The thousands of recently terminated Microsoft employees, navigating one of the company's largest layoffs in years amid a period of industry upheaval, already have a tool to cope with the emotional burden, according to one Xbox exec: Microsoft Copilot.
https://mashable.com/article/microsoft-xbox-recommend-ai-for-layoff-aftermath
Everyone knows traditional search is dying. No one quite knows what comes next. But the rise of AI search comes with a brutal cost for traditional websites. According to the same Pew research, searches with AI Overviews result in dramatically fewer clicks to other websites. When Google shows an AI summary, users click through to other sites just 8% of the time, compared to 15% for searches without AI answers, which represents a nearly 50% drop. Even worse, only 1% of AI Overviews generate clicks to the sources they cite. What's emerging from the chaos is a discipline marketers are calling GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) or AIO (Artificial Intelligence Optimization), essentially SEO for the AI era. But unlike traditional search optimization, which followed somewhat predictable patterns, AI optimization feels more like reading tea leaves.
https://qz.com/internet-future-google-search-ai
Google on Monday announced an update to its Chrome web browser that will introduce AI-generated store reviews to U.S. shoppers with the aim of helping to determine the best places to make a purchase. The feature, which will be available by clicking an icon just to the left of the web address in the browser, will display a pop-up that informs consumers about the store’s reputation for things like product quality, shopping, pricing, customer service, and returns.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/28/google-chrome-adds-ai-powered-store-summaries-to-help-u-s-shoppers/
Meta, YouTube and TikTok are grasping for ways to protect users’ trust as their platforms fill with AI-generated photos and videos of events that never happened. But their patchwork of imperfect tools and voluntary policies sometimes inadvertently punishes “real” content and leaves plenty of AI work unlabeled.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/was-that-amazing-video-in-your-feed-real-or-ai-tech-platforms-are-struggling-to-let-you-know-fe7cceb6?mod=tech_lead_pos1
If you’re one of millions of job seekers struggling to find stable employment, just know it’s probably not you. Per the New York Times, the number of applications sent via LinkedIn has surged over 45 percent since 2024; the rate now stands at a dizzying 11,000 apps per minute on the site. One HR worker was gobsmacked when her fully-remote job posting received 400 applications in just 12 hours, surging to over 1,200 apps 36 hours later.
https://futurism.com/job-applications-ai-slop
Glance AI, a brand owned by mobile advertising company InMobi, has announced a partnership with the Samsung Galaxy Store to roll out its e-commerce platform to Galaxy phones in the US. The company’s app centers around what it calls “a Generative AI shopping platform,” which is a serious contender for the most cursed phrase I’ve read today. The “experience” comprises both a standalone app and a lock screen component to try and sell you clothes. Crucially, the whole thing is “fully opt-in,” which, thank Christ. But even if you opt out — which you absolutely should! — this feels like a sign of things to come as advertisers try to leverage AI to sell us more stuff. Buckle up.
https://www.theverge.com/news/679541/samsung-galaxy-glance-ai-lock-screen-app
On the final day of the most consequential tech antitrust trial in decades, a question from the bench may have gotten to the core of Google’s (GOOGL) defense: Could artificial intelligence already be doing what regulators hope to accomplish through the courts? While the DOJ has focused on Google’s multibillion-dollar default search deals — particularly with Apple (AAPL) — the judge appears to be looking at whether the concept of a “search market” still applies in an AI-driven world.
https://qz.com/google-antitrust-case-ai-search-chatgpt-1851783125