Clash of Clans. | Image: Supercell Google just announced Gemini 2.0, and as part of its suite of news today, the company is revealing that it’s been exploring how AI agents built with Gemini 2.0 can understand rules in video games to help you out. The agents can “reason about the game based solely on the action on the screen, and offer up suggestions for what to do next in real time conversation,” Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and CTO Koray Kavukcuoglu write in a blog post. Hassabis and Kavukcuoglu also say that the agents can also “tap into Google Search to connect you with the wealth of gaming knowledge on the web.” Google is testing the agents’ “ability to interpret rules and challenges” in games like Clash of Clans and Hay Day from Supercell, according to Hassabis and Kavukcuoglu. I’m not surprised Google is chasing these ideas: in theory, an AI agent coaching you through a strategy or puzzle could be useful. It sounds like this work is very early, though, and I have many questions about whether or not these agents actually give sound advice. Google is also investing in video games and AI in another way: creating playable virtual worlds on the fly from a prompt image using a “foundation world model” called Genie 2 that it showed off last week. That work seems early, too: Genie 2 can only generate consistent worlds for “up to a minute,” Google says.

Illustration: The Verge Google’s latest AI model has a lot of work to do. Like every other company in the AI race, Google is frantically building AI into practically every product it owns, trying to build products other developers want to use, and racing to set up all the infrastructure to make those things possible without being so expensive it runs the company out of business. Meanwhile, Amazon, Microsoft, Anthropic, and OpenAI are pouring their own billions into pretty much the exact same set of problems. That may explain why Demis Hassabis, the CEO of Google DeepMind and the head of all the company’s AI efforts, is so excited about how all-encompassing the new Gemini 2.0 model is. Google is releasing Gemini 2.0 on Wednesday, about 10 months after the company first launched 1.5. It’s still in what Google calls an “experimental preview,” and only one version of the model — the smaller, lower-end 2.0 Flash — is being released. But Hassabis says it’s still a big day. “Effectively,” Hassabis says, “it’s as good as the current Pro model is. So you can think of it as one whole tier better, for the same cost efficiency and performance efficiency and speed. We’re really happy with that.” And not only is it better at doing the old things Gemini could do but it can also do new things. Gemini 2.0 can now natively generate audio and images, and it brings new multimodal capabilities that Hassabis says lay the groundwork for the next big thing in AI: agents. Agentic AI, as everyone calls it, refers to AI bots that can actually go off and accomplish things on your behalf. Google has been demoing one, Project Astra, since this spring — it’s a visual system that can identify objects, help you navigate the world, and tell you where you left your glasses. Gemini 2.0 represents a huge improvement for Astra, Hassabis says. Google is also launching Project Mariner, an experimental new Chrome extension that can quite literally use your web browser for you. There’s also Jules, an agent specifically for helping developers find and fix bad code, and a new Gemini 2.0-based agent that can look at your screen and help you better play video games. Hassabis calls the game agent “an Easter egg” but also points to it as the sort of thing a truly multimodal, built-in model can do for you. “We really see 2025 as the true start of the agent-based era,” Hassabis says, “and Gemini 2.0 is the foundation of that.” He’s careful to note that the performance isn’t the only upgrade here; as talk of an industrywide slowdown in model improvements continues, he says Google is still seeing gains as it trains new models, but he’s just as excited about the efficiency and speed improvements. Google’s plan for Gemini 2.0 is to use it absolutely everywhere This won’t shock you, but Google’s plan for Gemini 2.0 is to use it absolutely everywhere. It will power AI Overviews in Google Search, which Google says now reach 1 billion people and which the company says will now be more nuanced and complex thanks to Gemini 2.0. It’ll be in the Gemini bot and app, of course, and will eventually power the AI features in Workspace and elsewhere at Google. Google has worked to bring as many features as possible into the model itself, rather than run a bunch of individual and siloed products, in order to be able to do more with Gemini in more places. The multimodality, the different kinds of outputs, the features — the goal is to get all of it into the foundational Gemini model. “We’re trying to build the most general model possible,” Hassabis says. As the agentic era of AI begins, Hassabis says there are both new and old problems to solve. The old ones are eternal, about performance and efficiency and inference cost. The new ones are in many ways unknown. Just to name one: what safety risks will these agents pose out in the world operating of their own accord? Google is taking some precautions with Mariner and Astra, but Hassabis says there’s more research to be done. “We’re going to need new safety solutions,” he says, “like testing in hardened sandboxes. I think that’s going to be quite important for testing agents, rather than out in the wild… they’ll be more useful, but there will also be more risks.” Gemini 2.0 may be in an experimental stage for now, but you can already use it by choosing the new model in the Gemini web app. (No word yet on when you’ll get to try the non-Flash models.) And early next year, Hassabis says, it’s coming for other Gemini platforms, everything else Google makes, and the whole internet.

Illustration: The Verge Google has just revealed a new AI tool called Deep Research that lets you call upon its Gemini bot to scour the web for you and write a detailed report based on its findings. Deep Research is currently only available in English to Gemini Advanced subscribers. If you have access, you can ask Gemini to research a particular topic on your behalf, and the chatbot will create a “multi-step research plan” that you can either edit or approve. Google says Gemini will start its research by “finding interesting pieces of information” on the web and then performing related searches — a process it repeats several times. GIF: Google When it’s finished, Gemini will spit out a report of its “key findings” with links to the websites where it found its information. You can ask Gemini to expand on certain areas or tweak its report, as well as export the AI-generated research to Google Docs. This all sounds a bit similar to the Pages feature offered by the AI search engine Perplexity, which generates a custom webpage based on your prompt. Google took the wraps off Deep Research as part of a broader announcement for Gemini 2.0, its new model for an era of “agentic” AI, or the AI systems that can perform tasks for you. Deep Research is just one example of Google’s agentic push, and it’s something other AI companies are seriously exploring as well. Along with Deep Research, Google announced that it’s making Gemini Flash 2.0 — a speedier version of the next-gen chatbot — available to developers. Deep Research is currently only available for Gemini Advanced subscribers on the web. You can try it by heading to Gemini and then changing the model dropdown to “Gemini 1.5 Pro with Deep Research.”

Image: Google I stepped into a room lined with bookshelves, stacked with ordinary programming and architecture texts. One shelf stood slightly askew, and behind it was a hidden room that had three TVs displaying famous artworks: Edvard Munch’s The Scream, Georges Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon, and Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa. “There’s some interesting pieces of art here,” said Bibo Xu, Google DeepMind’s lead product manager for Project Astra. “Is there one in particular that you would want to talk about?” Project Astra, Google’s prototype AI “universal agent,” responded smoothly. “The Sunday Afternoon artwork was discussed previously,” it replied. “Was there a particular detail about it you wish to discuss, or were you interested in discussing The Scream?” I was at Google’s sprawling Mountain View campus, seeing the latest projects from its AI lab DeepMind. One was Project Astra, a virtual assistant first demoed at Google I/O earlier this year. Currently contained in an app, it can process text, images, video, and audio in real time and respond to questions about them. It’s like a Siri or Alexa that’s slightly more natural to talk to, can see the world around you, and can “remember”... Read the full story at The Verge.

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In what can only be described as the most ambitious quest for love in modern times, Lily Phillips, known in certain circles for her professional prowess, found herself in an unprecedented emotional crisis. Despite setting a new personal record by engaging in intimate relations with 100 men in a single day, Phillips was left devastated, not by physical exhaustion, but by the crushing realization that true love was nowhere to be found among her clients. Phillips, who has been dubbed “The Modern-Day Aphrodite” by her admirers, embarked on this marathon of love-seeking with high hopes. “I thought if I could connect with so many people in one day, surely one of them would be my soulmate,” she sobbed, surrounded by an impressive array of empty champagne bottles and discarded roses at her upscale, neon-lit apartment. The event, titled “Loveathon 2024,” was initially celebrated for its audacious approach to romance. Sponsored by a leading adult entertainment company, the day was meant to promote sex positivity while also, in Lily’s mind, doubling as the world’s most unconventional singles mixer. Yet, as the hours ticked by, what started as an exploration of human connection turned into a poignant commentary on the modern dating scene. “I asked each one if they believed in love at first sight,” Phillips recounted, mascara running down her cheeks like the tears of a Shakespearean heroine. “Most of them just asked for more pillows or if there was a discount for bulk.” The aftermath was as dramatic as the event itself. Phillips, who usually prides herself on her emotional detachment, found herself overwhelmed. “It’s like I’ve been on a hundred first dates,” she lamented, “but instead of coffee, it was… well, you know.” Her emotional breakdown was captured by a local journalist, who was initially there to document what they thought would be a new standard in sexual empowerment. Critics and supporters alike have weighed in on this unprecedented love quest. Dr. Fiona Heartwell, a psychologist specializing in modern relationships, commented, “While Lily’s method is… unconventional, it does highlight a universal truth. You can’t force love or connection, no matter how many people you meet. Perhaps this experience will lead to a deeper, more introspective journey for her.” Social media, ever the judge of human folly, was split. Some lauded Phillips for her tenacity, tweeting, “If Lily Phillips can’t find love, what hope do the rest of us have?” Others were less kind, with posts like, “Maybe love isn’t something you can buy or schedule into your work calendar.” In an unexpected twist, the day’s events have led to an outpouring of support from the community. A GoFundMe titled “Love for Lily” has been set up, aiming not to fund more marathon love searches but to help Phillips find genuine companionship through therapy, dating apps, and even a puppy, because, as the page states, “sometimes love begins with a wagging tail.” As for Phillips, she’s taken a step back from her usual activities, contemplating if perhaps love isn’t about numbers, but about the one unexpected moment when you connect with someone over something as simple as a shared love for bad reality TV or a mutual disdain for pineapple on pizza. In the meantime, she’s been seen around town not with her usual crowd but with a small, yappy dog named Romeo, who, she says, “might just be the only love I need right now.” Stay tuned, for in the world of Lily Phillips, the quest for love might just have taken its most charming turn yet. The post BREAKING: Professional whore heartbroken she didn’t find true love by having sex with 100 men in 1 day appeared first on Genesius Times.

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