Alphabet to Roll out Image Generation of People on Gemini after Pause

A large Google logo is seen at Google's Bay View campus in Mountain View, California on August 13, 2024. (AFP)
A large Google logo is seen at Google's Bay View campus in Mountain View, California on August 13, 2024. (AFP)
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Alphabet to Roll out Image Generation of People on Gemini after Pause

A large Google logo is seen at Google's Bay View campus in Mountain View, California on August 13, 2024. (AFP)
A large Google logo is seen at Google's Bay View campus in Mountain View, California on August 13, 2024. (AFP)

Alphabet's Google said on Wednesday it has updated Gemini's AI image-creation model and would roll out the generation of visuals of people in the coming days, after months-long pause of the capability.

In February, Google had paused its AI tool that creates images of people, following inaccuracies in some historical depictions generated by the model.

The issues, where the AI model returned historical images which were sometimes inaccurate, drew flak from users.

The company said it has worked to improve the product, adhere to "product principles" and simulated situations to find weaknesses.

The feature will be made available first to paid users of the Gemini AI chatbot, starting in English and later roll out the model to bring more users and languages.

Google said it has improved the Imagen 3 model to create better images of people, but it would not generate images of specific people, children or graphic content.

OpenAI's Dall-E, Microsoft's CoPilot and recently xAI's Grok are among other AI chatbots that can now generate images.

The search engine giant also said over the coming days, subscribers to Gemini Advanced, Business and Enterprise would have access to chatting with "Gems" or chatbots customized for specific purposes.

Users can write specific instructions for particular purposes and create a Gem, saving them time from rewriting prompts for repetitive use cases.



French Judges to Decide Next Step in Probe of Telegram Boss Durov

Telegram app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 27, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights
Telegram app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 27, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights
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French Judges to Decide Next Step in Probe of Telegram Boss Durov

Telegram app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 27, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights
Telegram app logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 27, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Purchase Licensing Rights

French investigative judges are due to decide on Wednesday whether to place Russian-born Telegram boss Pavel Durov under formal investigation following his arrest as part of a probe into organised crime on the messaging app.

Durov's detention as he landed at an airport near Paris on a private jet on Saturday evening has put the spotlight on the criminal liability of app providers and fuelled debate on where freedom of speech ends and enforcement of the law begins, according to Reuters.

The judges' decision is expected by 8.00 p.m.(1800 GMT), 96 hours - or four days - after Durov was taken into custody, the maximum period he can be detained before they decide whether or not to put him under formal investigation.

Durov's arrest has also put in focus the uneasy relationship between Telegram, which has close to 1 billion users, and governments.

President Emmanuel Macron, who with his team uses Telegram to communicate, had lunch with Durov in 2018 as part of a series of meetings the French leader had with tech entrepreneurs, a source close to Macron said.

Being placed under formal investigation in France does not imply guilt or necessarily lead to trial, but indicates that judges consider there is enough to the case to proceed with the probe. Investigations can last years before being sent to trial or shelved.

If Durov, who has been in police custody since his arrest, is placed under formal investigation, judges will also decide whether to put him in pretrial detention. One of the factors they will consider is whether he could try to flee.

A source at the Paris prosecutor's office said an update on the probe was likely to be issued late on Wednesday.

-INVESTIGATION

The overall investigation is at this stage directed against unspecified people.

It focuses on suspected complicity in crimes including running an online platform that allows illicit transactions; possessing images of child sex abuse; drug trafficking; fraud; refusing to pass information to authorities; and providing cryptographic services to criminals, prosecutors said.

The prosecutor's office did not say which crime or crimes Durov himself might be suspected of.

Durov's French lawyer did not reply to repeated Reuters requests for comment through emails and phone calls.

Faced with accusations from Russia, and also Elon Musk, over the stifling of freedom of speech with Durov's arrest, Macron took the unusual step on Monday of issuing a message on X about what he said were "false information."

France, he said, was committed to free speech and the independence of the judiciary, which he said had decided alone to arrest Durov.

A source close to the matter reiterated on Wednesday that Macron and his government had nothing to do with the arrest.