $90.23 billion, topping Wall Street expectations. Earnings per share came in at $2.81, far above the forecasted $ the backbone of Google's business, brought in $66.89 billion, accounting for nearly three-quarters of total revenue. Its 'Search and other' segment rose almost 10% year over year, hitting $50.7 billion. Meanwhile, Google's own AI tools are starting to show traction. AI Overviews now has 1.5 billion users per month, up from 1 billion in October, the company said. So far, the numbers suggest that AI isn't cannibalizing Google's business yet. Bank of America remains bullish on Alphabet stock. The firm reiterated a buy rating and a price target of $200, which implies a potential 15% upside from current levels, according to a recent research report. The firm said in May, Google's global average daily web visits held steady at 2.7 billion, unchanged from the previous month and down 2% from a year earlier. ChatGPT, meanwhile, saw a 3% month-over-month increase to 182 million, marking a 105% jump the U.S., Google traffic slipped 2% year-over-year to 524 million daily visits, while ChatGPT surged 112% over the same period to 26 million. Although Google has highlighted the growing reach of its AI Overviews, analysts are uncertain whether it's translating into more traffic. 'So far, we are not seeing a lift in Google traffic from AI Overviews expansion, though we think the search experience is much improved,' the analysts wrote. The competition is real. Google's global search share also edged down in May, falling 8 basis points month-over-month and 123 basis points year-over-year to 89.6%, according to Statcounter. Still, Bank of America analysts remain optimistic on Alphabet stock. "While ChatGPT's traffic continues to grow rapidly, we think Google remains well-positioned given its scale, multi-product reach, data assets, and robust monetization infrastructure," the analysts said. "AI can expand overall search monetization by better understanding the intent behind complex and long-tail queries that were previously hard to monetize," they added. Morningstar's Malik Ahmed Khan echoed that sentiment, saying Alphabet's diverse revenue streams and global exposure should cushion any hits, even as regulatory and AI risks mount, according to a May research report. Alphabet stock closed at $174.92 on June 6. The stock is down 8% unveil bold forecast for Alphabet stock despite ChatGPT threat first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 6, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 6, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
4 hours ago
- Forbes
Samsung Confirms Upgrade Choice—Galaxy Users Must Now Decide
This decision defines the future of your phone. Republished on June 7 with reports into Google's new decision for Android users. A timely warning from Samsung this week, which neatly sets out the biggest upgrade decision now facing Android users. As whispers start to spread suggesting a disconnect between Samsung and Google at the heart of Android, this is critical. We're talking AI and the new features and offerings now hitting phones and PCs at breakneck speed. This is where Galaxy has an advantage, Samsung says, 'in privacy-first, AI-powered experiences' which can 'protect you in the era of AI.' The question the Galaxy-maker asks in its latest post is the right one: 'This level of personalization' brought by AI 'can be incredibly helpful, but the more your phone knows, the more there is to protect. So, what's keeping all that personal data secure?' Samsung's answer is Knox. 'Every Galaxy device is protected from the chip up by a multi-layered approach, which includes on-device personalization, user-controlled cloud processing, and ecosystem-wide protection through Samsung Knox Matrix.' This is Samsung's secure ecosystem that is the closest replica to Apple's securely walled garden currently available on Android. 'At the core of this system is Samsung Knox Vault, Samsung's hardware-based solution for your most sensitive information.' Knox is not new and neither is the concept of hardware-enabled Galaxy data security. What is new is segmenting sensitive the latest AI-related data from the rest, and securing that alongside the more traditional PINs, passwords and credit card numbers. 'Location service metadata from your most personal photos,' Samsung says, 'could easily give away the exact location where the image was taken.' And there's not much data more sensitive than who did what, where and when. 'In the era of AI, personal information like your home address, face clustering ID, person ID, pet type, scene type and more need to be encrypted and stored in a safe location. These things aren't just files — they are deeply connected to your daily life.' It's unclear exactly what is being or will be segmented and how this plays into the various opt-ins that Samsung has added to distinguish between on-device and cloud AI, between what is only within your secure enclave and what is outside. But it's difficult not to read this push as a play against the latest announcements from Google and the cloud-based AI that will now run riot across sensitive data, including emails and even cloud data storage. Yes, there are always opt-outs, but it's all or nothing for users who want AI but are not yet worrying about privacy. 'As Galaxy AI becomes more useful,' Samsung says, 'it also becomes more personal — learning how you use your device and adapting to your needs… Knox Vault is more than a security feature, it's Galaxy's promise that no matter how advanced your devices become, or how much AI evolves, your privacy is secured.' Google, meanwhile, will not make this decision easy for Samsung user. No one is rolling out new smartphone AI innovations faster, and it will always overshadow what can be done if users take a privacy-centric, device-only approach. Per Android Police, the latest update is 'Google's Gemini replacing Google Assistant as the default AI assistant, taking on all digital assistance responsibilities as Assistant is phased out later this year. Gemini is gaining 'Scheduled Actions,' allowing users to automate recurring tasks and information delivery at specific times.' This is the stepping stone to so-called Agenctic AI on phones, where monitoring data and events and activities enables an agent to make decisions autonomously on a smartphone owner's behalf. This next step, with 'Scheduled Actions streamlining routines [and] offering personalized updates,' is just the start. As Mashable says, 'When combined with computer vision, which is what allows a model to 'see' a user's screen, we get the agentic AI everyone is so excited about… Agentic AI tools could order groceries online, browse and buy the best-reviewed espresso machine for you, or even research and book vacations. In fact, Google is already taking steps in this direction with its new AI shopping experience.' Allowing AI access to smartphones with all the data and insight they contain, pushed this to a level even beyond Windows's controversial Recall. It's decision time.
