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| 1 | | Google announced its first foldable smartphone, a budget phone, and its new tablet during the I/O conference on Wednesday. Google also plans to bring new generative AI answers to its search engine, as well as embed more AI in productivity tools like Gmail. Hardware announcements: - Google debuted the $1,799 Pixel Fold, which ships next month and is reportedly the thinnest foldable smartphone on the market. The phone has a 180-degree vertical hinge that opens up into a 7.6-inch screen.
- The new budget Pixel smartphone, the $499 Pixel 7A, features an updated camera and a 6.1-inch 1080p OLED display that can run at up to 90Hz.
- The company also revealed the Google Pixel tablet, priced at $499 and available from June 20. The 11-inch tablet runs on Google's Tensor G2 chips and features a charging dock and front- and rear-facing cameras.
Pixel Fold: 
Artificial intelligence: - On the AI side, Google announced a new Search Generative Experience that displays AI-generated answers and information at the top of search results.
- The opt-in experimental "AI snapshots" are generated by large language models and draw from across the open web. The AI-generated answers will be available to test out in the coming weeks via a Google Labs waitlist.
- Additionally, Google introduced PaLM 2, its latest large language model that powers AI features across 25 different products.
- Google will also launch "Help Me Write," an AI tool in Gmail that can write entire emails, and AI-powered automatic table generation in Sheets and image creation in Slides and Meet.
- The company has rebranded its generative AI tools across its productivity Workspace apps as "Duet AI."
New Google AI search experience: 
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| 2 | | What happened: SoftBank Vision Fund, the world's biggest investor in tech startups, reported a seismic loss of ¥4.3 trillion ($32B) for the latest fiscal year, as rising interest rates, the Russian-Ukraine war, and the sluggish global economy impacted earnings. The Japanese conglomerate's tech investment arm lost ¥297.5 billion ($2.2B) in the first three months of 2023, its fifth straight quarter of losses. Details: The losses were partly caused by a drop in the share prices of SenseTime and GoTo. The Japanese conglomerate has been raising cash over the past year by exiting high-profile companies, such as Uber, and selling shares in T-Mobile and Alibaba, which it continues to offload through a forward contract. What is means: Founder Masayoshi Son has said SoftBank is in "defense mode" as it prepares for different scenarios, including the possibility that the market may not recover until early 2024. SoftBank is pausing new investments by its funds, lowering its stake in Chinese ecommerce group Alibaba, and preparing for the IPO of its U.K. chip designer Arm. The company is also reportedly nearing a deal to sell Fortress Investment Group to Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala for up to $3B. The bigger picture: According to CFO Yoshimitsu Goto, SoftBank is not going to miss out on investment opportunities in emerging technologies, such as ChatGPT. However, he cautioned that the company is not yet ready to speed up its deal-making activity, and it's expected that SoftBank will continue to be more selective with its investments in the future. 
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| 3 | | Microsoft will not offer salary increases to full-time employees this year as it seeks to cut costs amid slowing revenue growth. The company still plans to invest in its workers through promotions, bonuses, and stock. However, it will not be overfunding bonus and stock award budgets like it did in 2022. More: - The lack of salary increase also applies to CEO Satya Nadella and other senior leadership. Last year, Nadella's pay increased by around 10% to $55M.
- Microsoft has experienced subdued growth as clients limit spending. The company's latest quarterly earnings showed revenue growth of 7% to $52.86B, which marked the second straight quarter of growth below double-digit percentages.
- Revenue growth in the current quarter is expected to slow to 6.7% year-over-year and operating expenses will grow less than 2%.
- To reduce costs, Microsoft has also been cutting staff, with plans to eliminate a total of 10,000 jobs announced in January.
- Microsoft-owned LinkedIn also announced this week that it will shut down its China-specific job app, "InCareer", and lay off 716 employees worldwide, citing intense competition and macroeconomic challenges
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| 4 | | Disney plans to launch a combined Disney+ and Hulu streaming app in late 2023, according to CEO Bob Iger. The company will still offer standalone options for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, but combining services will provide a "one-app experience" for bundle subscribers, he said. More: - The combined platform offers greater "advertising potential," Iger said during Disney’s earnings call on Wednesday.
- The hope is that the combined app will attract new subscribers and win back old ones, as Disney+ lost 4 million subscribers in Q1 of 2023.
- Iger said the company plans to hike the price of the ad-free version of Disney+ again, but he did not specify when.
- The CEO also hinted at "constructive" talks with Comcast, which owns 33% of Hulu, suggesting that Disney could pursue a buyout of its stake in 2024.
- Despite a 26% decrease in operating losses for its streaming business, Disney posted a $659M loss in the last quarter and is under pressure to increase earnings in the second half of its financial year.
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| 5 | | Google has been fined 3 million roubles ($38,600) by a Russian court for not removing YouTube videos that the court claimed promoted "LGBT propaganda" and "false information" about the Ukraine war. The fine is the result of a new law banning "LGBT propaganda" that is part of Moscow's efforts to restrict access to information online. More: - Russian prosecutors accused Google of failing to take down YouTube videos deemed illegal under the law, including one about same-sex couples raising children and the LGBT community in St. Petersburg.
- Google hasn't said if it will appeal the decision.
- The fine comes after the company's Russian subsidiary filed for bankruptcy last year following a 7.2 billion rouble ($92.6M) fine levied in late 2021 over the company's failure to remove banned content online.
- In July 2022, a Russian court fined Google another 21.1 billion roubles ($370M) for what it said was a repeated failure to remove "prohibited" content from YouTube and other platforms. The content reportedly includes videos about the war and others allegedly promoting terrorism and extremism.
Zoom out: - Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, YouTube has banned state-run media accounts supporting the war and refused to remove content deemed "illegal" from its platform.
- Russia has retaliated through the fines but has not banned the site.
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| 6 | | An international group of doctors has warned that artificial intelligence could worsen social and health inequalities in healthcare. Concerns also include data privacy and security, AI errors that could harm patients, and existential risks. More: - The experts, writing in the journal BMJ Global Health, cautioned that AI could exacerbate social and health inequalities in healthcare by perpetuating human biases and discrimination, or reinforcing pre-existing disparities in people's access to healthcare.
- Research, for example, has revealed that hospital algorithms can be racially biased against Black patients.
- Patients are also apprehensive, with 60% saying they'd be uncomfortable with AI in healthcare, and only 38% believing it would improve outcomes.
- The warning is the latest in a growing chorus of concerns around AI safety, with experts calling for the technology to be regulated.
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is a writer and editor at Inside.com covering artificial intelligence and daily technology news. She has written the Inside AI newsletter since 2019. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@inside.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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