Google on Wednesday introduced a new experimental feature in Search called AI Mode Search. Built on a custom version of the Gemini 2.0 model, this addition aims to change how people interact with search by making it more conversational and [β¦]
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OpenAI is gearing up to launch a new line of AI agents, with prices ranging from $2,000 to $20,000 per month to do tasks like coding and PhD-level research, the Information reported. These AI-driven tools are designed for high-level tasks [β¦]
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As part of the iOS 18.4 software update, currently in public beta, Apple is introducing AI-powered summaries of App Store reviews. The new feature will leverage Apple Intelligence, the companyβs built-in AI technology, to offer an overall summary based on the reviews others have left on the App Store. The review summaries will be generated [β¦]
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Ceramic.ai, an AI startup founded by former Google VP of Engineering and Gradient Ventures founder Anna Patterson, has emerged from stealth with $12 million in funding to reshape how enterprises train and fine-tune AI models. Backed by investors including NEA, [β¦]
The post Ceramic.ai emerges from stealth with $12M to make AI training faster and more cost-effective first appeared on Tech Startups.
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Google said it planned to test a new "AI Mode" for search that would provide an entire page of artificial-intelligence-generated results in response to user queries.
The new feature, which is set to become available to early testers, would place an AI Mode tab at the top of the Google search page. Google says that when a user clicks it, they'll be taken to a new page that answers the query with "a wider and more diverse" set of results powered by AI.
Google already offers AI Overviews, which attempt to answer some queries with a direct answer at the top of the page. AI Mode takes this a step further by generating an entire page of results powered by a custom version of the Gemini 2.0 model that uses reasoning and multimodal AI.
In one example Google provided, a user searching for information about sleep trackers and finds that AI Mode creates a table comparing options.
Google said it would start inviting Google One AI Premium subscribers in the US to test the new AI Mode via Search Labs, adding that it had already become available to a few "trusted testers." It did not provide a timeline for a wider rollout.
Google is infusing AI into its major products while trying not to disrupt its primary cash cow, which is search. ChatGPT and other AI chatbots have been seen as an existential threat to Google's core search business, though data suggests they're not making a dent.
The new AI Mode, while still in development, offers a glimpse into a new approach to how Google's search engine may eventually work.
"With this new mode, people can ask nuanced questions that might have previously taken multiple searches β like exploring a new concept to comparing options and beyond β and get a comprehensive AI-powered response," Google said Wednesday in an accompanying explainer.
AI Mode also feels like a bridge between classic search and its Gemini chatbot, which can be accessed only via its own website or through an app. AI Mode would attempt to answer queries directly where it can but also prominently show links to the sources of information and, Google said, tap into shopping data for millions of products.
Like the Gemini chatbot, AI Mode could let users ask follow-up questions. It's also multimodal, letting users ask queries using text, voice, or images.
Google said AI Mode would work only when it has high confidence in the results. In cases where it doesn't, it would simply spit out a list of search results. Some features, such as the comparison tables, would also not be available in AI Mode from the start, but a spokesperson said the company planned to roll them out over time.
Google also said on Wednesday that it had launched its Gemini 2.0 model for AI Overviews, which it said would improve results for more complicated searches, including coding, advanced math, and multimodal queries.
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Google is launching a new βAI Modeβ experimental feature in Search that looks to take on popular services like Perplexity AI and OpenAIβs ChatGPT Search. The tech giant announced on Wednesday that the new mode is designed to allow users to ask complex, multi-part questions and follow-ups to dig deeper on a topic directly within [β¦]
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Anna Patterson has had a storied career in Silicon Valley. She founded three startups, including search engine upstarts Xift and Cuil, as well as recall.archive.org, which became the Internet Archive. She was the vice president of engineering at Google, and later started Gradient Ventures, an AI-focused seed fund. And she isnβt done building. Patterson told [β¦]
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Appleβs latest MacBook Air models bring more than just a performance boost. With the new M4 chip, AI-driven features, and a lower starting price, Apple is aiming to make its lightweight laptop lineup more appealing. The base 13-inch model starts [β¦]
The post Apple launches new M4-Powered MacBook Air with AI features, price cut to $999 to drive upgrades first appeared on Tech Startups.
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Software engineers should expect their jobs to meaningfully change in the next three years, according to Instagram's cofounder.
Mike Krieger, who now works as Anthropic's chief product officer, said in a recent podcast interview that developers will be spending more time double-checking AI-generated code than writing it themselves.
"How do we evolve from being mostly code writers to mostly delegators to the models and code reviewers?" Krieger asked on a recent episode of "20VC."
As the act of coding itself increasingly involves artificial intelligence, Krieger expects software developers to tackle the more abstract work that AI models can't handle and learn how to effectively oversee the systems themselves.
"That's what I think the work looks like three years from now," Krieger said. "It's coming up with the right ideas, doing the right user interaction design, figuring out how to delegate work correctly, and then figuring out how to review things at scale β and that's probably some combination of maybe a comeback of some static analysis or maybe AI-driven analysis tools of what was actually produced."
At certain Big Tech companies, the work of software development has already undergone significant change.
In October, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said over a quarter of new code at the company was already being produced by AI. Besides using it to write some code himself, Krieger said he began the year at Anthropic by determining what parts of the product development process were "Claude-ified," and which others remained best left up to human beings.
"Driving alignment and actually figuring out what to build is still the hardest part, right," Krieger said. "Like that is actually the only thing that is still best resolved by just getting together in a room and talking through the pros and cons, or going off and exploring it in Figma and coming back."
Though AI may speed along certain parts of the process for product development, Krieger doesn't expect it to entirely eliminate the need for software developers β a worry that is top of mind for some computer science majors and recent graduates who previously spoke with Business Insider.
Krieger said AI will instead alter the skills required to remain relevant in a coding-related job.
"I think it becomes multidisciplinary, where it's knowing what to build as much as it is knowing the exact implementation that you want," Krieger said. "I love that about our engineers. Many, maybe even most, of our good product ideas come from our engineers and come from them prototyping, and I think that's what the role ends up looking like for a lot of them."
A spokesperson for Anthropic told Business Insider that the company views itself as a "testbed" for how other workplaces can navigate AI-driven changes to critical roles.
"At Anthropic, we're focused on developing powerful and responsible AI that works with people, not in place of them," the spokesperson said. "As Claude rapidly advances in its coding capabilities for real-world tasks, we're observing developers gradually shifting toward higher-level responsibilities."
Certain jobs, Krieger said, are still most efficient when performed by human hands β for the time being.
"And I think alignment: Deciding what to build, solving real user problems, and like figuring out a cohesive product strategy β still very hard," he said. "And probably the models are more than a year away from solving that. That is the constraint."
Getty Images; Jenny Chang-Rodriguez/BI
Welcome to Wall Street's AI era.
Banks, hedge funds, asset managers, and private equity firms have been eager to use generative AI to boost productivity and reduce grunt work for workers. Since OpenAI's introduction of ChatGPT, finance firms have moved from pockets of experimentation to scaling these generative AI tools companywide. Such tech advancements have been met with a mix of enthusiasm and cynicism.
Business Insider has been reporting on how some of finance's biggest players are approaching artificial intelligence, from how it might impact jobs and create new ones, to the different ways firms are cutting costs and ramping up efficiencies.
Here is what we know about how Wall Street is embracing AI:
We identified 17 of the top AI executives and technologists to know at the country's biggest banks.
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is a "tremendous" user of the bank's generative AI suite. We have the story of how he and other execs use AI at the bank. Dimon also laid out his vision for how America's largest bank will win the AI battle against fintechs through data. Meet the leaders of that mission.
Goldman Sachs' chief information officer and head of machine learning quants say we are at an inflection point with AI. Large language models, the form of AI behind ChatGPT, could transform how Wall Street does business. CEO David Solomon has said AI is changing processes like drafting IPO filings and analyst research. Marco Argenti and Dimitris Tsementzis outlined three areas where the bank is experimenting with LLMs. Meanwhile, Chief Data Officer Neema Raphael also outlined the bank's latest generative AI tool taking aim at enterprise search.
Goldman Sachs; Jenny Chang-Rodriguez/BI
Morgan Stanley, which partners with OpenAI, promoted wealth tech executive Jeff McMillan to become the bank's first head of firm-wide artificial intelligence in March. He explained how the wealth management arm has been using its new chatbot and hinted at what's next for the firm. McMillan has also outlined his strategy to turn employees' AI ideas into reality. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley's new innovation head told BI how he is looking to replicate the success of the bank's OpenAI partnership with more technology tie-ups.
At Citibank, generative AI is poised to change just about every employee's job, co-chief information officer Shadman Zafar told BI. He outlined the bank's AI strategy and his plans to transform the bank with AI.
Deutsche Bank is aggressively experimenting with AI capabilities to transform the bank.
The bank is on a hiring spree, trying to more than double its AI employee base of around 300, but uncertainty around regulation, talent wars, and the cost of scaling the tech won't make it easy.
Take a look at the patents filed by America's biggest banks over the years to see how they've been thinking about innovating through AI. Data from consultancy Evident revealed how banks are using the tech in everything from trading to UX.
AI is entering the deal room. Investment bankers at nine top firms predict that AI will trigger a wave of M&A and IPOs. Here are 11 bankers poised to lead the AI revolution for Wall Street. Some of those bankers predict the deals that could drive the "AI arms race" in 2025.
Top AI executives at hedge funds are tasked with setting their companies' AI agendas and ensuring that research and tech development progress is shared across the firm. These execs aren't always responsible for building the technology. For some, their role is influencingβor advocating for β its use among internal stakeholders, like portfolio managers, business leaders, and fund founders.
Balyasny Asset Management; AQR Capital Management; Vatic Investments; Two Sigma
Bridgewater launched a fund in July driven by AI. The fund's AIA Labs worked to replicate every stage of the investment process with machine learning. The firm's co-chief investment officer and chief scientist outlined the plans of the world's largest hedge fund.
Balyasny Asset Management is in the midst of building the AI equivalent of a senior analyst. Charlie Flanagan, the head of applied AI at the $21 billion hedge fund, broke down his plan to amass a collection of bots to automate grunt work for analysts.
D.E. Shaw managing director Neil Katz gave BI an inside look at the quant hedge fund's generative AI approach, which is built on three main capabilities.
Man Group, the largest publicly listed hedge fund with $161.2 billion in assets under management, launched a new data and machine learning group focused on generative AI in October. Tim Mace, who heads the department, outlined new capabilities his team is developing.
Interviews with 11 AI executives, recruiters, vendors, and consultants working on Wall Street revealed the cultural challenges hedge funds might face as they use their deep pockets to lure in AI talent. These leaders can struggle to gain the trust of business leaders and break into investment teams, and AI researchers have struggled with hedge funds' penchant for secrecy.
Wall Street is no stranger to managing and analyzing copious amounts of data β but data is only helpful if you can find it. Here's an inside look at Blackstone's approach to enterprise search: DocAI, a generative AI tool that aims to help workers search and summarize more efficiently.
Blackstone is also hoping AI will give it a leg up to capture more of the insurance company market. Here's how the firm is giving its insurance clients an edge with revved-up risk management capabilities.
Swedish PE giant EQT built an AI engine called Motherbrain that has changed how its investors source deals. ChatGPT enables the investing giant to take the next step with its AI ambitions.
iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI
As private equity firms turn to AI for a competitive edge, Thomas H. Lee says its engineers are up to 30% more productive with help from AI coding assistants.
The multi-billion investment manager VanEck invested in a Toronto-based startup and is onboarding its technology to boost its ETF business. An exec and the fintech's CEO walked us through how AI will change analysts' and salespeople's jobs.
VanEck
Asset manager AllianceBernstein has been building a team focused on AI and data science since 2017.
Andrew Chin, AB's head of investment solutions and data science, talked to BI about how the asset manager uses AI to get an edge, save analysts hours of work, and improve risk management.
Block, billionaire Jack Dorsey's company behind Square, Afterpay, and Cash App, developed an AI agent that's an expert coder β it can even write code better and faster than some of the company's top engineers.
Here's a look inside the initiative and why Block decided to open-source it.
In 2023, the neobank Chime built its own private version of ChatGPT to help its engineers launch new products and features faster and more cheaply. The fintech's CTO walked us through his playbook.
Wall Streeters, say hello to your new coworker. AI agents are beginning to permeate the labor force as assistants who can help humans with everyday tasks. Here's how banks and startups want to give every employee their own personalized direct report.
Banks, hedge funds, and private equity firms are switching into hiring gear thanks, in part, to a seemingly insatiable demand for AI. Five recruiters outline the most in-demand tech roles on Wall Street
AI is creating entirely new jobs on Wall Street. Here's one, which has some private equity firms shelling out pay packages of up to $2 million to drum up AI at portfolio companies.
For a broader view at salaries, BI collected salary data on 8 Wall Street banks for AI roles across all levels.
Data is king for hedge funds, and Wall Street's generative AI era offers new advantages. Here's how much the biggest proprietary trading firms and hedge funds are willing to pay for talent, according to government data.
Top tech execs from Citadel, Goldman Sachs, and AllianceBernstein open up about how AI is changing the role of the CTO on Wall Street.
Blackstone recently hired an AI exec from Walmart to apply the technology at its some 230 portfolio companies.
AI is redefining what it takes to be a software engineer on Wall Street. Top tech execs from Goldman Sachs and Citi open up about why they want their developers to have liberal arts degrees.
Balyasny's Bridger program, designed for incoming sell-side analysts to learn coding and AI skills, highlights the evolving skills of an analyst in the age of AI.
iStock;BI
Business Insider spoke to five industry experts to get their take on how ChatGPT and its underlying tech could be applied to various sectors of financial services.
AI could improve the lives of investment bankers by taking on some tedious tasks, but it can also make it harder to break into and alter the skills required for entry.
Generative AI has become a key part of Amazon Web Services's playbook for winning more of Wall Street. The head of the financial services market development walked us through how Amazon's cloud division is working with JPMorgan, Bridgewater, MUFG, and Rocket Mortgage.
Quant hedge funds are beginning to rely on the latest AI chips, like Nvidia's popular GPUs, to test some of their most advanced models. Google Cloud is helping quantitative investment firms like Two Sigma and Hudson River Trading innovate around a shortage of sought-after Nvidia AI chips.
Auquan only launched less than two years ago, but it's already been signed by some big financial firms. Here's a look at how its technology is automating research work usually done by analysts.
This startup wants to transform how investors and traders analyze data with generative AI. And it's catching the attention, and dollars, of some of the biggest names in the hedge fund world, like Millennium Management's founder Izzy Englander and billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller.
Meet Mako AI, a generative AI bot designed to solve the woes of early-career private equity associates. The startup, which launched in September, is cofounded by a former Bain and Co. consultant who worked in the PE industry and remembers the countless hours he spent on mundane tasks like collecting data, writing reports, and building formulas.
Wall Street firms know the pains of having to satisfy regulators, but advancements in AI are introducing a whole new level of scrutiny and complexity. Meet this startup, which automates some of the most time-intensive parts of the risk management process.
Louisa AI is a startup built to suggest potential deals for investment bankers and venture capital investors. The fintech, which was born inside Goldman Sachs by a former Goldman managing director, has suggested $800 million in deal values per quarter across a handful of clients.
Wall Street has a reputation for a hard-charging work culture, something that every junior banker learns in their life. Gabe Stengel was one such banker, sometimes staying up until 5 a.m. to create earnings summaries or to pull together presentations for superiors while at Lazard. Stengel knew there had to be a better way.
Cellebrite, the company which makes near ubiquitous phone hacking and forensics technology used by police officers around the world, has introduced artificial intelligence capabilities into its products, including summarizing chat logs or audio messages from seized mobile phones, according to an announcement from the company last month.
The introduction of AI into a tool that essentially governs how evidence against criminal defendants is analyzed already has civil liberties experts concerned.
βWhen you have results from an AI, they are not transparent. Often you cannot trace back where a conclusion came from, or what information it is based on. AIs hallucinate. If you always train it on data from cases where there are convictions, it will never understand cases where indictments should not be brought,β Jennifer Granick, surveillance and cybersecurity counsel at the American Civil Liberties Unionβs (ACLU) Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, told 404 Media in an email.
The confirmation of the pause on intelligence sharing follows a heated exchange between the U.S. and Ukrainian presidents
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OpenAI's ChatGPT may pose an existential threat to Google's business, though new numbers suggest it isn't making a dent in Google's search growth just yet.
Google said Monday that it now sees more than 5 trillion searches a year. Barclays analysts took that figure β along with previous company disclosures β and did some back-of-the-napkin math to conclude Google queries may have grown over 20% over the two years since ChatGPT's launch in late 2022.
ChatGPT's active users have been rising for two years, reaching 100 million weekly active users (WAUs) in November 2023 and 400 million WAUs in February 2025. That had some Google investors worried.
By estimating that Google had 3.5 trillion searches a year in early 2023 based on Microsoft's disclosure that it had 10 billion searches a day around that time, the analysts found that OpenAI isn't hurting the search giant just yet. Google first said it was handling "trillions" of searches a year in 2016.
"While this could still play out in the future, the opposite appears to be true over the past two years," the Barclays analysts wrote, referring to ChatGPT's perceived threat to Google's business.
It's unclear how this increase is spread across Google's various Search products. The company has built new AI Search tools such as Lens, which lets users point their phone at something and have Google scan it for relevant information; and Circle to Search, a newer tool that lets users search for information on their phone without leaving their current app.
Then there's AI Overviews, the biggest disruptor to Google's classic page of 10 blue links. These provide direct answers to queries right at the top of the search page. Their prevalence has ebbed and flowed, in part thanks to some unfortunate snafus (glue pizza, anyone?) that led to Google scaling back AI Overviews last year.
Jim Yu, CEO of the SEO firm BrightEdge, told BI last week that he has seen more user-generated content appear in Search AI Overviews in recent weeks. This suggests that Google is becoming more confident again in pulling from sources such as Reddit.
The arrival of AI agents may shake things up. Barclays analysts wrote, "most of the behavior on products like ChatGPT are non-commercial in intent," though AI agents have the potential to change that. Google is building its own agents, of course. As these get adopted broadly, they could completely change the web as we know it.
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