Google offers buyout plans amid AI-focused overhaul: Report

Google has started offering voluntary buyouts to employees in several teams, including those working in its Knowledge and Information (K&I) unit, which includes its Search and Ads divisions, reported CNBC.This move is part of ongoing efforts to downsize its workforce, a strategy the tech giant has been employing since its notable layoffs in 2023 that affected 12,000 employees. The exact number of employees impacted by this latest buyout offer remains unconfirmed by Google.advertisementHowever, the buyouts are part of a broader initiative to streamline operations as the company continues to allocate resources towards enhancing its artificial intelligence infrastructure.WHAT IS THIS NEW BUYOUT OFFER?
Instead of laying people off, Google is now giving some employees the option to leave the company with a severance package. This is being called a "voluntary exit programme" (VEP).The company confirmed that the programme is meant for employees in the US, while some teams are asking remote workers living within 50 miles of an office to return part-time under a hybrid model to encourage more in-person collaboration, mentioned the report.WHAT DOES THE MANAGEMENT SAY?Google executive, Nick Fox, communicated via a memo that the VEP is designed to offer a supportive path for those who may not feel aligned with the company's strategic direction or are struggling to meet role expectations.advertisementHe emphasised in the memo that employees who are motivated, aligned with the company's goals, and performing well are encouraged to stay, the report stated.WHY IS THIS HAPPENING NOW?Google is shifting its focus to AI, which means reorganising teams and spending more wisely. The company wants to put more money into building AI tools and training its staff to use them effectively.That's why it's also shutting down some older training programmes and replacing them with new ones focused on AI skills.Must Watch

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Time of India

an hour ago

• Time of India

Former Meta VP Karandeep Anand takes on CEO role at Character. ai

Google-backed AI chatbot service Character. ai has appointed Karandeep Anand as its next chief executive officer on Friday. Prior to this, he was vice president and head of business products at Meta . He has also held executive roles at Microsoft. In the new role, Anand will focus on advancing Character. ai's long term strategy to enhance multimodal-AI technology and expand the user base. Anand has been a board advisor to Character. ai for the last nine months. In a note, he laid out plans for the company over the next 60 days. These plans include working on refining open source models in an attempt to improve memory and overall model quality. He also aims to improve search and discoverability features to help users navigate better. In parallel, Anand hinted at expanding Character. ai's creative toolkit to help creators design richer, immersive characters, with audio and video capabilities. Live Events To give users better control, he said he is going to make the content filters less overbearing to ease out restrictions. Additionally, he aims to roll out 'Archive' option to allow users to hide or archive characters if they wish to. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories The company also announced Dominic Perella as chief legal officer and senior vice president (SVP) of global affairs. Character. ai uses deep learning models similar to GPT-type models, offering conversational AI characters while also allowing character creation. However, it does not support generating images or code, making it a solely text-based model.

Mint

an hour ago

• Mint

Probability of inquiry from tax dept could be higher in old tax regime, says Preeti Sharma of BDO India

Income Tax (I-T) department has released online utilities for ITR-1 and ITR-4 but not yet for ITR-2 and ITR-3. As soon as they are released, taxpayers are recommended to start the process of filing their tax returns, suggests Preeti Sharma, Partner, Global Employer Services, Tax & Regulatory Services of BDO India. In an email interview with MintGenie, she shares her views on income tax forms, new tax regime, importance to engage an expert for filing of income tax return and recommendations for the tax department. The due date of filing Income-tax return for the Financial Year 2024-25 has been extended from 31 July 2025 to 15 September 2025. This is owing to the introduction of significant changes in the ITR forms. The online utility for Form ITR 1 and ITR 4 is already notified. However, Form ITR 2 and ITR 3 are not yet available for filing. It is expected that new online forms will be pre-filled with maximum possible information based on the Significant Financial Transactions being reported by multiple departments and divisions across India. Once the ITR form applicable to you is available for filing, it is recommended to start the process of filing your tax return rather than waiting for the due date. This will have the following benefits: Online form will be pre-filled with your income, TDS and other tax payment details. If you start the process early, you will have time to validate the information, and raise dispute with the tax department if the information is not captured accurately. At the same time, if TDS and TCS are not reflecting, liaise with the deductor to take corrective action. The new date is an extension for filing of your tax return. However, the advance tax payment obligation remains the same. If you have not paid advance taxes and prefer to pay tax at the time of filing of your tax return, you will incur additional interest obligation for the delay in payment of taxes if you defer the tax payment exercise to September. Early filing of ITR can help in avoiding technical glitches and server downtime due to last-minute rush. As has been seen in past years, as initially fewer individuals opt to file the tax returns, their returns also get processed faster. No major changes are anticipated in the tax return form and return filing process owing to the introduction of the new Income-Tax Act. The new Act aims to reduce legal complexity; however, the major income heads and concept of taxation are kept as they are. We can expect changes in the forms, including renumbering of section, revised tax slabs and rebates amount, however, largely no major changes are expected in the tax filing process. There is no standard answer as identification of a beneficial tax regime mainly depends on an individual's structure, available deductions. The old tax regime offers various deductions & exemptions such as House Rent Allowance, Leave Travel Allowance, and popular deductions under Section 80C (investment Provident Fund, Life Insurance policies, etc.) and Section 80D (health insurance premium), etc. On the other hand, the new tax regime was introduced to simplify the tax structure; hence, the above-mentioned deductions/ exemptions are not available in the new regime, but it offers lower income-tax rates as compared to the old regime. The new regime is beneficial for those who do not have major exemptions or deductions to claim and prefer hassle-free filing. Although a case-specific calculation is recommended, but at the high level, if you expect all your exemptions / deductions are likely to be more than ₹ 4,00,000, old regime may have lower tax liability. But at the same time, be mindful that you have to maintain full documentary evidences to support the deduction/ exemption claimed. The probability of enquiry from tax department is higher if old regime is opted. New regime is the default regime, and if the old regime is not specifically opted in tax return form, the online form will consider new regime while calculating your taxes. Yes, the new ITR-1 forms notified by the CBDT bring several positive and practical changes, particularly benefiting small investors and salaried taxpayers. One such welcome move is the inclusion of long-term capital gains (LTCG) reporting of up to ₹ 1.25 lakhs in the ITR-1 (Sahaj), reducing the need to switch to more complex forms like ITR-2. Other changes that have been introduced: TDS Disclosure: A new column in the TDS schedule requires taxpayers to specify the section under which it is deducted, such as section 192 for salary, section 194A for interest, etc. This might help to reconcile TDS claimed in the ITR by the taxpayer with Form 26AS, potentially minimising mismatches. A specific bank account for refunds by ticking a checkbox next to a pre-validated account may be selected, while all active accounts still need to be reported, regardless of their validation status. Aadhaar: Only the 12-digit Aadhaar number is now accepted. The option to provide an enrolment ID has been removed, which may impact taxpayers awaiting Aadhaar issuance close to the filing deadline. ITR1 and ITR4 are updated with the above, however, we will need to wait for the actual rollout of utilities of other forms to gauge the changes. With the introduction of pre-filled ITR Forms on the e-filing portal based on Form 16, Form 26AS, AIS, TIS, Bank reports, Broker reports, etc., the return filing process has now become easier especially for salaried individuals with only one-two income sources such as bank interest, and some minor capital gains. The portal also provides a step-by-step guidance to help taxpayers file the ITR correctly. For many small taxpayers with limited source of income such as salary and interest, filing their ITR on their own can absolutely be a practical and cost-effective approach. Additionally, the IT department has introduced simplified forms like ITR-1 (Sahaj) & ITR-4 (Sugam), which is designed specifically for such cases. However, if a taxpayer has more complex income — say, capital gains from multiple share transactions, rental income, foreign income, or wants to claim several deductions under the old tax regime, then, it is advisable to consult a tax expert to avoid mistakes that could lead to notices or penalties from the IT Department. Although the IT Department has made commendable progress in digitising and simplifying the tax filing process in recent years, I would like to propose the following changes to improve the return filing process. I. Enhanced accuracy of pre-filled data by strengthening the integration between banks, mutual funds, and SEBI. There are many instances where wrong data is reported in AIS statement of the individual taxpayers. II. More interactive guidance. For example, chatbot explaining sections in simple language and providing suggestions on eligible deductions based on taxpayer's available information III. Speeding up of refund processing and grievance redressal mechanism For all personal finance updates, visit here

Indian Express

3 hours ago

• Indian Express

Google used YouTube's video library to train its most powerful AI tool yet: Report

Google used thousands of YouTube videos to train its latest Gemini and Veo 3 models, even as most creators remain unaware of their content being used for AI training purposes. Veo 3 is the tech giant's most advanced AI video generation model that was unveiled at this year's I/O developer conference. It is capable of generating realistic, cinematic-level videos with complete sound and even dialogue. And Google leveraged a subset of the 20-billion catalogue of YouTube videos to train these cutting-edge AI tools, according to a report by CNBC. While it is unclear which of the 20 billion videos on YouTube were used for AI training, Google said that it honours agreements with creators and media companies. 'We've always used YouTube content to make our products better, and this hasn't changed with the advent of AI. We also recognize the need for guardrails, which is why we've invested in robust protections that allow creators to protect their image and likeness in the AI era — something we're committed to continuing.' a company spokesperson was quoted as saying. Creators have the option to block companies like Amazon, Nvidia, and Apple from using their content for AI training. But they do not have the choice to opt out when it comes to Google. While YouTube has previously shared all of this information, many creators and media organisations are yet to fully understand that Google is allowed to train its AI models on YouTube's video library. YouTube's Terms of Service state that 'by providing Content to the Service, you grant to YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable and transferable license to use that Content.' YouTube content could be used to 'improve the product experience … including through machine learning and AI applications,' the company further said in a blog post published in September 2024. Independent creators have raised concerns that their content is being used to train AI models that could eventually compete with or replace them. AI-generated content also leads to the rise of other models that could compete with human creators who have said that they are neither credited nor compensated for their contributions. Last week, The Walt Disney Company and Comcast's Universal said that they have filed a copyright lawsuit against Midjourney, accusing the AI image generator of unlawfully copying and distributing their most iconic characters. Describing the tool as a 'bottomless pit of plagiarism,' the studios alleged that Midjourney recreated and monetised copyrighted figures without permission. Days later, the AI research lab rolled out its first-ever text-to-video generation model called V1. According to Midjourney, V1 can be used to convert images into five-second AI-generated video clips. Users can also upload images or use an AI-generated image by Midjourney to animate the image.