September's 7 AI News Announcements

Home

News

April 10, 2025

EricRoberts

114

# ai # research # Health

September

For over two decades now, we at Google have been diving deep into machine learning and AI, putting resources into research, tools, and infrastructure to create products that really make a difference in folks' everyday lives. From healthcare to crisis response and education, our teams are out there trying to harness AI's potential to do some good. We want to keep you in the loop on what we're up to, so we're starting a regular update on the latest AI news from Google, covering everything from our products to our research. Let's take a quick look back at some of the AI announcements we made in September.

At the United Nations' first-ever "Summit for the Future," Google's CEO Sundar Pichai took the stage to announce a hefty $120 million Global AI Opportunity Fund aimed at boosting AI education and training. He stressed the importance of public-private partnerships to make sure AI benefits everyone, no matter where they are. "We've got a real shot at being inclusive right from the get-go with AI, and we can't let the digital divide turn into an AI divide," he told the crowd of international policymakers. Wrapping up, Sundar made it clear that Google is all in on working together to roll out these big innovations responsibly, so AI can truly help everyone. "The opportunities are just too big, the challenges too pressing, and this tech too game-changing to do anything less," he said. We've spiced up NotebookLM, our AI-powered research buddy that uses Gemini models to help you get your head around complex info even faster. We've added Audio Overviews, where two AI hosts chat in-depth about the stuff you upload. It's a cool way to learn on the go, and you can even download the chats to revisit later. Plus, you can now upload YouTube URLs and audio files into NotebookLM, and there's a new feature to share your Audio Overviews with others with just a couple of taps. With Audio Overview, diving into and sharing the topics you love has never been easier. Google Cloud and Google Workspace threw a global digital event called Gemini at Work to show how AI is shaking things up for businesses worldwide. They shared over 50 new stories from Google Cloud customers who are using Gemini on a big scale to boost productivity, enhance customer experiences, and even start new business lines. AI agents are looking pretty promising, especially for helping workplaces cater to different needs and goals. Customers are using these AI agents across various industries to speed up tasks, whether it's guiding a shopper to the perfect shoes, helping an employee pick the best health benefits, or supporting nurses with smoother patient handoffs during shift changes. Google.org kicked off a new initiative with over $25 million in funding going to five education organizations. The goal? To equip more than 500,000 educators and students across the U.S. with the basic AI skills they need. They'll be developing AI curriculums, training teachers, and creating inclusive AI learning experiences. Some of these organizations will also roll out a self-paced course called Generative AI for Educators, which aims to help teachers save time and improve student learning with generative AI tools. The internet's already transformed education in amazing ways, and now, by tapping into AI's full potential, we can unlock even more opportunities for teaching and learning. We've launched a new tool called Heat Resilience that uses AI-enhanced satellite and aerial imagery to help cities deal with extreme heat and hopefully lessen the health impacts. It combines AI-powered object detection with other models to look at things like how much green space a city has or how reflective building roofs are. This helps urban planners and local governments figure out the best spots for cooling measures like tree planting, right down to the neighborhood level. We're starting with a pilot in 14 U.S. cities, where officials are using it to pinpoint the neighborhoods most at risk from extreme heat and come up with plans to help. With global temperatures on the rise, especially in urban heat islands, AI could be part of the answer. Google Research has teamed up with fire experts to develop FireSat, a satellite network specifically designed to spot and track wildfires as small as a classroom (about 5x5 meters). Once it's up and running, FireSat will give authorities high-resolution imagery updated every 20 minutes worldwide, helping them respond to fires faster. This is a big deal because until now, firefighters have had to make do with satellite imagery that's either low resolution or only updated a few times a day, making it tough to spot fires until they've grown much larger. When FireSat is fully operational, emergency responders will get this vital info when fires are still small and potentially easier to contain. We've made our bioacoustic foundation model, Health Acoustic Representations (HeAR), available to researchers. HeAR is designed to help build models that can listen to human sounds, like coughs, to spot early signs of diseases. It has the potential to help screen for conditions like tuberculosis, which is treatable but often goes undiagnosed because many people lack access to healthcare, especially in resource-limited countries. For example, an Indian respiratory healthcare company is looking into how HeAR might improve their early detection of TB from cough sounds. In an essay for Stanford University's *The Digitalist Papers*, Google's Senior Vice President of Research, Technology & Society, James Manyika, invited readers to imagine a 2050 where AI has been a widespread force for good. He posed the question: What do we need to focus on now, and what signs should we look for to track our progress? With AI, every step we take matters. These public discussions are crucial because they influence how AI can benefit people, both now and in the future.

Billionaires Discuss Automating Jobs Away in This Week's AI Update Hey everyone, welcome back to TechCrunch's AI newsletter! If you're not already subscribed, you can sign up here to get it delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday.We took a little break last week, but for good reason—the AI news cycle was on fire, thanks in large part to the sudden surge of

NotebookLM App Launches: AI-Powered Tool for Instant Knowledge Access Anywhere NotebookLM Goes Mobile: Your AI-Powered Research Assistant Now on Android & iOSWe’ve been blown away by the response to NotebookLM—millions of users have embraced it as their go-to

Google’s AI Futures Fund may have to tread carefully Google’s New AI Investment Initiative: A Strategic Shift Amid Regulatory ScrutinyGoogle's recent announcement of an AI Futures Fund marks a bold move in the tech giant's ongoing qu

Comments (20)

0/200

Submit

BillyAdams