The move is aimed at rapidly expanding their user base in the country, where low data costs and a massive smartphone population are driving strong demand for AI-powered services.

India has become a key battleground for AI firms due to its large smartphone user base of around 730 million and some of the cheapest mobile data rates in the world.

Users in the country consume about 21 gigabytes of data every month, paying just 9.2 cents per gigabyte, making heavy usage of AI tools far more affordable than in many other countries.

OpenAI has taken a similar route by making its ChatGPT Go plan free for one year in India. The plan, which allows higher usage than standard versions of ChatGPT, is usually paid in over 100 countries and was earlier priced at $54 in India. The free offer, launched nationwide in November, is available only to Indian users.

These moves have led to a sharp jump in usage. Data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, shows daily active users of ChatGPT in India surged 607 per cent year-on-year to 73 million as of last week.

This figure is more than double the number of daily users in the United States. India has now become the largest market by daily users for both chatbots.

Perplexity has also stepped up its India push by offering its Pro plan, which costs $200 a year globally, free for one year to customers of Airtel.

The company said the plan gives users unlimited access to its most advanced research tools. Following the offer, India now accounts for more than one-third of Perplexity’s global daily active users, up from just 7 per cent last year.

User engagement data suggests ChatGPT currently leads in India. In November, about 46 per cent of its monthly users opened the app daily, compared with 20 per cent for Perplexity and 14 per cent for Gemini.

The post OpenAI, Google, Perplexity go free in India to grow AI user base appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

International Women’s Day is marked annually on March 8 to raise awareness of the issues impacting women all over the world.

The theme this year is “For all women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment”. March 8 was first recognised by the United Nations in 1975 to highlight how important women’s contributions have been all around the world.

The doodle celebrates the contributions of countless women in space exploration, ancient discoveries, and lab research, as well as how they shaped the world throughout history.

“With our Doodle, we honor visionary women in STEM fields,” Google said in a blog post.

“The Doodle artwork spotlights groundbreaking contributions by women who revolutionised space exploration, uncovered ancient discoveries, and pioneered lab research that fundamentally shaped our understanding of physics, chemistry, and biology,” the global tech giant added.

Google highlighted that “these achievements represent just a small fraction of women’s contributions to science”. Despite global advancements, women continue to remain underrepresented in STEM, making up just 29 per cent of the global STEM workforce.

“Their work represents the ongoing progress towards gender equality, yet STEM remains one of the areas where significant gaps still persist,” Google said. However, the progress continues as more women across the globe are breaking barriers, challenging stereotypes, and inspiring the next generation to pursue careers in science and technology.

“International Women’s Day serves as a powerful reminder: the achievements of women have shaped our world throughout history. And it is because of their collective brilliance that we are able to experience the wonders of the modern world,” Google said.

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The Indian-origin Alphabet Inc. CEO also discussed how Google and India can work together on the country’s “digital transformation”.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi co-chaired the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

“Delighted to meet with PM @narendramodi today while in Paris for the AI Action Summit. We discussed the incredible opportunities AI will bring to India and ways we can work closely together on India’s digital transformation,” Pichai posted on X along with pictures.

The last meeting between Modi and Pichai was in September 2024 in New York. The Prime minister was in the US to attend the Quad Leaders’ Summit hosted by President Joe Biden in Wilmington, Delaware.

Tuesday’s plenary session of the mega event was co-chaired by Prime Minister Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

On Tuesday at the summit, Modi made a strong case for collective efforts to establish a global framework for artificial intelligence (AI) based on open source which enhances trust, and transparency and is free from biases.

He also said the technology should be rooted in the local ecosystem for it to be effective and useful.

Modi said that AI is changing the polity, economy, security and society and is “writing the code for humanity in this century”.

“We are at the dawn of the AI age that will shape the course of humanity,” he said.

The post PM Modi meets Pichai in France, discusses ‘India’s digital transformation’ appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

Developers can now build production applications with Gemini 2.0 Flash. The company is also releasing an experimental version of Gemini 2.0 Pro, its best model yet for coding performance and complex prompts.

It is available in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI, and in the Gemini app for Gemini Advanced users.

“We’re releasing a new model, Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite, our most cost-efficient model yet, in public preview in Google AI Studio and Vertex AI. Finally, 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental will be available to Gemini app users in the model dropdown on desktop and mobile,” informed Koray Kavukcuoglu, CTO, Google DeepMind, on behalf of the Gemini team.

Google said that as the Gemini model family becomes more capable, it will continue to invest in robust measures that enable safe and secure use.

“We’re also leveraging automated red teaming to assess safety and security risks, including those posed by risks from indirect prompt injection, a type of cybersecurity attack which involves attackers hiding malicious instructions in data that is likely to be retrieved by an AI system,” said the company,

In December, the company kicked off the agentic era by releasing an experimental version of Gemini 2.0 Flash.

All of these models will feature multimodal input with text output on release, with more modalities ready for general availability in the coming months.

The experimental version of Gemini 2.0 Pro has the strongest coding performance and ability to handle complex prompts, with better understanding and reasoning of world knowledge.

“It comes with our largest context window at 2 million tokens, which enables it to comprehensively analyze and understand vast amounts of information, as well as the ability to call tools like Google Search and code execution,” said the company. (IANS)

The post Google makes updated Gemini 2.0 AI available to all appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

I tried to laugh it off and explained that it was not true and that he shouldn’t believe everything he sees on social media. However, he was adamant about his newfound belief. I reminded him that it’s essential to trust his doctor’s advice rather than random individuals online who are neither doctors nor scientists.

This isn’t an isolated incident. Many of my patients forward me posts and videos claiming diabetes is reversible with a particular plant, that everyone who took the COVID-19 vaccine will die of a heart attack, that insulin is a scam, how to lose weight without exercising or dieting, side effects of medicines, even that blood pressure medications are part of a conspiracy, eating 10 mangoes a day can control diabetes and much more.

This is a serious issue, one of the significant side effects of social media and smartphones. Another problem is that many people self-diagnose by Googling their symptoms and medications. This is equally concerning because Google cannot replace the expertise of a doctor.

It’s crucial for everyone, especially seniors, to understand that not everything online is true. Before believing or sharing information, one should verify the source and credibility of the post or speaker in the video. Information literacy is vital for overall well-being, and consuming false information can be particularly harmful to health.

 Negative Impact of False Information on Health

The proliferation of false information, particularly regarding health, has become a critical issue with far-reaching consequences. Misinformation can lead to harmful behaviors, such as discontinuing necessary medications or adopting dangerous practices, which can result in severe health complications.

One of the most concerning examples of this is the spread of misinformation regarding insulin for my patient. Convinced by the misinformation, he insisted on discontinuing insulin, despite my advice. Such actions can lead to uncontrolled blood sugar levels, potentially causing life-threatening complications like diabetic ketoacidosis.

A study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that misinformation on social media about diabetes management was linked to poorer health outcomes in patients who were influenced by false claims.

Misinformation also breeds mistrust in healthcare professionals, as people may begin to doubt their doctors’ advice in favor of unverified online content. This mistrust can lead to delayed treatment, worsened health conditions, and increased hospitalizations. A study in Health Communication found that exposure to health misinformation was associated with a decrease in trust in medical professionals, which can hinder effective treatment and recovery.

We have seen the spread of false information during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates the dangers of misinformation on a larger scale. False claims about vaccine safety, treatments, and the virus itself led to vaccine hesitancy and resistance, prolonging the pandemic and increasing the number of preventable deaths. According to a 2021 study in The Lancet, misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines contributed to lower vaccination rates and higher infection rates in certain communities.

 Preventing the Spread of Health Misinformation

To combat the spread of false information, it’s essential to promote information literacy, especially among seniors who may be more vulnerable to online scams and misinformation. Here are some strategies:

• Verify Sources: Always check the credibility of the source before believing any health-related information. Trust information from reputable medical organizations, verified healthcare professionals or government health departments.
• Consult Your Doctor: Before making any changes to your medication or treatment plan, consult your doctor. They are the most reliable source of information regarding your health.
• Be Sceptical of Sensational Claims: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Be cautious of miracle cures, quick fixes and conspiracy theories.
• Educate Yourself on Information Literacy: Understanding how to differentiate between reliable and unreliable information is crucial. Learn to recognize red flags in online content, such as lack of evidence, sensational language, or unverified sources.
• Avoid Over-Reliance on Google: While Google can be a helpful tool for understanding health conditions, it should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice. Patients should rely on doctors for diagnosis and treatment recommendations.

 Safe Health Information to Check on Google

While Google should not replace medical advice, some general health information can be safely checked, such as:

• Basic Definitions: Understanding medical terms, definitions and general information about conditions or medications.
• First Aid Tips: Immediate steps for minor injuries or conditions, provided the information comes from reliable sources like government health websites, the Red Cross or Mayo Clinic.
• Preventive Health Tips: General advice on maintaining health, such as exercise routines, balanced diets and hygiene practices from credible health websites.

However, even with seemingly harmless searches, it’s vital to cross-reference information with what doctors advise to ensure it’s accurate and applicable to individual circumstances.

By: Dr Zubair Saleem

The post Patients Becoming Google Doctors appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

The tech giant’s Project Zero team said it had alerted the chip designer ARM about the GPU bug, and the British chip designer had fixed those vulnerabilities.

However, smartphone manufacturers including Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo and Google “hadn’t deployed patches to fix the vulnerabilities as of earlier this week”, claimed the Project Zero team.

“The vulnerabilities discussed are fixed by the upstream vendor, but at the time of publication, these fixes have not yet made it downstream to affected Android devices (including Pixel, Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo and others). Devices with a Mali GPU are currently vulnerable,” said Ian Beer of Project Zero.

Google researchers reported five issues to ARM when they were discovered between June and July 2022.

ARM fixed the issues promptly in July and August 2022, disclosing them as security issues on their Arm Mali Driver Vulnerabilities page (CVE-2022-36449) and publishing the patched driver source on their public developer website.

However, Google “discovered that all of our test devices which used Mali GPU are still vulnerable to these issues. CVE-2022-36449 is not mentioned in any downstream security bulletins”.

The researchers said users are recommended to patch as quickly as they can once a release containing security updates is available, so the same applies to vendors and companies.

“Companies need to remain vigilant, follow upstream sources closely, and do their best to provide complete patches to users as soon as possible,” the tech giant added.

According to SamMobile, Samsung’s Galaxy S22 series devices and the company’s Snapdragon-powered handsets aren’t affected by these bugs.

The post Millions of Android devices prone to hacking due to GPU bug: Google appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

The CCI — the national competition regulator — is responsible for promoting competition and preventing activities that have an appreciable adverse effect on market competition in India.

As per The Print report, the first fine was for around Rs 136 crore on Google in 2018 for abusing its dominant position in online search and web advertising. The latest and third fine was for around Rs 936 crore, imposed on 25 October, for abuse of dominance in the app store market.

However, it was the second fine, of a whopping Rs 1,338 crore, that made news. While imposing the fine, CCI put forward ten measures for Google, including that Android device makers shouldn’t be forced to pre-install its services and that Google shall not restrict users from uninstalling of its pre-installed apps, the report said

The decision was a result of information submitted to the CCI in August 2018 by Umar Javeed and Sukarma Thapar, both 27-years-old at the time and working as research associates at the CCI, and Umar’s younger brother Aaqib, who was 24 at the time and a law student at the University of Kashmir.

According to Sukarma, under the Indian competition law, individuals do not lodge complaints or cases with the CCI but only submit “information”.

After considering this information submitted by the trio, the CCI launched an investigation in April 2019 into Google’s conduct in the Android mobile device ecosystem, which eventually resulted in the 20 October CCI judgment and fine.

In its response, Google had said it would review the competition watchdog’s decision. “CCI’s decision is a major setback for Indian consumers and businesses, opening serious security risks for Indians and raising the cost of mobile devices for Indians,” it said.

When asked why they took interest to submit information to the CCI, Aaqib told ThePrint that the three of them were already interested in how the digital market was shaping up in India and how the policies and laws governing technology were influencing consumers and tech companies.

Then, events related to Google in Europe caught the trio’s attention. “In July 2018, the European Commission [the EU’s competition watchdog] imposed one of its largest fines on Google of 4.34 billion Euros for violating EU antitrust rules,” Umar said.

He said that his research was led by his interest in the developments of the digital market worldwide and his awareness that Android had a major market share in the Indian mobile market. “I started researching and found that these practices were prevalent in India as well.”

While the work Sukarma and Umar did at CCI was confidential, Sukarma said it was unrelated to the Android market in India, adding that the information the group submitted to the anti-trust watchdog about the Android market was done in individual capacity as consumers.

The process of compiling a comprehensive dossier of information was not easy and took about two months. “We had to focus on our day jobs and then research for this later in the day. That’s when we would have some free time,” Sukarma explained.

“There were many late nights and early mornings where we would just work throughout the night,” Aaqib added. “I was still a law student then and helping these guys meant I was juggling research along with studying for exams and assignments.

The post Google fined Rs 1338 cr after probe by three Indians – two among them Kashmiri brothers appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

Google’s “Results about you” tool, announced during its annual developer conference earlier this year, is now rolling out to some users, reports 9to5Google.

With this new tool, if you find your personal information like home address, email address, phone number or any other information on Google Search, just click on the three-dot overflow menu that appears in the top-right corner of each result.

The existing ‘About this Result’ panel opens with a new “Remove result” option appearing at the bottom of your screen, the report mentioned.

Currently, to remove any personal identifiable information (PII), you need to go to a Google Support page and fill out a form containing the URL you wanted to be removed from the search results.

Now, you can also monitor the progress of a removal from aResults about you’ tool.

In addition to an “All requests” feed, you have filters like “In progress” and “Approved.”

This page also lets you make a new request with a walkthrough that involves a “Why would you like to remove this result?” step.

Google earlier said that when it receives removal requests, “we will evaluate all content on the web page to ensure that we’re not limiting the availability of other information that is broadly useful, for instance in news articles”.

Removing contact information from Google Search doesn’t remove it from the web, “which is why you may wish to contact the hosting site directly, if you’re comfortable doing so”.

Earlier this year, Google updated its policies around removing personally identifying information.

The post Google rolls out tool to let people remove personal info directly in Search appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

The tech giant has warned all Android victims and implemented changes in Google Play Protect.

Cyber-security researchers last week unearthed ‘Hermit’ that is being used by the governments via SMS messages to target high-profile people like business executives, human rights activists, journalists, academics and government officials.

“Based on our analysis, the spyware, which we named ‘Hermit’ is likely developed by Italian spyware vendor RCS Lab and Tykelab Srl, a telecommunications solutions company we suspect to be operating as a front company,” the researchers from cyber-security company Lookout Threat Lab had said in a blog post.

Lookout researchers uncovered the ‘surveillanceware’ that was used by the government of Kazakhstan.

Google said late on Thursday that the government-backed bad actors “worked with the target’s ISP (internet service provider) to disable the target’s mobile data connectivity”.

“Once disabled, the attacker would send a malicious link via SMS asking the target to install an application to recover their data connectivity. We believe this is the reason why most of the applications masqueraded as mobile carrier applications,” Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) warned.

When ISP involvement is not possible, applications are masqueraded as messaging applications.

Google has been tracking the activities of commercial spyware vendors for years, and taking steps to protect people.

Last week, the company testified at the EU Parliamentary hearing on “Big Tech and Spyware”.

TAG is actively tracking more than 30 vendors with varying levels of sophistication and public exposure selling exploits or surveillance capabilities to government-backed actors.

Italian spyware vendor RCS Lab, a known developer that has been active for over three decades, operates in the same market as Pegasus developer NSO Group.

RCS Lab has engaged with military and intelligence agencies in Pakistan, Chile, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Myanmar and Turkmenistan.

Hermit is a modular spyware that hides its malicious capabilities in packages downloaded after it’s deployed.

These modules, along with the permissions the core apps have, enable Hermit to exploit a rooted device, record audio and make and redirect phone calls, as well as collect data such as call logs, contacts, photos, device location and SMS messages.

Hermit tricks users by serving up the legitimate webpages of the brands it impersonates as it kickstarts malicious activities in the background.

The researchers said they are also aware of an iOS version of Hermit “but were unable to obtain a sample for analysis”.

Pegasus was developed by the Israeli cyber company NSO Group that can be covertly installed on iPhones and other devices.

It was capable of reading text messages, tracking calls, collecting passwords, location tracking, accessing the target device’s microphone and camera, and harvesting information from apps.

The spyware has been used for surveillance of activists, journalists and political leaders from several nations around the world, including in India.

The post Google warns high-profile Android victims of spyware ‘Hermit’ appeared first on Greater Kashmir.

At its Google’s I/O developer conference, the company said that in Android 13, “we’re giving you more control over what personal information you share and more detailed control over what files your apps can access”.

In Android 13, apps must get your permission before sending you notifications.

“In addition, we’re reducing the number of apps that require your location. For example, you will no longer need to grant location to apps to enable Wi-Fi scanning,” said Trystan Upstill, VP of Engineering, Android.

Now, Android will automatically delete your clipboard history after a short period so apps are preemptively blocked from seeing old copied information.

“Later this year, we’ll introduce a unified Security & Privacy settings page in Android 13 that brings all your device’s data privacy and security front and centre,” said the company.

With Android 13, the company is going further to customise the phone’s look and feel with pre-made colour variants.

Android 13 also extends colour theming of your app icons beyond Google apps.

“Starting with Pixel devices, you’ll be able to turn on the Themed icons’ toggle in your settings to have all supported apps also match your phone’s colours in a minimal, modern and consistent look,” said Google.

Android 13 also introduces better multi-tasking capabilities for tablets.

With the updated taskbar, you can easily switch your single tablet view to a split screen. Just drag and drop any second app in your app library onto your screen and you’ll be able to do two or more things at once with ease.

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