Google Boots 39 Million Accounts Using AI — What You Need To Know
Google uses AI to suspend millions of accounts.
SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
There are two words that tend to send a shiver down my spine: Google and AI. Most often, that shiver is in response to an AI-powered threat, be it stealing passwords from Chrome or smartphone deepfake attacks. Sometimes, however, it is a shiver of excitement as Google strikes back against those who would hack or scam you with new protections for Gmail, Chrome, and Android users. I've just experienced one of those good shivers. Google has confirmed it's using AI to defend billions of users from millions of fraudulent accounts. Here is what you need to know.
When it comes to attack distribution methodologies, malicious advertising has surely been one of the longest-running of all. Malvertising, to give it its somewhat too soft and fluffy name, is a curse that has been present pretty much since the first search engines appeared. Google, of course, is all too aware of this and has a team of more than 100 expert fraud fighters dedicated to developing countermeasures. Not all the experts on the front line of advertising fraud are human: AI has also joined the fight.
The April 16 Google 'Ads Safety Report' for 2024 has revealed just how effective these AI defenses have been. 'In 2024, we launched over 50 enhancements to our Large Language Models,' Alex Rodriguez, Google's general manager of ads safety, said, 'which enabled more efficient and precise enforcement at scale.' Using AI to identify the fraud signals used by threat actors, including fraudulent payment information, during the account setup process has paid dividends. It has, Rodriguez confirmed, 'kept billions of policy-violating ads from ever showing to a consumer, while ensuring legitimate businesses can show ads to customers faster.'
The numbers truly speak for themselves: 39.2 million advertising accounts suspended, 9.2 billion adverts restricted and 5.1 billion fraudulent adverts removed. The rise of AI-generated impersonation ads, especially those misrepresenting public figures in order to perpetuate a fraud, financial or otherwise, has rather ironically been tampered by AI itself. 'We were able to permanently suspend more than 700,000 offending advertiser accounts,' Rodriguez said, which led to 'a 90% drop in reports of this kind of scam ad last year.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
10 minutes 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
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
SmartRent Enhances Its Platform with AI Intelligence and Energy-Saving Features
SmartRent, Inc. (NYSE:SMRT), a top provider of smart community and operations solutions for the rental housing sector, has announced a major upgrade to its platform by adding an AI-powered intelligence layer and improved energy management tools. These enhancements are designed to help operators make better decisions that reduce utility waste, lower costs, and support environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives. A builder wearing a hard hat admiring a newly constructed smart home. The latest innovation, SMRT IQ, uses real-time data from connected devices to give teams comprehensive insights across their entire property portfolio, enabling quicker and smarter operational decisions. This update represents a significant shift for SmartRent, Inc. (NYSE:SMRT), moving beyond simple automation to delivering intelligent solutions that simplify data access and interpretation, allowing operators to take immediate action. Isaiah DeRose-Wilson, Chief Technology Officer at SmartRent, Inc. (NYSE:SMRT), made the following comment: "SMRT IQ marks a significant milestone in SmartRent's evolution. It delivers constant, real-time IoT-device level data and visibility into all aspects of property performance, enabling the decision-making process with insights that just weren't possible before. By combining that data with conversational AI, we're helping teams make smarter decisions faster and act with confidence at scale. It's further connecting teams to their communities, saving them time and improving business agility across the board." Unlike others that offer partial solutions, SmartRent, Inc. (NYSE:SMRT) provides a complete property operations platform tailored for rental housing. It integrates connected hardware, digital workflows, and built-in intelligence to automate tasks for owners, operators, and site teams, helping reduce operating costs while enhancing the resident experience within one unified system. While we acknowledge the potential of SMRT as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and Disclosure. None. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tesla's Optimus robot VP is leaving the company
The head of Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot program, Milan Kovac, is leaving the company. Kovac said Friday in a post on X that he "had to make the most difficult decision" of his life to leave. "I've been far away from home for too long, and will need to spend more time with family abroad," he wrote. Kovac said that was "the only reason" and that his support for Musk and Tesla is "ironclad." Kovac's departure was first reported Friday by Bloomberg News. The departure comes as Tesla CEO Elon Musk has claimed the company will have "thousands" of Optimus robots operating in its factories by the end of this year. "And we expect to scale Optimus up faster than any product, I think, in history, to get to millions of units per year as soon as possible," Musk said last month. Kovac worked at Tesla for nearly 10 years, with much of that time coming as a top engineer on the Autopilot team. He was tapped to help lead development of Optimus in 2022 and became a vice president overseeing the program in late 2024. "I'm driving the Optimus program (Tesla's humanoid robot) & all its engineering teams," Kovac previously wrote on his LinkedIn profile. "Separately, I'm also driving the engineering teams responsible for all the software foundations & infrastructure common between Optimus and Autopilot." Ashok Elluswamy, the vice president of Tesla's AI software division, will take over the Optimus project, according to Bloomberg. This story has been updated with information from Kovac's X post about his departure.
