The report, Europe’s Moonshot Moment, found that the continent has over 280 software companies generating more than €100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). These scaleups include the likes of Spotify, Revolut, Adyen, and Vinted. However, European software businesses that reach the €100 million ARR threshold take 15 years on average to get there. That’s five years longer than their US peers, the report found. Europe also lags in birthing software giants. While 5–10% of US firms reaching €100 million in ARR subsequently scale to €1 billion, fewer than 3% of their European peers reach that milestone. The report highlighted some of the reasons for this stalled growth: fragmented markets, conservative corporate norms, and a slower flow of late-stage capital relative to early-stage investment. Turning point? Register Now Despite the hurdles, the report’s authors are confident that all the ingredients for Europe’s success in software are now in place. “Europe already holds the essentials to create the world’s next generation of software champions: deep talent pools, vibrant founder networks, and a rapidly maturing capital base,” said Ruben Schaubroeck, senior partner at McKinsey. While Europe lost out to Silicon Valley firms like Google and Microsoft in the early internet era, emerging technologies like AI may offer a new opening for the region’s tech startups. Geopolitical shifts could also drive governments to invest in local tech ecosystems and rethink digital sovereignty, said the report. “There’s no denying that European tech has faced structural barriers, but we’re at a genuine inflection point,” Phill Robinson, CEO and co-founder at Boardwave, told TNW. “New technology arenas, geopolitics, and an evolving operating environment are creating a unique opportunity for Europe to boost innovation.” Now Europe must turn that potential into profits, the report argues. To that end, it suggests five key interventions to boost Europe’s software ecosystem: Expand late-stage funding Encourage experienced founders to start new companies Make it easier for sales and marketing teams to work across borders and help startups grow faster Encourage more large firms in Europe to buy software from European startups by offering government support or financial incentives Strengthen public-private partnerships to de-risk new technologies Scaling up European tech The McKinsey/Boardwave report comes hot on the heels of the EU’s landmark Startup and Scaleup Strategy, launched last week. The plan set out several reforms designed to remove barriers to growth for the bloc’s early-stage companies. “If implemented boldly, and most importantly quickly, it can help Europe move from fragmented success stories to systemic, continent-wide scale; otherwise, we risk being left behind,” said Robinson, commenting on the new strategy. The EU’s proposal includes provisions for a long-awaited “28th regime,” which would allow companies to operate under a single set of rules across the 27 member states. It is intended to reduce headaches around taxes, employment rules, and insolvency. Robinson said he believes the EU’s new strategy will strengthen Europe’s software ecosystem by making it easier to operate across borders. “We need to act as one innovation ecosystem, not 27 different ones,” he said. “That’s what makes this Europe’s moonshot moment. If we connect and act now, we can lead. And not just in Europe, but globally.” Story by Siôn Geschwindt Siôn is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy. From nuclear fusion breakthroughs to electric vehic (show all) Siôn is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy. From nuclear fusion breakthroughs to electric vehicles, he's happiest sourcing a scoop, investigating the impact of emerging technologies, and even putting them to the test. He has five years of journalism experience and holds a dual degree in media and environmental science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. When he's not writing, you can probably find Siôn out hiking, surfing, playing the drums or catering to his moderate caffeine addiction. You can contact him at: sion.geschwindt [at] protonmail [dot] com Get the TNW newsletter Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week. Also tagged with

The report, Europe’s Moonshot Moment, found that the continent has over 280 software companies generating more than €100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). These scaleups include the likes of Spotify, Revolut, Adyen, and Vinted. However, European software businesses that reach the €100 million ARR threshold take 15 years on average to get there. That’s five years longer than their US peers, the report found. Europe also lags in birthing software giants. While 5–10% of US firms reaching €100 million in ARR subsequently scale to €1 billion, fewer than 3% of their European peers reach that milestone. The report highlighted some of the reasons for this stalled growth: fragmented markets, conservative corporate norms, and a slower flow of late-stage capital relative to early-stage investment. Turning point? Register Now Despite the hurdles, the report’s authors are confident that all the ingredients for Europe’s success in software are now in place. “Europe already holds the essentials to create the world’s next generation of software champions: deep talent pools, vibrant founder networks, and a rapidly maturing capital base,” said Ruben Schaubroeck, senior partner at McKinsey. While Europe lost out to Silicon Valley firms like Google and Microsoft in the early internet era, emerging technologies like AI may offer a new opening for the region’s tech startups. Geopolitical shifts could also drive governments to invest in local tech ecosystems and rethink digital sovereignty, said the report. “There’s no denying that European tech has faced structural barriers, but we’re at a genuine inflection point,” Phill Robinson, CEO and co-founder at Boardwave, told TNW. “New technology arenas, geopolitics, and an evolving operating environment are creating a unique opportunity for Europe to boost innovation.” Now Europe must turn that potential into profits, the report argues. To that end, it suggests five key interventions to boost Europe’s software ecosystem: Expand late-stage funding Encourage experienced founders to start new companies Make it easier for sales and marketing teams to work across borders and help startups grow faster Encourage more large firms in Europe to buy software from European startups by offering government support or financial incentives Strengthen public-private partnerships to de-risk new technologies Scaling up European tech The McKinsey/Boardwave report comes hot on the heels of the EU’s landmark Startup and Scaleup Strategy, launched last week. The plan set out several reforms designed to remove barriers to growth for the bloc’s early-stage companies. “If implemented boldly, and most importantly quickly, it can help Europe move from fragmented success stories to systemic, continent-wide scale; otherwise, we risk being left behind,” said Robinson, commenting on the new strategy. The EU’s proposal includes provisions for a long-awaited “28th regime,” which would allow companies to operate under a single set of rules across the 27 member states. It is intended to reduce headaches around taxes, employment rules, and insolvency. Robinson said he believes the EU’s new strategy will strengthen Europe’s software ecosystem by making it easier to operate across borders. “We need to act as one innovation ecosystem, not 27 different ones,” he said. “That’s what makes this Europe’s moonshot moment. If we connect and act now, we can lead. And not just in Europe, but globally.” Story by Siôn Geschwindt Siôn is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy. From nuclear fusion breakthroughs to electric vehic (show all) Siôn is a freelance science and technology reporter, specialising in climate and energy. From nuclear fusion breakthroughs to electric vehicles, he's happiest sourcing a scoop, investigating the impact of emerging technologies, and even putting them to the test. He has five years of journalism experience and holds a dual degree in media and environmental science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. When he's not writing, you can probably find Siôn out hiking, surfing, playing the drums or catering to his moderate caffeine addiction. You can contact him at: sion.geschwindt [at] protonmail [dot] com Get the TNW newsletter Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week. Also tagged with

President Donald Trump has responded to billionaire and former number-one ally Elon Musk, after he heavily criticized the White House's so-called "big, beautiful bill."Over the weekend, Musk told CBS News that he's "disappointed" by the price tag of the tax and spending bill, arguing that it "increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.""I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful," he added, "but I don't know if it can be both. My personal opinion."It was a once-rare but increasingly common moment of public disagreement between the two ultra-public figures, who had stood side by side during the contentious election last year when Trump ultimately retook the White House.Asked about Musk's reaction to the bill, which would indeed raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion, Trump offered a word salad response."We have to get a lot of votes, we can't be cutting — we need to get a lot of support," the president told reporters on Wednesday, as quoted by USA Today, arguing that the bill would've lost momentum with deeper proposed cuts. "I'm not happy about certain aspects of it, but I'm thrilled by other aspects of it."It's a particularly notable inflection point for Musk, who announced that he would be stepping away from his role as a "special government employee" after months of implementing disastrous and chaotic cost-cutting measures with the help of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency."The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government," he tweeted Wednesday evening.But the White House seemed eager to move on after the increased friction with Musk. His "off-boarding will begin tonight," a White House official confirmed to Reuters hours earlier.However, given the power Musk has accrued in the White House, it's unlikely the billionaire will simply vanish from the scene. As his tweet suggests, his influence will likely be felt for a long time to come.Where all of this leaves Musk's relationship with the president is hard to read. Trump has been left with the cleanup job and is looking to codify some of DOGE's catastrophic budget cuts. He's expected to send a whopping $9.4 billion rescissions package to Congress next week, proposing deep cuts to USAID — which has already been gutted by DOGE — and the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, which formed NPR and funds PBS.Musk's departure from the White House will come to the relief of many, including Republican lawmakers in Washington, DC, and investors in his ailing carmaker Tesla.The mercurial CEO's embrace of far-right ideals and his tenure in the government cutting federal funding have proven to be incredibly damaging to Tesla's brand, sending sales off a cliff worldwide.Trump, for his part, could certainly do with a whole lot less of Musk, whose popularity has tanked, dragging down the administration's favorability with him.After all, the president is certainly fully capable of sowing mayhem all by himself — without a tempestuous billionaire whispering in his ear and rebuking him in public.More on Elon Musk: Elon Musk Just Ghosted a Huge Company MeetingShare This Article

© Gizmodo I wish I was making this stuff up, but chaos seems to follow me at all tech events. After waiting an hour to try out Google’s hyped-up Android XR smart glasses for five minutes, I was actually given a three-minute demo, where I actually had 90 seconds to use Gemini in an extremely controlled environment. And actually, if you watch the video in my hands-on write-up below, you’ll see that I spent even less time with it because Gemini fumbled a few times in the beginning. Oof. I really hope there’s another chance to try them again because it was just too rushed. I think it might be the most rushed product demo I’ve ever had in my life, and I’ve been covering new gadgets for the past 15 years. —Raymond Wong Google, a company valued at $2 trillion, seemingly brought one pair of Android XR smart glasses for press to demo… and one pair of Samsung’s Project Moohan mixed reality headset running the same augmented reality platform. I’m told the wait is 1 hour to try either device for 5 minutes. Of course, I’m going to try out the smart glasses. But if I want to demo Moohan, I need to get back in line and wait all over again. This is madness! —Raymond Wong May 20Keynote Fin © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo Talk about a loooooong keynote. Total duration: 1 hour and 55 minutes, and then Sundar Pichai walked off stage. What do you make of all the AI announcements? Let’s hang in the comments! I’m headed over to a demo area to try out a pair of Android XR smart glasses. I can’t lie, even though the video stream from the live demo lagged for a good portion, I’m hyped! It really feels like Google is finally delivering on Google Glass over a decade later. Shoulda had Google co-founder Sergey Brin jump out of a helicopter and land on stage again, though. —Raymond Wong Pieces of Project Astra, Google’s computer vision-based UI, are winding up in various different products, it seems, and not all of them are geared toward smart glasses specifically. One of the most exciting updates to Astra is “computer control,” which allows one to do a lot more on their devices with computer vision alone. For instance, you could just point your phone at an object (say, a bike) and then ask Astra to search for the bike, find some brakes for it, and then even pull up a YouTube tutorial on how to fix it—all without typing anything into your phone. —James Pero Shopping bots aren’t just for scalpers anymore. Google is putting the power of automated consumerism in your hands with its new AI shopping tool. There are some pretty wild ideas here, too, including a virtual shopping avatar that’s supposed to represent your own body—the idea is you can make it try on clothes to see how they fit. How all that works in practice is TBD, but if you’re ready for a full AI shopping experience, you’ve finally got it. For the whole story, check out our story from Gizmodo’s Senior Editor, Consumer Tech, Raymond Wong. —James Pero I got what I wanted. Google showed off what its Android XR tech can bring to smart glasses. In a live demo, Google showcased how a pair of unspecified smart glasses did a few of the things that I’ve been waiting to do, including projecting live navigation and remembering objects in your environment—basically the stuff that it pitched with Project Astra last year, but in a glasses form factor. There’s still a lot that needs to happen, both hardware and software-wise, before you can walk around wearing glasses that actually do all those things, but it was exciting to see that Google is making progress in that direction. It’s worth noting that not all of the demos went off smoothly—there was lots of stutter in the live translation demo—but I guess props to them for giving it a go. When we’ll actually get to walk around wearing functional smart glasses with some kind of optical passthrough or virtual display is anyone’s guess, but the race is certainly heating up. —James Pero Google’s SynthID has been around for nearly three years, but it’s been largely kept out of the public eye. The system disturbs AI-generated images, video, or audio with an invisible, undetectable watermark that can be observed with Google DeepMind’s proprietary tool. At I/O, Google said it was working with both Nvidia and GetReal to introduce the same watermarking technique with those companies’ AI image generators. Users may be able to detect these watermarks themselves, even if only part of the media was modified with AI. Early testers are getting access to it “today,” but hopefully more people can acess it at a later date from labs.google/synthid. — Kyle Barr This keynote has been going on for 1.5 hours now. Do I run to the restroom now or wait? But how much longer until it ends??? Can we petiton to Sundar Pichai to make these keynotes shorter or at least have an intermission? Update: I ran for it right near the end before Android XR news hit. I almost made it… —Raymond Wong © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo Google’s new video generator Veo, is getting a big upgrade that includes sound generation, and it’s not just dialogue. Veo 3 can also generate sound effects and music. In a demo, Google showed off an animated forest scene that includes all three—dialogue, sound effects, and video. The length of clips, I assume, will be short at first, but the results look pretty sophisticated if the demo is to be believed. —James Pero If you pay for a Google One subscription, you’ll start to see Gemini in your Google Chrome browser (and—judging by this developer conference—everywhere else) later this week. This will appear as the sparkle icon at the top of your browser app. You can use this to bring up a prompt box to ask a question about the current page you’re browsing, such as if you want to consolidate a number of user reviews for a local campsite. — Kyle Barr © Google / GIF by Gizmodo Google’s high-tech video conferencing tech, now called Beam, looks impressive. You can make eye contact! It feels like the person in the screen is right in front of you! It’s glasses-free 3D! Come back down to Earth, buddy—it’s not coming out as a consumer product. Commercial first with partners like HP. Time to apply for a new job? —Raymond Wong Read more here: Google doesn’t want Search to be tied to your browser or apps anymore. Search Live is akin to the video and audio comprehension capabilities of Gemini Live, but with the added benefit of getting quick answers based on sites from around the web. Google showed how Search Live could comprehend queries about at-home science experiment and bring in answers from sites like Quora or YouTube. — Kyle Barr Google is getting deep into augmented reality with Android XR—its operating system built specifically for AR glasses and VR headsets. Google showed us how users may be able to see a holographic live Google Maps view directly on their glasses or set up calendar events, all without needing to touch a single screen. This uses Gemini AI to comprehend your voice prompts and follow through on your instructions. Google doesn’t have its own device to share at I/O, but its planning to work with companies like XReal and Samsung to craft new devices across both AR and VR. — Kyle Barr Read our full report here: I know how much you all love subscriptions! Google does too, apparently, and is now offering a $250 per month AI bundle that groups some of its most advanced AI services. Subscribing to Google AI Ultra will get you: Gemini and its full capabilities Flow, a new, more advanced AI filmmaking tool based on Veo Whisk, which allows text-to-image creation NotebookLM, an AI note-taking app Gemini in Gmail and Docs Gemini in Chrome Project Mariner, an agentic research AI 30TB of storage I’m not sure who needs all of this, but maybe there are more AI superusers than I thought. —James Pero Google CEO Sundar Pichai was keen to claim that users are big, big fans of AI overviews in Google Search results. If there wasn’t already enough AI on your search bar, Google will now stick an entire “AI Mode” tab on your search bar next to the Google Lens button. This encompasses the Gemini 2.5 model. This opens up an entirely new UI for searching via a prompt with a chatbot. After you input your rambling search query, it will bring up an assortment of short-form textual answers, links, and even a Google Maps widget depending on what you were looking for. AI Mode should be available starting today. Google said AI Mode pulls together information from the web alongside its other data like weather or academic research through Google Scholar. It should also eventually encompass your “personal context,” which will be available later this summer. Eventually, Google will add more AI Mode capabilities directly to AI Overviews. — Kyle Barr May 20News Embargo Has Lifted! © Xreal Get your butt over to Gizmodo.com’s home page because the Google I/O news embargo just lifted. We’ve got a bunch of stories, including this one about Google partnering up with Xreal for a new pair of “optical see-through” (OST) smart glasses called Project Aura. The smart glasses run Android XR and are powered by a Qualcomm chip. You can see three cameras. Wireless, these are not—you’ll need to tether to a phone or other device. Update: Little scoop: I’ve confirmed that Project Aura has a 70-degree field of view, which is way wider than the One Pro’s FOV, which is 57 degrees. —Raymond Wong © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo Google’s DeepMind CEO showed off the updated version of Project Astra running on a phone and drove home how its “personal, proactive, and powerful” AI features are the groundwork for a “universal assistant” that truly understands and works on your behalf. If you think Gemini is a fad, it’s time to get familiar with it because it’s not going anywhere. —Raymond Wong May 20Gemini 2.5 Pro Is Here © Gizmodo Google says Gemini 2.5 Pro is its “most advanced model yet,” and comes with “enhanced reasoning,” better coding ability, and can even create interactive simulations. You can try it now via Google AI Studio. —James Pero There are two major types of transformer AI used today. One is the LLM, AKA large language models, and diffusion models—which are mostly used for image generation. The Gemini Diffusion model blurs the lines of these types of models. Google said its new research model can iterate on a solution quickly and correct itself while generating an answer. For math or coding prompts, Gemini Diffusion can potentially output an entire response much faster than a typical Chatbot. Unlike a traditional LLM model, which may take a few seconds to answer a question, Gemini Diffusion can create a response to a complex math equation in the blink of an eye, and still share the steps it took to reach its conclusion. — Kyle Barr © Gizmodo New Gemini 2.5 Flash and Gemini Pro models are incoming and, naturally, Google says both are faster and more sophisticated across the board. One of the improvements for Gemini 2.5 Flash is even more inflection when speaking. Unfortunately for my ears, Google demoed the new Flash speaking in a whisper that sent chills down my spine. —James Pero Is anybody keeping track of how many times Google execs have said “Gemini” and “AI” so far? Oops, I think I’m already drunk, and we’re only 20 minutes in. —Raymond Wong © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo Google’s Project Astra is supposed to be getting much better at avoiding hallucinations, AKA when the AI makes stuff up. Project Astra’s vision and audio comprehension capabilities are supposed to be far better at knowing when you’re trying to trick it. In a video, Google showed how its Gemini Live AI wouldn’t buy your bullshit if you tell it that a garbage truck is a convertible, a lamp pole is a skyscraper, or your shadow is some stalker. This should hopefully mean the AI doesn’t confidently lie to you, as well. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said “Gemini is really good at telling you when you’re wrong.” These enhanced features should be rolling out today for Gemini app on iOS and Android. — Kyle Barr May 20Release the Agents Like pretty much every other AI player, Google is pursuing agentic AI in a big way. I’d prepare for a lot more talk about how Gemini can take tasks off your hands as the keynote progresses. —James Pero © Gizmodo Google has finally moved Project Starline—its futuristic video-calling machine—into a commercial project called Google Beam. According to Pichai, Google Beam can take a 2D image and transform it into a 3D one, and will also incorporate live translate. —James Pero © Gizmodo Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, says Google is shipping at a relentless pace, and to be honest, I tend to agree. There are tons of Gemini models out there already, even though it’s only been out for two years. Probably my favorite milestone, though, is that it has now completed Pokémon Blue, earning all 8 badges according to Pichai. —James Pero May 20Let’s Do This Buckle up, kiddos, it’s I/O time. Methinks there will be a lot to get to, so you may want to grab a snack now. —James Pero Counting down until the keynote… only a few more minutes to go. The DJ just said AI is changing music and how it’s made. But don’t forget that we’re all here… in person. Will we all be wearing Android XR smart glasses next year? Mixed reality headsets? —Raymond Wong © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo Fun fact: I haven’t attended Google I/O in person since before Covid-19. The Wi-Fi is definitely stronger and more stable now. It’s so great to be back and covering for Gizmodo. Dream job, unlocked! —Raymond Wong © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo Mini breakfast burritos… bagels… but these bagels can’t compare to real Made In New York City bagels with that authentic NY water 😏 —Raymond Wong © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo I’ve arrived at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif., where the Google I/O keynote is taking place in 40 minutes. Seats are filling up. But first, must go check out the breakfast situation because my tummy is growling… —Raymond Wong May 20Should We Do a Giveaway? © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo Google I/O attendees get a special tote bag, a metal water bottle, a cap, and a cute sheet of stickers. I always end up donating this stuff to Goodwill during the holidays. A guy living in NYC with two cats only has so much room for tote bags and water bottles… Would be cool to do giveaway. Leave a comment to let us know if you’d be into that and I can pester top brass to make it happen 🤪 —Raymond Wong May 20Got My Press Badge! In 13 hours, Google will blitz everyone with Gemini AI, Gemini AI, and tons more Gemini AI. Who’s ready for… Gemini AI? —Raymond Wong May 19Google Glass: The Redux © Google / Screenshot by Gizmodo Google is very obviously inching toward the release of some kind of smart glasses product for the first time since (gulp) Google Glass, and if I were a betting man, I’d say this one will have a much warmer reception than its forebearer. I’m not saying Google can snatch the crown from Meta and its Ray-Ban smart glasses right out of the gate, but if it plays its cards right, it could capitalize on the integration with its other hardware (hello, Pixel devices) in a big way. Meta may finally have a real competitor on its hands. ICYMI: Here’s Google’s President of the Android Ecosystem, Sameer Samat, teasing some kind of smart glasses device in a recorded demo last week. —James Pero Hi folks, I’m James Pero, Gizmodo’s new Senior Writer. There’s a lot we have to get to with Google I/O, so I’ll keep this introduction short. I like long walks on the beach, the wind in my nonexistent hair, and I’m really, really, looking forward to bringing you even more of the spicy, insightful, and entertaining coverage on consumer tech that Gizmodo is known for. I’m starting my tenure here out hot with Google I/O, so make sure you check back here throughout the week to get those sweet, sweet blogs and commentary from me and Gizmodo’s Senior Consumer Tech Editor Raymond Wong. —James Pero © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo Hey everyone! Raymond Wong, senior editor in charge of Gizmodo’s consumer tech team, here! Landed in San Francisco (the sunrise was *chef’s kiss*), and I’ll be making my way over to Mountain View, California, later today to pick up my press badge and scope out the scene for tomorrow’s Google I/O keynote, which kicks off at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT. Google I/O is a developer conference, but that doesn’t mean it’s news only for engineers. While there will be a lot of nerdy stuff that will have developers hollering, what Google announces—expect updates on Gemini AI, Android, and Android XR, to name a few headliners—will shape consumer products (hardware, software, and services) for the rest of this year and also the years to come. I/O is a glimpse at Google’s technology roadmap as AI weaves itself into the way we compute at our desks and on the go. This is going to be a fun live blog! —Raymond Wong

Google CEO Sundar Pichai talking about Google Beam, formerly known as Project Starline, at Google ... More I/O 2025Anshel Sag Google used its annual I/O event this week to put the focus squarely on AI — with a strong dash of XR. While there’s no doubt that Google remains very committed to Android and the Android ecosystem, it was more than apparent that the company’s work on AI is only accelerating. Onstage, Google executives showed how its Gemini AI models have seen a more than 50x increase in monthly token usage over the past year, with the major inflection point clearly being the release of Gemini 2.5 in March 2025. I believe that Google’s efforts in AI have been supercharged by Gemini 2.5 and the agentic era of AI. The company also showed its continued commitment to getting Android XR off the ground with the second developer preview of Android XR, which it also announced at Google I/O. (Note: Google is an advisory client of my firm, Moor Insights & Strategy.) Google’s monthly tokens processedAnshel Sag Incorporating Gemini And AI Everywhere For Google, the best way to justify the long-term and continuous investment in Gemini is to make it accessible in as many ways as possible. That includes expanding into markets beyond the smartphone and browser. That’s why Gemini is already replacing Google Assistant in most areas. This is also a necessary move because Google Assistant’s functionality has regressed to the point of frustration as the company has shifted development resources to Gemini. This means that we’re getting Gemini via Google TV, Android Auto and WearOS. Let’s not forget that Android XR is the first operating system from Google that has been built from the ground up during the Gemini era. That translates to most XR experiences from Google being grounded in AI from the outset to make the most of agents and multimodal AI for improving the user experience. To accelerate the pace of adoption of on-device AI, Google has also announced improvements to LiteRT, its runtime for using AI models locally that has a heavy focus on maximizing on-device NPUs. Google also announced the AI Edge Portal to enable developers to test and benchmark their on-device models. These models will be crucial for enabling low-latency and secure experiences for users when connectivity might be challenged or when data simply cannot leave the device. While I believe that on-device AI performance is going to be important to developers going forward, it is also important to recognize that hybrid AI — mixing on-device and cloud AI processing — is likely here to stay for a very long time. Android XR, Smart Glasses And The Xreal Partnership Because Google introduced most of its Android updates in a separate “Android Show” a week before Google I/O, the Android updates during I/O mostly applied to Android XR. The new Material 3 Expressive design system will find its way across Google’s OSes and looks set to deliver snappier, more responsive experiences at equal or better performance. I wrote extensively about Google’s Android XR launch in December 2024, explaining how it would likely serve as Google’s tip of the spear for enabling new and unique AI experiences. At Google I/O, the company showed the sum of these efforts in terms of both creating partnerships and enabling a spectrum of XR devices from partners.Google’s Shahram Izadi, vice president and general manager of Android XR, talking about Project ... More Moohan onstage at Google I/O 2025Anshel Sag In this vein, Google reiterated its commitment to Samsung and Project Moohan, which Google now says will ship this year. The company also talked about other partnerships in the ecosystem that will enable new form factors for the AI-enabled wearable XR operating system. Specifically, it will be partnering with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster to develop smart glasses. In a press release, Google said it has allotted $150 million for its partnership with Warby Parker, with $75 million already committed to product development and commercialization and the remaining $75 million dependent on reaching certain milestones. I believe that this partnership is akin to the one that Meta established with EssilorLuxottica, leaving the design, fit and retail presence to the eyeglasses experts. Warby Parker is such a good fit because the company is already very forward-thinking on technology, and I believe that this partnership can enable Google to make some beautiful smart glasses to compete with Meta Ray Bans. While I absolutely adore my Meta Ray Bans, I do think they would be considerably more useful if they were running Gemini 2.5, even the flash version of the model. Gentle Monster is also a great fit for Google because it helps capture the Asian market better, and because its designs are so large that they give Google plenty of room to work with. Many people have written about their impressions of Project Moohan and the smart glasses from Google I/O, but the reality is that these were not new — or final — products. So, I hope that these XR devices are as exciting to people as they were to me back in December.Google announces Project Aura on stage during the Google I/O developer keynote.Anshel Sag For me the more important XR news from the event was the announcement of the Project Aura headset in partnership with Xreal. Project Aura, while still limited in details, does seem to indicate that there’s a middle ground for Google between the more immersive Moohan headset and lightweight smart glasses. It’s evident that Google wants to capture this sweet spot with Xreal’s help. Also, if you know anything about Xreal’s history, it makes sense that it would be the company Google works with to bring 3-D AR to market. Project Aura feels like Google’s way to compete with Meta’s Orion in terms of field of view, 3-D AR capabilities and standalone compute. While many people think of Orion as a pair of standalone glasses, in fact they depend on an external compute puck; with Qualcomm’s help, Google will also use a puck via a wire, though I would love to see that disappear in subsequent versions. The Xreal One and One Pro products already feel like moves in the direction Google is leaning, but with Project Aura it seems that Google wants more diversity within Android XR — and it wants to build a product with the company that has already shipped more AR headsets than anyone else. The wider 70-degree field of view should do wonders for the user experience, and while the price of Project Aura is still unclear, I would expect it to be much more expensive than most of Xreal’s current offerings. Google and Xreal say they will disclose more details about Project Aura at the AWE 2025 show in June, which I will be attending — so look for more details from me when that happens. Project Starline Becomes Google Beam Google also updated its XR conferencing platform, formerly called Project Starline, which it has been building with HP. Google has now changed the project into a product name with the introduction of Google Beam. While not that much has changed since I last tried out Project Starline at HP’s headquarters last September, the technology is still quite impressive — and still quite expensive. One of the new capabilities for Google Beam, also being made available as part of Google Meet, is near-real-time translated conversations that capture a person’s tone, expressions and accents while translating their speech. I got to experience this at Google I/O, and it was extremely convincing, not to mention a great way to enhance the already quite impressive Beam experience. It really did sound like the translated voice was the person’s own voice speaking English; this was significant on its own, but achieving it with spatial video at fairly low latency was even better. I hope that Google will one day be able to do the translations in real time, synced with the user’s speech. Google says that it and HP are still coming to market with a Google Beam product later this year and will be showing it off at the InfoComm conference in June. Google has already listed some lead customers for Google Beam, including Deloitte, Salesforce, Citadel, NEC, Hackensack Meridian Health, Duolingo and Recruit. This is a longer list than I expected, but the technology is also more impressive than I had initially expected, so I am happy to see it finally come to market. I do believe that with time we’ll probably see Google Beam expand beyond the 65-inch screen, but for now that’s the best way to attain full immersion. I also expect that sooner or later we could see Beam working with Android XR devices as well. Analyst Takeaways From Google I/O I believe that Google is one of the few companies that genuinely understands the intersection of AI and XR — and that has the assets and capabilities to leverage that understanding. Other companies may have the knowledge but lack the assets, capabilities or execution. I also believe that Google finally understands the “why” behind XR and how much AI helps answer that question. Google’s previous efforts in XR were for the sake of pursuing XR and didn’t really align well with the rest of the company’s efforts. Especially given the growth of AI overall and the capabilities of Gemini in particular, AR glasses are now one of the best ways to experience AI. Nobody wants to hold their phone up to something for a multimodel AI to see it, and no one wants to type long AI prompts into their phone. They want to interact with AI in the context of more natural visual and auditory experiences. Although smartphones can deliver a fairly good experience for this, they pale in comparison to having the microphones and cameras closer to your eyes and mouth. The more you use AI this way, the less you find yourself needing to pull out your phone. I certainly don’t think smartphones are going to disappear, but I do think they are going to decline in terms of where most of an individual’s AI computing and connectivity happen. All of this is why I’m much more confident in Google’s approach to XR this time around, even though the company has burned so many bridges with its previous endeavors in the space (specifically Daydream and Glass). More than that, I believe that Google’s previous absence in the XR market has impeded the market’s growth. Now, however, the company is clearly investing in partnerships and ecosystem enablement. It will be important for the company to continue to execute on this and enable its partners to be successful. A big part of that is building a strong XR ecosystem that can compete with the likes of Apple and Meta. It won’t happen overnight, but the success of that ecosystem will be what makes or breaks Google’s approach to XR beyond its embrace of Gemini. Moor Insights & Strategy provides or has provided paid services to technology companies, like all tech industry research and analyst firms. These services include research, analysis, advising, consulting, benchmarking, acquisition matchmaking and video and speaking sponsorships. Of the companies mentioned in this article, Moor Insights & Strategy currently has (or has had) a paid business relationship with Google, HP, Meta, Qualcomm, Salesforce and Samsung.Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions

By Kyle Barr Published May 20, 2025 | Comments (0) | Don't be fooled by the image. AMD doesn't make its own cards, so whatever comes out won't look quite as nice. © AMD In the battle of the low-end, 60-class graphics cards, AMD wants to see if it can pull off the same sucker punch of price and performance it gave Nvidia during the launch of its mid-range GPUs. The graphics card maker offered the first, sparse details on its Radeon RX 9060 XT graphics processors late Tuesday at Computex. The card may offer enough power for your PC to hit solid gaming performance at 1440p resolution, similar to the $450 Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, on cheaper gaming rigs. The real inflection point of this latest card will be whether you can actually buy it for its base price. The Radeon RX 9060 XT is the step down in GPU performance from the RX 9070 that AMD launched back in March. It’s based on the same RDNA 4 microarchitecture of the mid-range cards, but with 32 of the company’s latest compute units compared to the 56 on the higher-end card. The GPU comes with two options: one with 8 GB and another with 16 GB of GDDR6 VRAM. The version with more memory will be better for your rig long-term, especially if you plan to hook your PC up to a 1440p monitor and run the latest, more graphically intensive games. AMD did not offer us the full range of specs, which makes it hard to pin down just where this GPU will land in terms of raw performance compared to Nvidia’s latest cards. While the number of RDNA 4 compute units—the core clusters on AMD cards that process the thousands of calculations necessary for graphically intensive tasks—offers a vague impression of performance compared to the RX 9070, AMD didn’t provide any charts to compare FPS between games. The GPU runs on a 3.13GHz boost clock and has between 150W and 182W of board power compared to the 2.54 GHz clock and 304W board power on the company’s Radeon RX 9070 XT. Without a price tag, it’s impossible to judge how much of a step down the latest card is compared to the RX 9070. AMD didn’t offer any word on a non-XT variant, either. The card will require a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface, the same as its other cards. AMD doesn’t craft its own GPUs and instead relies on AIC (add-in card) makers to produce its cards. We’ll update this article if AMD announces details on price or availability during its Computex keynote. The crown jewel of AMD’s current lineup of graphics cards is the RX 9070 XT. AMD made headlines when it set the suggested sale price of the GPU at $600, only $50 more than the 9070, but it packs enough performance to get playable framerates out of multiple intensive games at 4K with a fair amount of ray tracing settings turned up. Unfortunately, because of a combination of tariffs and stock woes, the 9070 XT ended up priced at over $800 and as high as $1,000 at some online retailers. We’ve seen prices fluctuate regularly over the past several months, but a near 20% price inflation to what should be a mid-range card is simply too much to stomach. However, the lower-end GPUs are faring better. The RTX 5060 Ti MSRP is set at $450, and the lowest price we’ve seen so far is $480. The $300 RTX 5060 is sitting closer to $320 from some AIC makers like Gigabyte. A fair number of Nvidia’s lowest-end GPUs are currently listed as “Out of Stock” or “Coming Soon” on sites like Newegg and Best Buy. Those buying a lower-end GPU are more price sensitive than people who can drop $2,000 on an RTX 5090 without blinking. AMD has even more impetus to set a price people can afford, and make sure it can keep costs level when the card finally hits store shelves. Daily Newsletter You May Also Like By Kyle Barr Published May 19, 2025 By Kyle Barr Published May 19, 2025 By Kyle Barr Published May 19, 2025 By Kyle Barr Published May 16, 2025 By Kyle Barr Published April 17, 2025 By Kyle Barr Published April 15, 2025

If you get a text or voice message from someone claiming to be a U.S. government official, they probably aren't who they say they are. The FBI is warning the public about an ongoing campaign in which scammers are using AI-generated voice messages to impersonate senior government staff in an attempt to gain access to personal accounts and, by extension, sensitive information or money. Many of those targeted have been other current and former government officials—both federal and state—and their contacts, but that doesn't mean this scam or something like it won't land in your inbox or on your phone sooner or later. Here's how these AI-powered attacks work, and how to avoid falling victim. How the AI impersonation scam worksThe current scam can take the form of smishing, which targets individuals via SMS or MMS, or vishing, which uses voice memos. Either way, bad actors are sending AI-generated voice messages and/or texts that appear to be from senior U.S. government officials. The goal is to build trust before directing targets to a separate messaging platform via a malicious link, which ultimately ends with you entering login credentials or downloading malware to your device. Scammers may also use the information gathered to target additional contacts, perpetuating the campaign. These scams are believable on some level thanks to voice cloning and generative AI tools that allow anyone to easily impersonate public figures. Bad actors can also spoof phone numbers so that messages in smishing schemes appear to be from family, friends, or trusted contacts. How to spot fake vishing messagesWhile AI-generated speech can be convincing, there are ways to identify these messages as fake. Listen for pronunciation and pacing that sound off as well as the presence (or lack) of emotion and variation in the speaker's voice—for example, AI tends to sound slightly flatter and have less inflection than a real human, and you may detect odd pauses. Of course, you should be wary of any communication—voice or otherwise—from anyone claiming to represent an organization, including a government agency, especially if they send unsolicited links, request money or personal information, or promote a sense of urgency. If you do receive a message that sounds convincing, verify the caller's identity by searching for official contact information and calling back, or hang up and reach out directly if it's someone you know. You should always independently confirm any request to send money or provide information, and never click links or download attachments sent via email or text. The FBI also suggests selecting a secret word or phrase with your close contacts that you can use to verify their identities from AI.

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Learn More Microsoft announced a significant expansion of its Copilot Studio platform at Build 2025 today, introducing multi-agent systems that allow different AI agents to collaborate on complex business tasks, along with new developer tools, security enhancements, and integration with WhatsApp. The suite of announcements represents Microsoft’s most ambitious attempt yet to make AI agents more practical for enterprise use, addressing key limitations that have hindered broader adoption of agent technology in business settings. “We’re seeing from customers doing large-scale production rollouts that governance and observability become even more critical,” said Ray Smith, VP of AI Agents at Microsoft, in an exclusive interview with VentureBeat. “The beauty of Copilot Studio is that we provide a managed infrastructure framework with built-in lifecycle management and comprehensive governance capabilities.” How Microsoft’s new multi-agent system is transforming enterprise workflows At the heart of the announcements is Microsoft’s new multi-agent system, which enables agents built with Copilot Studio, Microsoft 365, Azure AI Agents Service, and Azure Fabric to work together, delegating tasks to one another to complete complex business processes. This capability addresses a fundamental challenge organizations have faced when implementing agent technology. “Creating a reliable process within a single agent is extremely challenging,” Smith explained. “Breaking it down into multiple agents not only improves maintainability and simplifies solution building, but it also significantly enhances overall reliability.” The system enables scenarios such as a Copilot Studio agent pulling sales data from a CRM, handing it to a Microsoft 365 agent to draft a proposal in Word, and then triggering another agent to schedule follow-ups in Outlook. Microsoft is also emphasizing interoperability through support for the agent-to-agent protocol recently announced by Google, potentially enabling cross-platform agent communication. ‘Computer use’ feature brings human-like UI interaction to AI agents without API dependencies Another key announcement is “computer use” for Copilot Studio agents, which allows agents to interact with desktop applications and websites by controlling interfaces directly — clicking buttons, navigating menus, and typing in fields — even when APIs aren’t available. “When APIs aren’t available, this feature can interact directly with user interfaces — whether desktop applications, browsers, or other platforms,” Smith said. “It provides what we call ‘no-cliffs extensibility’ and operates based on intent rather than pixel coordinates, unlike traditional desktop automation. This goal-oriented approach makes it significantly more robust.” This capability is currently available through Microsoft’s Frontier program for eligible customers with 500,000+ Copilot Studio messages and a U.S.-based environment. Customizable model selection and Python-powered analytics supercharge enterprise AI solutions Microsoft is giving organizations more flexibility with their AI models by enabling them to bring custom models from Azure AI Foundry into Copilot Studio. This includes access to over 1,900 models, including the latest from OpenAI GPT-4.1, Llama, and DeepSeek. “Start with off-the-shelf models because they’re already fantastic and continuously improving,” Smith said. “Companies typically choose to fine-tune these models when they need to incorporate specific domain language, unique use cases, historical data, or customer requirements. This customization ultimately drives either greater efficiency or improved accuracy.” The company is also adding a code interpreter feature that brings Python capabilities to Copilot Studio agents, enabling data analysis, visualization, and complex calculations without leaving the Copilot Studio environment. Smith highlighted financial applications as a particular strength: “In financial analysis and services, we’ve seen a remarkable breakthrough over the past six months,” Smith said. “Deep reasoning models, powered by reinforcement learning, can effectively self-verify any process that produces quantifiable outputs.” He added that these capabilities excel at “complex financial analysis where users need to generate code for creating graphs, producing specific outputs, or conducting detailed financial assessments.” WhatsApp integration extends AI agent reach to billions of global users Starting in early July, organizations will be able to publish Copilot Studio agents to WhatsApp, enabling them to reach customers through one of the world’s most popular messaging platforms. “WhatsApp is obviously a key channel. Globally, it’s pretty huge,” Smith explained. “So that became a high priority for us through the various channels and integrations, to unlock that as a way for end users to interact at a time that suits them.” This addition, along with a new SharePoint channel (now generally available), significantly expands the reach of custom agents beyond Microsoft’s own ecosystem. Microsoft bridges the developer experience gap with VS Code extension and enhanced admin controls For professional developers, Microsoft is launching a Visual Studio Code extension for Copilot Studio, bringing familiar tooling and workflows to agent development. The extension provides features like IntelliSense, color formatting, and “find all references” functionality, enabling developers to edit agents directly from within Visual Studio Code. IT administrators gain new tools as well, including a centralized “Agents & connectors” page in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center for managing the full lifecycle of Copilot agents. This interface allows admins to view all agents, filter by metadata, assign sensitivity labels, manage connector behavior, and block or delete agents that violate security policies. AI-powered agent discovery solves the ‘which agent do I need?’ problem for end users As organizations develop more specialized agents, Microsoft is addressing the challenge of agent discovery with new in-conversation agent recommendations. This feature suggests the most relevant agent based on a user’s needs, dynamically recommending handoffs when appropriate. “It’s fundamentally like an agentic RAG pattern,” Smith explained, referring to retrieval-augmented generation. “It uses vector databases and indexing based on the description of the agent. When you describe the task, it’s looking up and going, ‘Hey, I think you should look at this agent.'” The system only recommends agents the user has access to, respecting existing permissions structures. Overcoming enterprise AI implementation hurdles: Microsoft’s roadmap for success Despite the new capabilities, organizations still face significant challenges when implementing multi-agent systems. Smith recommends focusing on specific use cases rather than attempting comprehensive transformations from the outset. “Best practices have been customers who’ve focused on a use case or problem to start with, broken that down into parts, and looked at embedding an agent at various parts of that process,” he said. “They go from one agent to two agents, and then effectively they’re stitching it together in a multi-agent solution.” He emphasized the importance of hands-on experience with the tools: “You need to know good at what it’s not… it’s a mix of tooling that you will use to transform your business process.” These announcements collectively strengthen Microsoft’s position in the enterprise AI market, where competition with Google, Amazon, and specialized AI startups continues to intensify. By addressing key enterprise requirements like security, governance, and interoperability, while simultaneously expanding the platform’s capabilities through features like computer use and code interpretation, Microsoft is creating a more complete offering for organizations looking to deploy AI agents at scale. “Microsoft is very much in a leading position in building and managing and scaling these agentic solutions or agentic workflows,” Smith noted. “I think we’ve hit an important inflection point of some of the key feature asks from customers.” The company’s dual approach — supporting both no-code tools for business users and professional development environments for engineers — also sets it apart from competitors that focus primarily on either developers or business users. “Our platform serves experienced developers who prefer to use Visual Studio for direct access to APIs and frameworks,” Smith said. “It also accommodates business users with limited coding experience who want to start with a specific business problem and rapidly prototype solutions using natural language.” While Microsoft has addressed many of the key challenges for enterprise AI adoption with these announcements, Smith hints at future developments focusing on agent discovery and accessibility. “I think the next piece will be all of these agents surfacing within a marketplace or catalog and then accessible from AI assistants like Copilot or Microsoft 365 Copilot and beyond,” he said. The Build 2025 announcements represent a significant step forward for Microsoft’s AI strategy, but the company continues to face the challenge of driving widespread adoption of these technologies across industries and helping organizations realize tangible business value from their AI investments. As Smith concluded, “At the core of all transformation isn’t really technology itself. It’s about delivering solutions that are more cost-effective, faster, higher quality, and that ultimately create a superior customer experience.” Daily insights on business use cases with VB Daily If you want to impress your boss, VB Daily has you covered. We give you the inside scoop on what companies are doing with generative AI, from regulatory shifts to practical deployments, so you can share insights for maximum ROI. Read our Privacy Policy Thanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here. An error occured.

People are using AI video generation tools to contribute to an unexpected new viral trend: podcasts featuring AI-generated talking babies. And one of the companies helping artists do this is Hedra. The startup, launched in 2023, offers a web-based video generation and editing suite powered by its Character-3 model, which lets users make videos with an AI-generated character as the focus, as well as transfer styles across images and audio. This is what people are using to make podcast videos like this one, in which an AI-generated dog talks about what it’s like to live with a new baby in the house. We’re not sure how much Hedra has benefited from this trend, but it’s receiving ample investor attention nevertheless: the company on Thursday said it has raised $32 million in a Series A funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz’s Infrastructure fund. Its previous investors are participating in the round, and a16z’s Matt Bornstein will join the startup’s board. Michael Lingelbach, the company’s founder and CEO (pictured below), told TechCrunch the startup was inspired by the gap he noticed between companies like Synthesia, which let users superimpose AI-generated avatars over presentations, and startups like Runway, which provide video generation tools for creating short clips. “I thought what if we did something at the intersection of video generation and 3D characters, with long dialogues and better controllability,” he said. Michael Lingelbach, Hedra’s founder and CEO. Image Credits: Hedra Hedra launched its first video model in June 2024, and quickly attracted investor interest, securing $10 million in seed funding from Index Ventures, Abstract Ventures, and a16z speedrun. Earlier this year, Amazon also backed the company through its venture capital arm, Alexa Fund. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW Lingelbach noted that the launch of the Character-3 model in March was a big inflection point (shortly after the company signed its term sheet with a16z), and is now driving a lot of user growth. The startup wants to use fresh cash to train its next model, which it says enables better customization, as well as develop technology to let its AI-generated characters interact with users. The company is now focusing on attracting creators and prosumers, and said it has received inbound interest from marketing departments of enterprises as well. Image Credits: Hedra While Hedra’s own model is centered around character movement and expression, the app lets you employ other models like Veo 2 and Kling for video generation; Flux, Imagen3, Sana, and Ideogram V2 for image generation; and audio models from ElevenLabs and Cartesia for voice generation or cloning. Hedra’s competitors include Captions (also backed by a16z), which is focused more on smartphones; Greycroft-backed Cheehoo, which works with Hollywood studios to create animated features; Synthesia, and HeyGen. Hedra claims the videos generated with its platform have more expressive characters than those made using its competition. a16z’s Bornstein thinks that as the AI-powered video generation space evolves, we will see more tools focusing on characters, motion, voice, editing and the like. “AI companies can produce amazing clips of environments and simple actions. But they can’t generate meaningful dialogue or animation. It’s not just about making a video, it’s about making a story that resonates. This is largely down to the people and characters in the story. That’s exactly what Hedra is building,” he told TechCrunch in an emailed statement.