YouTube's ad revenue increased by 13% year-over-year, reaching $9.8 billion in the second quarter, according to Alphabet's earnings report. This exceeded analyst expectations of around $9.6 billion.

YouTube has been aiming to capture more TV ad dollars, with a Nielsen report indicating it held the largest share of TV viewing for three consecutive months, representing 12.4% of total audience time.

Rival streaming services like HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video are increasing ad placements in response, while Netflix is emerging as a key competitor, aiming to double its advertising revenue within the year.

Alphabet reported total revenue of $96.4 billion in the second quarter, a 13% year-over-year increase.

The K Prize, an AI coding challenge, announced its first winner, Eduardo Rocha de Andrade, who achieved a score of 7.5% on the test. The challenge, designed by Databricks and Perplexity co-founder Andy Konwinski, aims to provide a contamination-free benchmark for evaluating AI models against real-world programming problems from GitHub.

Konwinski has pledged $1 million to the first open-source model that scores above 90% on the test. The K Prize contrasts with SWE-Bench, which has higher scores, raising questions about potential contamination or the difficulty of collecting new GitHub issues.

The K Prize is seen as a necessary step towards addressing AI's evaluation problem, with researchers like Sayash Kapoor advocating for new tests for existing benchmarks. Konwinski emphasizes the challenge as a reality check for the AI industry, highlighting the gap between current AI capabilities and the hype surrounding AI applications.

YouTube's advertising revenue increased by 13% year-over-year, reaching $9.8 billion in the second quarter, according to Alphabet's earnings report. This exceeded analyst expectations of around $9.6 billion.

YouTube has been aiming to capture more TV ad dollars, with its TV viewership growing significantly. Nielsen reported that YouTube held the largest share of TV viewing for three consecutive months, accounting for 12.4% of total audience time.

In response to YouTube's success, streaming rivals like HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video have increased their advertising strategies. Netflix is also emerging as a key competitor, planning to double its advertising revenue within the year.

Alphabet reported total revenue of $96.4 billion in the second quarter, a 13% year-over-year increase.

Sundar Pichai shared updates on Google's AI adoption, reporting significant user growth across several platforms:

• AI Overviews: Reached 2 billion monthly users.
• Gemini App: Expanded to 450 million monthly active users with a 50% increase in daily requests from Q1.
• AI Mode: Gained over 100 million monthly active users in the U.S. and India, with upcoming upgrades.

Developer engagement is also strong, with over 9 million building with Gemini and nearly 1 million using Google Vids. Additionally, 50 million people used AI-powered meeting notes in Google Meet.

Google is processing 980 trillion monthly tokens across its platforms, showcasing significant AI product portfolio demand. However, increased capital expenditure plans for AI development led to a negative investor reaction.

Meta researchers are developing a wristband that enables users to control computers with hand gestures, utilizing surface electromyography (sEMG) to interpret muscle activity and intended actions.

The goal is to provide less invasive tools for people with motor disabilities, with collaborations with Carnegie Mellon to test the wristband on individuals with spinal cord injuries.

Unlike invasive projects like Neuralink, Meta's wristband offers a simpler, non-surgical alternative, operating at a higher frequency than EEG-based headsets.

The Trump administration has released its AI Action Plan, signaling a shift from cautious regulation to aggressive development and deployment of AI technologies.

Key aspects include:

• Deregulation: Reducing environmental and other regulations to accelerate the construction of data centers and AI infrastructure.
• Focus on Open AI: Encouraging the development of open-source AI models aligned with American values.
• National Security: Integrating AI into defense and intelligence, and countering foreign AI threats, particularly from China.
• Free Speech: Aiming to ensure AI systems reflect truth and are free from ideological bias, while raising concerns about potential impacts on freedom of speech.

The plan aims to foster innovation, secure American leadership in AI, and protect against national security risks, but faces criticism for potentially compromising environmental safeguards and freedom of speech.

The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has proposed designating Apple and Google's mobile platforms with "strategic market status."

This designation would allow the CMA to create rules impacting app store operations and mobile software.

The aim is to foster a more competitive app economy and enhance user choice.

Apple and Google have resisted the proposals, citing concerns over user security and privacy.

A final decision is expected in October after both companies present their arguments.

If approved, the CMA could address issues such as commission rates, app review processes, app rankings, developer access, and default settings.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney voiced disappointment that the proposal doesn't allow for competing app stores.