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Google Trials Gemini‐Powered Audio Overviews in Search Labs

AND: Meta's $14B Bet on Scale AI Sparks Shake-Up Among Generative AI Giants

TodayOnAI’s Daily Drop

  • Google Trials Gemini‑Powered Audio Overviews in Search Labs

  • Meta's $14B Bet on Scale AI Sparks Shake-Up Among Generative AI Giants

  • New York Passes Landmark AI Safety Bill Targeting Frontier Models

  • 💬 Let’s Fix This Prompt

  • 🧰 Today’s AI Toolbox Pick

📌 The TodayOnAI Brief

Google

🚀 TodayOnAI Insight: Google has begun testing “Audio Overviews” within Search Labs, using Gemini AI to generate podcast-style summaries of search results—offering users a hands-free, auditory alternative to traditional browsing.

🔍 Key Takeaways:

  • Podcast-style summaries: For select queries (e.g., “How do noise‑cancellation headphones work?”), users see a “Generate Audio Overview” button beneath “People also ask.” Tapping it produces a ~30–45 second audio explainer via Gemini models, with two AI “hosts” guiding the narrative.

  • Transparent sourcing: The player includes playback controls, speed adjustment, volume, and visible links to source websites in a scrollable carousel to support citation and further exploration.

  • Feedback-driven and experimental: Available today in Labs (U.S., English only), users can rate each overview and the experiment overall with thumbs up/down. Google aims to gather feedback on usability and usefulness.

💡 Why This Stands Out: This rollout confirms Google’s push toward multimodal, voice-first search experiences—extending beyond text to accommodate auditory learners and hands-free scenarios. It melds the convenience of generative AI summaries with clear attribution, addressing concerns over traffic erosion for news publishers. The test also hints at future convergence with other Gemini-powered tools like NotebookLM and broader AI Mode efforts—raising the question: should search be seen more like a podcast service than a webpage list?

Meta

🚀 TodayOnAI Insight: Meta’s massive $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI (a 49% stake) has prompted major Scale customers—including Google, Microsoft, and reportedly OpenAI—to reassess their relationships. The shift highlights deep concerns about vendor neutrality amid shifting ownership.

🔍 Key Takeaways:

  • Meta strategic investment: Meta purchased a 49% stake in Scale AI for $14.3 billion, with Scale CEO Alexandr Wang now helping Meta pursue “superintelligence.”

  • Customer hesitation grows: Google, set to pay Scale $200 million this year, is now exploring other vendors; Microsoft is also reportedly reassessing ties. OpenAI reportedly paused, though its CFO says Scale remains “one of many” suppliers.

  • Core business unaffected: Scale continues to serve self-driving car firms, U.S. government agencies, and leading generative-AI labs that rely on annotated data—Scale claims its operations and data protections remain solid.

💡 Why This Stands Out: This episode underscores a brewing tension: as cloud-era titans embed deeply into critical AI infrastructure companies like Scale, neutrality becomes harder to guarantee. Will large AI labs tolerate Meta-endorsed annotation for foundational model training? Or will this spark a move toward diversified, open-sourced pipelines to safeguard trust and independence?

AI

🚀 TodayOnAI Insight: New York lawmakers have passed the RAISE Act, a first-of-its-kind AI safety bill mandating transparency from frontier AI developers like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. If signed into law, it would establish enforceable safety standards aimed at preventing catastrophic misuse of powerful AI systems.

🔍 Key Takeaways:

  • The RAISE Act targets AI models trained with over $100M in compute and accessible in New York, requiring detailed safety and security disclosures.

  • It authorizes civil penalties up to $30M for noncompliance, focusing regulation on tech giants—not startups or academia.

  • Inspired by but more narrowly scoped than California’s SB 1047, the bill avoids mandates like “kill switches” or post-training liability.

  • Supported by figures like Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, it reflects growing pressure for preemptive AI safeguards.

  • Despite strong pushback from Silicon Valley, lawmakers argue the bill balances regulation with innovation.

💡 Why This Stands Out: The RAISE Act could mark a national precedent, shifting AI governance from voluntary norms to enforceable rules. As U.S. federal efforts stall, states are stepping into the vacuum—with New York offering a model others may follow. The question remains: will Big Tech adapt, or retreat?

💬 Let’s Fix This Prompt

 See how a simple prompt upgrade can unlock better AI output.

🔹 The Original Prompt

"Generate blog ideas for a sports company."

"Generate blog ideas for a sports company."

At first glance, this prompt might seem okay. But it's too broad — and that limits the quality of AI-generated results. Let’s improve it using prompt engineering best practices.

The Improved Prompt

Generate 10 blog post ideas for a modern sportswear brand targeting active Gen Z and Millennial audiences. Focus on themes like performance, community, sustainability, and athlete inspiration. Include seasonal and event-based content to align with the sports calendar.

💡 Why It's Better

  • Defines the target audience

  • Includes relevant themes (performance, lifestyle, sustainability)

  • Suggests content that aligns with events/seasons

  • Makes the ideas more strategic and brand-aligned

🛠️ Learn how to adapt this prompt for SaaS, AI tools, dev teams & more →
Read the full PromptPilot breakdown

💡 Bonus Tool: Want to generate and master prompts instantly?
👉 Try PromptPilot by TodayOnAI (Free to use)

🧠 Smart Picks

📰 More from the AI World

  • Taiwan places export controls on Huawei and SMIC

  • Google reportedly plans to cut ties with Scale AI

  • Waymo limits service ahead of today’s ‘No Kings’ protests

  • Nvidia to exclude China from its revenue and profit forecasts

🧰 Today’s AI Toolbox Pick

  • 💻Clevis (Apps Tool): Builds AI-powered apps and automation without writing code.

  • 🚀Longshot (Content Tool): Researches, generates, and optimizes content for enterprises with user-sourced data containing zero hallucinations.

  • 📑PDFConvo (PDFs Tool): Allows you to interact with PDFs by generating summaries and answering clarifying questions. Tool