
Adobe brings AI-image generation app to phones, adds partners
The new app, called Firefly, packages Adobe's own AI model together with models from new partner firms Ideogram, Luma AI, Pika and Runway, and is available on iOS and Android phones.
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Adobe Inc. released its first dedicated artificial intelligence smartphone app on Tuesday that includes AI models from the company and partner firms, in a bid to tap into a growing trend of sharing AI images and videos over social media.The new app, called Firefly, packages Adobe's own AI model together with models from new partner firms Ideogram, Luma AI, Pika and Runway, and is available on iOS and Android phones.Previously, the service was available only as a web version, that used models from Alphabet's GOOGL.O> Google and OpenAI in addition to Adobe's model.Those models will also be available in the app, Adobe said.Generating images that can easily be shared on social media has become a key driver of AI interest, with OpenAI's Ghibli-style AI images driving record traffic to the ChatGPT creator.Adobe's mobile service will offer subscribers unlimited basic image generation from Adobe models, while it will charge extra for access to the company's premium models and those from its partners. The subscription cost will be the same as for the web versions of Firefly, which start at $10 per month.The San Jose, California-based company had earlier released AI tools along with the mobile app version of its popular image-editing program Photoshop.Adobe has not disclosed how much it pays the partner models on the Firefly app.The company had promised users that its AI model is trained only on material that it has a legal right to use, with Adobe offering protection against copyright claims.Ely Greenfield, Adobe's chief technology officer for digital media, said Adobe's approach has also gained some resonance among consumers."Even for many of our individual customers, that promise of the commercial safety and the story about how Firefly is trained continues to be a really important differentiator," Greenfield said.
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
'India ahead of many in countering cyber threats'
Google Security's Heather Adkins highlights the dual role of generative AI in cybersecurity NEW DELHI: Generative AI, while being used by cyber criminals to further their activities, will also help create stronger and swifter counter-measures, making the internet safer to use, according to Heather Adkins, global VP of engineering for Google Security. Adkins, who spent over two decades at Google, also believes that rise in geopolitical tensions may fuel state-backed cyberattacks, making the world more vulnerable. However, she added that Indian govt has been at forefront of taking measures to counter cyber threats effectively, ahead of many other countries. This will also see Google Security set up an engineering centre in India. Talking to TOI on the sidelines of the 'Safer with Google India Summit', Adkins said while companies create tools to tackle cyber threats, it is equally important to sensitise users about measures to identify malicious and fraudulent content. "Unlike the physical world where you have instincts and senses to identify something dangerous, the online world does not have a parallel. We have to build that." Speaking about state-sponsored cyber threats, she said they can sometimes be more focused and successful with capabilities to deploy large teams towards such activities. "It's a question of who has more time. And, if you think about a well-funded nation state, may be they'll create a project, put 100 people on it, and they just work on that project throughout the day... by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Memperdagangkan CFD Emas dengan salah satu spread terendah? IC Markets Mendaftar Undo So, they often know more because they have more time, not because they're smarter. I would say they're more likely to be successful." On Gen AI and whether it aids cyber criminals too, Adkins said, "There's no doubt that we're seeing an increase in tempo and sophistication of attacks... But I also feel that today, more than ever before, enterprises have better tools. If I think about starting a company 23 years ago, cybersecurity looked primitive then. Today, most of the solutions you're going to buy have security built into them. So, you're in a much better place than you were, say, 20-30 years ago. " She said that Gen AI will give "defenders" a "leg up" over the threat actors. "We will be able to leverage Gen AI to protect infrastructure in new ways that we've never thought of before and also at a speed that we've never been able to achieve before." On India, she said govt here is "very engaged" on cyber safety. "... it's a hot topic. They've done a very good job in getting involved quickly and partnering with companies. The workforce here and education levels in India are pretty high. There are parts of the world I go where they're just now starting to think about cyber security and they're much further behind India." Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now


Mint
2 hours ago
- Mint
Google invests in SMB cybersecurity adoption as attackers focus on India
NEW DELHI : Big Tech firm Google on Tuesday announced an additional $5 million in funding to global nonprofit The Asia Foundation, as part of its 'Safety Charter' for establishing better cybersecurity practices among India's 75 million-plus small and medium businesses (SMBs). The move is a part of Google's efforts to take global cues and reduce cyber threats encountered by businesses that are largely online-facing, for which India is one of the world's largest markets, said Heather Adkins, vice-president of security engineering and founding member of Google's security team, in an interview with Mint. 'With the sheer volume of the Indian market, there is a massive amount of cyber threats that small businesses with limited resources face in India. We're working with key government departments to raise awareness and help government officials take a cyber-first mindset, and are also ramping up our total funding of cybersecurity clinics for SMBs to $20 million to help the small businesses ramp up the prioritising of cybersecurity initiatives," Adkins said. Also Read: How tech is transforming the Indian car market On Tuesday, Google also said that it is ramping up its existing awareness initiatives with officials at the home affairs ministry and the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) in the face of rising scams—now popular as digital arrests. Some such attacks have seen individuals lose up to $700,000 in targeted scams, leveraging identity theft, spear phishing, and other various techniques. The Big Tech firm's safety initiatives in question seek to tackle a larger threat, which cybersecurity industry stakeholders have repeatedly raised will require efforts from governments, private firms in a public-private partnership (PPP) model, and stakeholders across agencies. To this end, Adkins said that the company already plays a role in enabling the sharing of data between organisations and geographies, as and where necessary. Collaboration across borders 'Data sharing across geographies still requires the requisite regulations to play out as intended. But if two nations are actively collaborating, then we're often a part of enabling the sharing of information as far as possible for investigations to materialise. On our end, we read trends originating in one geography to enforce preventative measures in another nation, to see if we can prevent scams from replicating across geographies. We're actively leveraging automated and artificial intelligence markers to detect which patterns of usage or conversations lead to scams and cyber breaches, and a key part of our India charter is to try and prevent them," she said. Industry stakeholders believe that investing in a ground-up solution, the roots of which Google underlined as part of its cybersecurity efforts with small businesses, could be key. Also Read: Sarvam, India's most well-funded AI startup, takes to the Big Tech playbook 'By sheer volume, small and medium businesses are the root points of an online security stack, and your cybersecurity is only as secure as its weakest link. To this end, can we set up a cyber dome akin to Israel's 'Iron Dome' air defence system? Today, this is steadily becoming an imperative," said Aditya Varma, commander (retired), Indian Navy and head, defence and homeland security for STL Networks Ltd. The key to achieving this, Varma added, would be to offer a rationalised cost structure for small businesses to invest in cybersecurity. 'It's difficult to demarcate where critical infrastructure begins in a stack of operations among businesses. The government has to play a role in subsidising access to cybersecurity, and companies such as Google, while having the capacity, could see complex business cases in bringing small businesses into the cyber-secure network," he said. Android majority Adkins, however, added that Google continues to invest in cybersecurity efforts in India, since the vast variety of businesses and the size of the country's consumers naturally make it a hotspot for various cyber scams and spam. As part of these efforts, Google is also ramping up its efforts to notify if a call is a potential spam—baking the feature natively into its Android ecosystem, she said. The latter accounts for over 95% of the 750 million active smartphones in India. This is a key factor affecting millions of users daily, beyond cyber attacks permeating small business networks. In February, Singapore-based cybersecurity firm Cyfirma highlighted the propagation of 'SpyLend'—a 'simplified finance and lending" application that spread data-stealing malware across more than 100,000 devices within one week. Also Read: India's big AI test is here: Making sovereign language models work To take on this, India is a key part of Google's security engineering efforts. 'Our security team is spread around the world—overall, we have nearly 8,000 people working horizontally across divisions on security initiatives. In India, we have over 1,000 people based in Bengaluru and Hyderabad working on security in products, security strategies, government partnerships and more. We're using these to scan billions of mobile applications on Android, and eventually, hope that we can filter out as many threats as possible," Adkins said.


Economic Times
2 hours ago
- Economic Times
BlueStone's pre-IPO glow up; PE funds go tech shopping
Ahead of its listing, BlueStone is poised to become India's next unicorn through a secondary deal. This and more in today's ETtech Morning Dispatch. Also in the letter: ■ Google bets on India■ ETtech Done Deals■ 'Safety Charter' for India BlueStone set to enter unicorn club on road to IPO Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, CEO, Bluestone Omnichannel jewellery retailer BlueStone is set to become India's newest unicorn, with a secondary deal valuing the company at around $1.2 billion, ahead of its public listing. Tell me more: The private wealth management arms of 360 One and Centrum Wealth are in advanced discussions for secondary deals valued at Rs 300–350 crore. Both platforms intend to offload their holdings to clients before the Bengaluru-based firm debuts in the public markets. In numbers: The deal values BlueStone at Rs 10,500 crore ($1.2 billion), reflecting a 30% increase from its Rs 8,100 crore (approximately $970 million) valuation in the August 2024 funding round. Lucrative returns: Singapore-based RB Investments will completely exit the company through these transactions. Holding a 2–3% stake, RB is anticipated to achieve a 10–12x return on investment. Catch up, quick: BlueStone submitted the draft prospectus for its IPO to Sebi in December and obtained regulatory approval in April. The offer comprises a fresh issue of shares worth Rs 1,000 crore and an offer-for-sale (OFS) of nearly 24 million shares. Investors including Accel, Saama Capital, IvyCap Ventures, and Kalaari Capital will partially or fully divest through the OFS. PE funds pick up significant stakes in fast-growing tech firms Private equity funds are acquiring significant stakes in rapidly growing technology firms across high-growth sectors. At least four deals have been finalised since the start of 2025, according to investment bankers and industry executives. Deals book: New Mountain Capital acquired a 70–75% stake in Access Healthcare Kedaara Capital invested $350 million in Impetus Technologies HIG Capital picked up a stake worth C$1.3 billion in Converge Technology Solutions Agilitas PE bought a stake worth 300 million euros in Tietoevry Tech Services. Players on the pitch: Active dealmakers include PE funds like Blackstone, Carlyle, EQT Partners, Barings PE Asia and Chryscapital. Most of the recent activity has concentrated on digital engineering and healthcare revenue cycle management (RCM), with at least 70 to 80 new buyers entering the market, said Shobhit Jain, head of enterprise, technology and services at Avendus Capital. Investor interest: This burst of dealmaking follows a strong run of 21 PE-backed deals valued over $300 million between January 2024 and March 2025. By comparison, only nine such deals were recorded in the previous year. But why? 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AI strategy: Lobana dismissed concerns about AI chatbots threatening Google's core search product. The company has weathered every major tech shift and emerged stronger, she said. Google is adapting its products to reflect changing consumer habits, including support for longer, more conversational queries. The AI mode in Search will roll out in India shortly, she confirmed. MakeMyTrip plans $3 billion buyback; China's stake to fall below 20% India's largest online travel platform, MakeMyTrip, plans to raise $3 billion through a mix of equity and debt to buy back shares from China's Group. The deal will reduce stake from 19.99% to 45.34%, making it the biggest-ever fundraise by a listed Indian new-age company. Driving the news: board representation will drop from five directors to two. Meanwhile, MakeMyTrip cofounders Deep Kalra and Rajesh Magow, who hold 4.6% voting rights, will retain the right to appoint three independent directors. Backstory: first invested in MakeMyTrip in 2016 via $180 million in convertible bonds. It later acquired Naspers' 42% stake in 2019 through a share swap. Adding context: The buyback follows scrutiny over Chinese ownership amid data security concerns. Rival EaseMyTrip's founder had flagged board influence, which MakeMyTrip dismissed as a 'motivated accusation.' By the numbers: $1.4–1.6 billion via primary equity issuance $1.25 billion via convertible notes, plus a $187.5 million greenshoe option FY25 gross bookings: $9.8 billion; profit: $95.3 million Q4 FY25 gross bookings: $2.5 billion; profit: $29.2 million The big picture: Several Indian startups, including Paytm, Zomato, and Dream Sports, have also cut Chinese holdings in recent years. Secured lender Techfino raises Rs 65 crore from Stellaris, Saison Capital: Non-bank lender Techfino raised Rs 65 crore in equity funding from Stellaris Venture Partners and Saison Capital, the venture arm of Japan's Credit Saison. Razorpay invests $30 million into consumer payments startup Pop: Fintech major Razorpay has invested $30 million in consumer payments platform Pop to help merchants manage rising customer acquisition costs and boost user rewards. Why it matters: Razorpay is doubling down on loyalty and commerce tools after acquiring PoshVine earlier. Other Top Stories By Our Reporters Google releases 'safety charter' for India: The internet major released a 'safety charter' for India to tackle online scams, enhance cybersecurity for government and businesses, and promote responsible AI. Salesforce eyes manufacturing boom in India through AI and cloud solutions: While manufacturing has lagged behind banking and financial services in adopting digital platforms, the situation can be improved with enhanced data and insights, said Arundhati Bhattacharya, Salesforce's president and CEO for South Asia. Global Picks We Are Reading ■ The Trump Mobile T1 Phone looks both bad and impossible (The Verge) ■ Scale AI's Wang brings to Meta knowledge of what everyone else is doing (Bloomberg) ■ Minnesota shooting suspect allegedly used data broker sites to find targets' addresses (Wired) Updated On Jun 18, 2025, 07:16 AM IST