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Local teen hosts walking tour, showcasing the history of downtown Yorkton

Local teen hosts walking tour, showcasing the history of downtown Yorkton

CTV News4 days ago
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AI startup Perplexity makes bold US$34.5 billion bid for Google's Chrome browser
AI startup Perplexity makes bold US$34.5 billion bid for Google's Chrome browser

CTV News

timean hour ago

  • CTV News

AI startup Perplexity makes bold US$34.5 billion bid for Google's Chrome browser

Last year, Perplexity tripled its valuation from $1 billion to $3 billion and then tripled it again several months later. Perplexity AI made a US$34.5 billion unsolicited all-cash offer for Alphabet's Chrome browser on Tuesday, a bid far above its own valuation as the startup reaches for the browser's billions of users pivotal to the AI search race. Run by Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity is no stranger to headline-grabbing offers: it made a similar one for TikTok U.S. in January, offering to merge with the popular short-video app to resolve U.S. concerns about TikTok's Chinese ownership. OpenAI, Yahoo and private-equity firm Apollo Global Management have also expressed interest in Chrome as regulatory pressure threatens Google's grip on the industry. Google did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. The company has not offered Chrome for sale and plans to appeal a U.S. court ruling last year that found it held an unlawful monopoly in online search. The U.S. Justice Department has sought a Chrome divestiture as part of the case's remedies. Perplexity did not disclose on Tuesday how it plans to fund the offer. The three-year-old company has raised around $1 billion in funding so far from investors including Nvidia and Japan's SoftBank. It was last valued at $14 billion. Multiple funds have offered to finance the deal in full, Perplexity said, without naming the funds. Alphabet's shares were up 1.6 per cent in afternoon trading. As a new generation of users turns to chatbots such as ChatGPT and Perplexity for answers, web browsers are regaining prominence as vital gateways to search traffic and prized user data, making them central to Big Tech's AI ambitions. Perplexity already has an AI browser, Comet, that can perform certain tasks on a user's behalf and buying Chrome would allow it to tap the browser's more than three billion users, giving it the heft to better compete with bigger rivals such as OpenAI. The ChatGPT parent is also working on its own AI browser. Perplexity's bid pledges to keep the underlying browser code called Chromium open source, invest $3 billion over two years and make no changes to Chrome's default search engine, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters. The company said the offer, with no equity component, would preserve user choice and ease future competition concerns. Analysts have said Google would be unlikely to sell Chrome and would likely engage in a long legal fight to prevent that outcome, given it is crucial to the company's AI push as it rolls out features including AI-generated search summaries, known as Overviews, to help defend its search market share. A federal judge, Amit Mehta, is expected to issue a ruling on remedies in the Google search antitrust case sometime this month. 'Judge Mehta is a pretty orthodox guy. It's very possible that he would hold off on requiring a sale until the appeals process is worked out and that could be a very lengthy period of time,' said Herbert Hovenkamp, professor at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. 'It would go to the DC Circuit, which is skeptical of forced divestitures, and it's possible it would even go to the Supreme Court after that. So that process could run out for a couple of years.' Perplexity's bid is also below the at least $50 billion value that rival search engine DuckDuckGo's CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, suggested Chrome may command if Google was forced to sell it. (Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Krystal Hu in New York; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

YouTube to begin testing a new AI-powered age verification system in the U.S.
YouTube to begin testing a new AI-powered age verification system in the U.S.

CTV News

time6 hours ago

  • CTV News

YouTube to begin testing a new AI-powered age verification system in the U.S.

YouTube on Wednesday will begin testing a new age-verification system in the U.S. that relies on artificial intelligence to differentiate between adults and minors, based on the kinds of videos that they have been watching. The tests initially will only affect a sliver of YouTube's audience in the U.S., but it will likely become more pervasive if the system works as well at guessing viewers' ages as it does in other parts of the world. The system will only work when viewers are logged into their accounts, and it will make its age assessments regardless of the birth date a user might have entered upon signing up. If the system flags a logged-in viewer as being under 18, YouTube will impose the normal controls and restrictions that the site already uses as a way to prevent minors from watching videos and engaging in other behavior deemed inappropriate for that age. The safeguards include reminders to take a break from the screen, privacy warnings and restrictions on video recommendations. YouTube, which has been owned by Google for nearly 20 years, also doesn't show ads tailored to individual tastes if a viewer is under 18. If the system has inaccurately called out a viewer as a minor, the mistake can be corrected by showing YouTube a government-issued identification card, a credit card or a selfie. 'YouTube was one of the first platforms to offer experiences designed specifically for young people, and we're proud to again be at the forefront of introducing technology that allows us to deliver safety protections while preserving teen privacy,' James Beser, the video service's director of product management, wrote in a blog post about the age-verification system. People still will be able to watch YouTube videos without logging into an account, but viewing that way triggers an automatic block on some content without proof of age. The political pressure has been building on websites to do a better job of verifying ages to shield children from inappropriate content since late June when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Texas law aimed at preventing minors from watching pornography online. While some services, such as YouTube, have been stepping up their efforts to verify users' ages, others have contended that the responsibility should primarily fall upon the two main smartphone app stores run by Apple and Google — a position that those two technology powerhouses have resisted. Some digital rights groups, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy & Technology, have raised concerns that age verification could infringe on personal privacy and violate First Amendment protections on free speech. Michael Liedtke, The Associated Press

Affirm expands work with Google Pay, integrates with autofill on Chrome
Affirm expands work with Google Pay, integrates with autofill on Chrome

National Post

time6 hours ago

  • National Post

Affirm expands work with Google Pay, integrates with autofill on Chrome

Article content U.S. consumers shopping on Chrome's desktop browser can quickly and seamlessly access Affirm via autofill feature Article content SAN FRANCISCO — Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM), the payment network that empowers consumers and helps merchants drive growth, today announced that it is expanding its collaboration with Google Pay and making its flexible, transparent payment options available via autofill on Chrome. Article content This announcement builds on Affirm's launch on Google Pay in early 2024, which enabled eligible consumers to pay over time with Affirm wherever the Google Pay button is accepted. Now, using autofill on Chrome, eligible shoppers can pay over time with Affirm quickly and conveniently, at more places where they shop. Article content 'By integrating Affirm with autofill on Chrome, we can deliver payment choice and flexibility seamlessly and at scale,' said Vishal Kapoor, SVP of Product at Affirm. 'We are excited to expand our work with Google Pay and bring Affirm to many more consumers, through a checkout experience that combines flexibility and transparency with speed, security, and convenience.' Article content People shop on Google more than a billion times per day, and autofill offers them a safe, convenient way to check out on Chrome and Android. To access Affirm, U.S. shoppers using the Chrome desktop browser can select 'Pay over time options' from the autofill dropdown menu. After choosing Affirm, they will go through a quick eligibility check and, if approved, select the personalized biweekly or monthly payment plan that works best for them. Plans range from four biweekly payments to monthly installments up to 24 months, support cart sizes from $35 to $30,000, and include interest rates starting at 0% APR. As always, Affirm does not charge any late or hidden fees, ever. Article content Consumers will also have the ability to link their Affirm account with Google Pay, allowing them to breeze through checkout quickly and securely for future purchases. Article content New and existing Affirm users can pay with autofill on Chrome at select merchant websites. This feature will be automatically activated for merchants, with no integration effort required. Article content About Affirm Article content Affirm's mission is to deliver honest financial products that improve lives. By building a new kind of payment network – one based on trust, transparency and putting people first – we empower millions of consumers to spend and save responsibly, and give thousands of businesses the tools to fuel growth. Unlike most credit cards and other pay-over-time options, we never charge any late or hidden fees. Follow Affirm on social media: Article content | Article content | Article content Facebook Article content | Article content X Article content Rates from 0–36% APR. For example, a $800 purchase might cost $72.21/mo over 12 months at 15% APR. Payment options through Affirm are subject to an eligibility check, may not be available everywhere, and are provided by these lending partners: Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content

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