WASHINGTON, DC – Google is offering YouTube account holders who were permanently banned for political speech an ability to be reinstated. The tech giant detailed its shift in a document provided to the House Judiciary Committee, and company officials admitted that Google once faced pressure from the Biden administration to remove content about COVID-19.
According to Google, YouTube “values conservative voices on its platform” and the company noted that creators “have extensive reach and play an important role in civic discourse.”
As Google’s project manager for developer tools, Ryan Salva has a front-row seat to the ways AI tools are changing coding. Formerly of Github and Microsoft, he’s now responsible for tools like Gemini CLI and Gemini Code Assist, nudging developers into the new world of agentic programming.
His team released new third-party research on Tuesday showing how developers actually use AI tools – and how much progress is left to make. I sat down with Salva to talk about the report and his personal experience with AI coding tools.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Every year, Google does a survey of developer trends – but this year’s report really focuses on AI tools, and specifically how agentic developers are willing to get in their approach to programming. Was there anything in the research that surprised you?
One of the really interesting findings was the median date when developers started using AI tools. They found it was April 2024, which corresponds fairly neatly to Claude 3 coming out and Gemini 2.5 coming out. This is really the dawn of the reasoning or thinking models, and around that same time, we got much better at tool-calling.
For coding tasks, you really need to be able to leverage external information in order to problem solve, so it may need to grep, it may need to compile the code. If the code compiles it may want to run that unit test, and that integration test. I think that tool-calling really is the important piece that gave models the ability to self-correct as they move along.
How are you using AI coding tools personally?
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Most of my coding these days is for hobby projects, and I spend most of my time using command line-based tools. So that includes Gemini CLI. Then there’s a little bit of Claude Code, little bit of Codex in there. And you don’t ever really use a terminal-based tool by itself, so I’m really heterogeneous around the IDEs that I use. I use Zed. I use VS code. I use Cursor. I use Windsurf, all of them, because I’m interested in just seeing how the world works and how the industry is evolving.
On the professional side, product managers tend to live in documents, so the first thing is using AI to help me write the specification and requirements docs.
I’m curious how that works. You’re using Gemini CLI to build Gemini CLI, but I would imagine it doesn’t just run itself.
A development task will usually start as an issue, maybe it’s a GitHub issue that someone’s dropped with a bug. Often, if I’m really being honest, it’s a fairly under-specified issue. So I’ll use Gemini CLI in order to create a more robust requirement doc in Markdown. That will usually create probably about 100 lines of fairly technical, but also outcome-driven specification. Then I will use Gemini CLI to write the code based on that specification and the general preferences in the team documents.
Across the engineering team, we have a couple of different layers of rules and Markdown docs that get consumed by the model, just laying out our way of working: Here’s how we do testing, here’s how we manage dependencies, and so on. So when it produces the code, it’s also working from those documents.
And as Gemini CLI is going through and doing the troubleshooting, I’ll have it update my requirements doc saying, “I fixed this step. Now I’m on to the next step,” and so on. Each one of those creates its own commit and pull request in the repository, so I can always rewind or undo.
I would say probably 70% to 80% of my work is me working in the terminal with natural language, trying to use Gemini CLI to craft the requirements, and then allowing Gemini CLI to write most of the code for me, which I will then go review and read with whatever IDE I happen to be using. But mostly I’m using the IDE as a place to read the code, rather than to write the code.
Do you think there’s a future for raw computer code? Or will we just move everything into terminal windows?
For three decades, the IDE was where we went to do everything in software development. You had the IDE, you had the browser, and you had the terminal window.
I think that’s still largely the case, but I suspect that over time we’ll end up spending a lot more time working with the requirements, and the amount of time spent in the IDE will gradually shrink. And I think that change may actually happen over a pretty long time horizon.
There’s a lot of angst about what that means for software development as a progression. If 10 years from now, we’re no longer looking at code, what does that mean for developers? Will there still be a job for them?
I think that your job as a developer is going to look a lot more like an architect. It is going to be about taking big, complex problems and breaking them down into smaller, solvable tasks. You’ll need to be thinking about like the bigger picture about what you’re trying to produce, rather than the intermediate language in order to express that in machine code.
Google said Tuesday it’s making a number of changes to how the Play Store looks and functions in an effort to better personalize the store to its users and increase engagement. Among the new features is a redesigned Apps tab, a new Play Games experience, a new tab focused on your interests, and other features that leverage Gemini AI.
The update builds on other recent additions that aim to make the Play Store more of a destination — like a tab that shows you where you can watch your favorite shows or Collections, which organizes your favorite apps and games into areas like shop, watch, and listen, Google Play Games VP and General Manager Aurash Mahbood explained to TechCrunch in a press briefing.
“For over 4 billion users, Google Play is an important gateway to discovering apps, games, books, movies, TV, and timely cultural content, and our ambition is to help all users engage with the apps and content that fuel their needs and interests,” he said in a press briefing ahead of today’s launch.
Not surprisingly, the update is adding AI-powered functionality to the Play Store.
AI Search and new Apps tab
With a feature called Guided Search, users can find the app or game they want to try by typing in a goal or idea instead of the app’s name. For example, a user could type in “find a home” to be pointed to real estate apps.
Image Credits:Google
The Play Store’s Apps tab is also being updated to include new “curated spaces” dedicated to seasonal topics and those tailored to a user’s interests. These could pull in content from multiple apps, Google says. In the U.S., content related to the WNBA will be featured here, for instance.
This expansion follows the launch of curated spaces in India and Japan, which had focused on regional interests like cricket and comics, respectively. Korean users will also gain a curated space focused on video content, offering a mix of movies, TV shows, and short-form video, including drama and serialized stories. Google notes that short-form content is the most frequently consumed media format on smartphones.
Image Credits:Google
A personal home with the You tab
A new You tab aims to attract users to engage with the Play Store more frequently, as it will offer a centralized place for tracking subscriptions, rewards (like Play Points), recommendations, stats, and updates.
Image Credits:Google
Notably, the tab will offer recommendations related to your interests, like movies or shows, podcasts, ebooks or audiobooks, and make it easier to jump back into what you were reading, listening to, or watching last.
Image Credits:Google
Gamers will also see their new gamer profile in this tab, which organizes stats and achievements across games and devices. These profiles can also now be customized with a Gen AI avatar.
Image Credits:Google
A new Games tab and AI ‘sidekick’
New features for gamers are also rolling out after the launch of the new Games app that shipped with Android rival Apple’s iOS 26 release.
Now, the Games tab will centralize stat and achievement tracking, rewards, and community into one place. Play Games Leagues will allow users to challenge their friends and compete for Play Points rewards. This kicks off with the first league dedicated to the popular title Subway Surfers, which will run from October 10 through October 23.
However, the more interesting update is the addition of the AI-enabled Play Games Sidekick. This is a new in-game overlay that you can access to get real-time gaming assistance from Gemini Live.
Image Credits:Google
The idea is that you can ask Gemini for help when you get stuck in a game and need guidance or tips. The feature builds on the work Google showcased with DeepMind in December, where the company showed off how it was developing AI agents across domains, including gaming.
“Instead of having to leave the game to seek out tutorials or walkthroughs, we’re leveraging the latest Gemini audio-to-audio model to help understand your gaming context, providing you quick responses and encouragement,” said Mahbood.
Image Credits:Google
The Sidekick will also curate and organize other relevant gaming info in one place, so you can stay in the game. Initially, the feature will be supported in games from EA and Netmarble, including Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, FC Mobile, and Solo Leveling: Arise.
Also new are the enhanced Game Detail Pages, which will showcase information about the title, including ongoing events, developer updates, and offers. Next month, gamers will also be able to ask questions and share answers on this page to provide or get help from other gamers.
The Google Play Games on PC offering, which brings more than 200,000 titles to Windows desktops, is exiting beta today, too, Google said.
Whether you’re shopping for a budget-friendly laptop for school or a sleek machine for everyday productivity, the best Chromebooks can offer surprising functionality for the price. Chromebooks have come a long way from their early days as web-only devices. Now, many Chromebook models feature powerful processors, premium displays and even touchscreen support, making them a compelling alternative to a regular laptop for plenty of users.
There are more options than ever too, from lightweight clamshells to high-end, 2-in-1 designs that can easily replace your daily driver. Whether you’re after a new Chromebook for streaming, work or staying on top of emails, there’s likely a model that fits both your budget and your workflow. We’ve tested the top Chromebooks on the market to help you find the right one — whether you’re after maximum value or top-tier performance.
Table of contents
Best Chromebooks in 2025
Nathan Ingraham for Engadget
Screen size: 14 inches | Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,200 | Installed memory: 8GB | Weight: 3.09 lbs | Available ports: 2 x USB-A 3.2, 2 x USB-C 3.2, HDMI 1.4, Headphone jack, Kensington Nano security slot | Drive capacity: 512GB | Battery life: 8 hours as tested
Acer has reliably produced some of my favorite Chromebooks for years now, and with the latest Chromebook Plus 514 model, they’re really hitting the sweet spot of price and performance. At only $350, it’s cheaper than my previous pick for the best Chromebook (Lenovo’s IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus) and improves on it in several ways.
The big spec improvements are a newer processor (Intel’s Core 3-N355 chip) and a spacious 512GB solid-state drive. It’s also lighter than Lenovo’s machine and has a pretty impressive array of ports, including two USB-A and an HDMI port in addition to the expected USB-C jacks. The 14-inch touchscreen is bright and clear and has the slightly taller 16:10 aspect ratio that you don’t often find in laptops at this price point – they’re usually stuck with narrower 1080p displays. One thing the Acer gives up in comparison to the Lenovo is a 360-degree hinge, but I’ve always found that to be a rather niche feature that isn’t a compelling selling point.
Design-wise, this is a utilitarian slab of a laptop, but it’s just thin (0.71 inches) and light (3.1 pounds) enough to feel compact and easy to travel with. The keyboard and trackpad, meanwhile, feel much better than I’d expect on a laptop at this price. The backlit keys are large and have satisfying travel, making it great to type away on for hours at a time. And the glass-covered trackpad is smooth and large; my only complaint is that it occasionally was activated by the side of my palm while typing.
The main downsides are that the speakers and webcam are pretty mediocre. Audio is tinny and lacks depth, while video calls showed a distinct lack of dynamic range in the camera. They’ll certainly do in a pinch, and they are expected corners to be cut on a fairly budget-priced laptop – but if you take a lot of video calls or want better onboard audio output, look elsewhere.
Battery life is about what I expected for an Intel-powered Chromebook. It lasted over eight hours while playing back a locally-stored video file, and I got a little under seven hours while going through my normal workday (lots of Chrome tabs, a handful of web and Android apps like Keep, Google Chat, YouTube Music, Lightroom and Todoist). That’s not exceptional, but unless you really need to be away from power for long periods on a regular basis it should be good enough (especially at this price).
As this Chromebook was just released this summer, Google is promising software and security updates until June of 2035. (If you’re still using this laptop 10 years from now, I applaud you.) Given the combo of performance and capability at this price point, Acer’s latest Chromebook Plus 514 is easy to recommend for anyone who wants a no-nonsense laptop. But if you’re the kind of person who plans to use their Chromebook all day, every day, you might want to consider our upgrade picks.
Screen size: 14 inches | Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,200 | Installed memory: 12GB | Weight: 3 lbs | Available ports: 2 x USB-A 3.2, 2 x USB-C 3.2, Headphone jack, Kensington Nano security slot | Drive capacity: 256GB | Battery life: 13 hours as tested
Acer’s brand-new Chromebook Plus Spin 514 is cut from a very similar cloth as the standard 514 we recommend, but under the hood there are some major upgrades. It’s one of the first Chromebooks to use MediaTek’s Kompanio Ultra 910 chip, rather than the standard Intel or AMD fare. This makes a major difference in how the Spin 514 performs. There are none of the occasional slowdown or hiccups that still happen on Intel-based models if you have too many windows or apps open. Tabs rarely need to reload and pop back up quickly on the rare occasion that they do. Music or video playback never skipped regardless of what else I was doing, and Android apps like Lightroom worked swiftly and smoothly.
Perhaps more importantly than how it feels now, the Spin 514 should feel snappy for years to come. There’s just more room for this chip to handle increasing performance demands over the years. Benchmarks from the Android version of Geekbench 6 help illustrate this: the Spin 514 scored 2,526 on the single-core CPU test, 7,687 on multi-core and 18,020 on the GPU test. For comparison, Acer’s recently-released Chromebook Plus 514 with an Intel Core 3 chip scored 1,150, 4,407 and 5,932 respectively. Obviously, benchmarks don’t tell the entire story, but it’s illustrative of how performant this chip is.
This goes for AI-related tasks, as well – the MediaTek chip includes the company’s NPU 890, which is rated at 50 TOPS (trillion operations per second). In practice, that means the various Gemini-powered AI tools in ChromeOS will run faster than they do on an Intel machine. If you’re keen to try these sorts of features, the Spin 514 is a good option.
Beyond the MediaTek chip, you’ll find 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage; I’m surprised that it has less storage than a laptop that costs half as much, but 256GB is generally plenty for ChromeOS since it relies primarily on the cloud. The keyboard, trackpad and touchscreen display are all excellent, and battery life is exceptional. I got more than 14 hours of video playback from the Spin 514, and hit over nine hours of use if I wasn’t pushing things too hard.
The speakers are also a step up over the ones in the standard Chromebook Plus 514; while they’re not the best laptop speakers I’ve ever heard, they have a significantly fuller tone that’s less tinny. Unfortunately, I can’t judge the webcam at this point as the model I reviewed didn’t have the final webcam hardware in place. Mine has a standard 1080p camera, but the final model selling in Best Buy steps up to a 5-megapixel webcam. That should offer significantly better video call quality, but without testing it I can’t say how it looks in practice. That said, the 1080p webcam on the computer I tested had solid color balance and was plenty sharp for my uses.
The model I tested is selling at Best Buy for $700, a high price that feels fair given the quality of this computer. Acer also plans to sell the Chromebook Plus Spin 514 directly from its site with 16GB of RAM and a high-res, 2,880 x 1,800 screen for $750. That’s a nice screen for that price, but I wager most people will be happy with this model. And while this computer just came out, we’ll be keeping an eye on Best Buy to see if it gets any price reductions in the coming months, because then it’ll be even easier to recommend.
Acer first introduced the Chromebook 516 GE in the fall of 2022 as part of Google’s push to make devices suitable for cloud gaming and updated it in 2024 with Intel’s Core 5 120U chip. The good news is that you don’t need to be a gamer to appreciate the Chromebook Plus 516 GE. For $650, you’ll get a 16-inch display with a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. NVIDIA’s GeForce Now gaming service supports up to 4K visuals at 120Hz on its Ultimate tier so you’ll get to see those benefits. This laptop also supports Steam, yet another reason gamers might be interested in trying it. But even non-gamers should enjoy the Plus 516 GE’s crisp and clear screen and refined hardware.
It also includes Intel’s Core 5 120U chip, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Given the laptop’s size, it’s good that Acer didn’t skimp on ports here: there’s an HDMI port, USB-C, USB-A, Ethernet and a headphone jack. The keyboard has gamer-friendly LED lights that you can customize, but more importantly, it’s just a solid and comfortable keyboard for playing games or just typing up reports. The trackpad is large and responsive as well.
The 516 GE weighs 3.8 pounds – pretty light for a laptop with a 16-inch screen. We haven’t tested the 2024 model yet, so I can’t confirm the battery life; Acer claims 10 hours, a figure that’ll surely dip if you’re doing more than watching videos or casual web browsing. Between the powerful hardware, solid design, good trackpad and keyboard and great screen, anyone who wants a bigger Chromebook will likely be happy with this model.
As for support, Google says the Plus 516 GE will receive updates until June of 2032. That shorter support timeline is my main concern about this laptop at this point — I’m keeping my eye out to see if Acer updates this model soon or if there’s another newer pick with a longer support window.
Pros
Large, high-resolution screen with a fast refresh rate
Screen size: 14 inches | Screen resolution: 1,920 x 1,200 | Installed memory: 16GB | Weight: 2.75 lbs | Available ports: 1 x USB-A 3.2, 2 x USB-C 3.2, Headphone jack | Drive capacity: 256GB | Battery life: 14 hours as tested
Acer’s Chromebook Plus Spin 514 is an excellent laptop – but if I was going to pick one Chromebook to make my primary computer, it would be Lenovo’s Chromebook Plus 14. To me, it feels like the update to Google’s own Pixelbook Go that we never got. That means it’s thin (0.62 inches), light (2.75 pounds) and solidly built without being terribly flashy. But it feels far more interesting than the generic laptop vibes I can’t help but get from Acer; smaller bezels around the display and the ridged, textured underside of the laptop make it feel more premium and unique.
The OLED touchscreen is a standout. While it’s the same resolution as the Spin 514, it’s noticeably brighter and colors are more vivid without feeling blown out. I’d be happy to see it in a higher resolution, but I think it strikes a good balance between sharpness and overall quality without going to 4K where battery life might be affected.
I also love the keyboard and trackpad, both of which just feel slightly nicer than those on the Acer. The keys don’t have quite as much travel, but they feel more solid and slightly less wobbly. It might be a matter of personal preference at this point as both keyboards are very good, but I feel like I can type faster and more accurately on the Lenovo. The trackpad is also less prone to accidental input from my palm when I’m typing. There’s a fingerprint reader below the keyboard for biometric authentication too, which is another nice luxury to have. The trackpad is smooth and quite large, almost as big as the one on my MacBook Pro.
Other details like the webcam and speakers are well executed here, as well. The 5-megapixel camera is my favorite out of the various Chromebooks I’ve tested, with accurate color reproduction and a sharp picture overall. The speakers are also the best I’ve tested in this latest roundup, with impressive music playback despite the laptop’s thin size. Lenovo says these speakers support Dolby Atmos, and music had more depth and detail when playing Atmos tracks from Apple Music. But even without playing Atmos content, the Lenovo’s speakers simply sounded very good.
As for performance, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 runs the same MediaTek Kompanio Ultra 910 chip as Acer’s Chromebook Plus Spin 514, so all the good things I had to say about it apply here as well. It’s extremely responsive in day to day use and should perform well for years to come; AI performance using various Gemini tools was also quite snappy. And the Lenovo’s battery life is the best of any Chromebook I’ve tested, lasting over 14 hours in our video playback test and about 10 hours of standard usage during my typical workday.
Overall, the Lenovo’s Chromebook Plus 14 and Acer’s Chromebook Plus Spin 14 are very similar and you can’t go wrong with either if you are looking for a high-quality laptop that’ll work well now and into the future. I value the Lenovo’s OLED screen, keyboard and better speakers over the Spin’s 360-degree hinge, but your mileage may vary. For me, though, the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 is the best Chromebook you can buy.
What is Chrome OS, and why would I use it over Windows?
This is probably the number one question about Chromebooks. There are plenty of inexpensive Windows laptops on the market, so why bother with Chrome’s operating system? Glad you asked. For me, the simple and clean nature of Chrome OS is a big selling point. Chrome OS is based on Google’s Chrome browser, which means most of the programs you can run are web based. There’s no bloatware or unwanted apps to uninstall like you often get on Windows laptops, it boots up in seconds, and you can completely reset to factory settings almost as quickly.
Of course, simplicity will also be a major drawback for some users. Not being able to install native software can be a dealbreaker if you’re a video editor or software developer. But there are also plenty of people who do the majority of their work in a web browser, using tools like Google Docs and spreadsheets for productivity without needing a full Windows setup.
Google and its software partners are getting better every year at supporting more advanced features. For example, Google added video editing tools to the Google Photos app on Chromebooks – it won’t replace Adobe Premiere, but it should be handy for a lot of people. Similarly, Google and Adobe announced Photoshop on the web in 2023, something that brings much of the power of Adobe’s desktop apps to Chromebooks.
Chromebooks can also run Android apps, which greatly expands the amount of software available. The quality varies widely, but it means you can do more with a Chromebook beyond just web-based apps. For example, you can install the Netflix app and save videos for offline watching. Other Android apps like Microsoft Office and Adobe Lightroom are surprisingly capable as well. Between Android apps and a general improvement in web apps, Chromebooks are more than just portals to a browser.
What do Chromebooks do well?
Put simply, web browsing and really anything web based. Online shopping, streaming music and video and using various social media sites are among the most common daily tasks people do on Chromebooks. As you might expect, they also work well with Google services like Photos, Docs, Gmail, Drive, Keep and so on. Yes, any computer that can run Chrome can do that too, but the lightweight nature of Google Chrome OS makes it a responsive and stable platform.
As I mentioned before, Chrome OS can run Android apps, so if you’re an Android user you’ll find some nice ties between the platforms. You can get most of the same apps that are on your phone on a Chromebook and keep info in sync between them. You can also use some Android phones as a security key for your Chromebook or instantly tether your 2-in-1 laptop to use mobile data.
Google continues to tout security as a major differentiator for Chromebooks, and it’s definitely a factor worth considering. Auto-updates are the first lines of defense: Chrome OS updates download quickly in the background and a fast reboot is all it takes to install the latest version. Google says that each webpage and app on a Chromebook runs in its own sandbox as well, so any security threats are contained to that individual app. Finally, Chrome OS has a self-check called Verified Boot that runs every time a device starts up. Beyond all this, the simple fact that you generally can’t install traditional apps on a Chromebook means there are fewer ways for bad actors to access the system.
If you’re interested in Google’s Gemini AI tools, a Chromebook is a good option as well. Every Chromebook in our top picks comes with a full year of Google’s AI Pro plan — this combines the usual Google One perks like 2TB of storage and 10 percent back in purchases from the Google Store with a bunch of AI tools. You’ll get access to Gemini in Chrome, Gmail, Google Docs and other apps, Gemini 2.5 Pro in the Gemini app and more. Given that this plan is $20/month, it’s a pretty solid perk. Chromebook Plus models also include tools like the AI-powered “help me write,” the Google Photos Magic Editor and generative AI backgrounds you can create by filling in a few prompts.
As for when to avoid Chromebooks, the answer is simple: If you rely heavily on a specific native application for Windows or a Mac, chances are you won’t find the exact same option on a ChromeOS device. That’s most true in fields like photo and video editing, but it can also be the case in law or finance. Plenty of businesses run on Google’s G suite software, but more still have specific requirements that a Chromebook might not match. If you’re an iPhone user, you’ll also miss out on the way the iPhone easily integrates with an iPad or Mac. For me, the big downside is not being able to access iMessage on a Chromebook.
Finally, gaming Chromebooks are not ubiquitous, although they’re becoming a slightly more reasonable option with the rise of cloud gaming. In late 2022, Google and some hardware partners announced a push to make Chromebooks with cloud gaming in mind. From a hardware perspective, that means laptops with bigger screens that have higher refresh rates as well as optimizing those laptops to work with services like NVIDIA GeForce Now, Xbox Game Pass and Amazon Luna. You’ll obviously need an internet connection to use these services, but the good news is that playing modern games on a Chromebook isn’t impossible. You can also install Android games from the Google Play Store, but that’s not what most people are thinking of when they want to game on a laptop.
What are the most important specs for a Chromebook?
Chrome OS is lightweight and runs well on fairly modest hardware, so the most important thing to look for might not be processor power or storage space. But Google made it easier to get consistent specs and performance late last year when it introduced the Chromebook Plus initiative. Any device with a Chromebook Plus designation meets some minimum requirements, which happen to be very similar to what I’d recommend most people get if they’re looking for the best laptop they can use every day.
Chromebook Plus models have at least a 12th-gen Intel Core i3 processor, or an AMD Ryzen 3 7000 series processor, both of which should be more than enough for most people. These laptops also have a minimum of 8GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage, which should do the trick unless you’re really pushing your Chromebook. All Chromebook Plus models have to have a 1080p webcam, which is nice in these days of constant video calling, and they also all have to have at least a 1080p FHD IPS screen.
Of course, you can get higher specs or better screens if you desire, but I’ve found that basically everything included in the Chromebook Plus target specs makes for a very good experience.
Google has an Auto Update policy for Chromebooks as well, and while that’s not exactly a spec, it’s worth checking before you buy. Last year, Google announced that Chromebooks would get software updates and support for an impressive 10 years after their release date. This support page lists the Auto Update expiration date for virtually every Chromebook ever, but a good rule of thumb is to buy the newest machine you can to maximize your support.
How much should I spend on a Chromebook?
Chromebooks started out notoriously cheap, with list prices often coming in under $300. But as they’ve gone more mainstream, they’ve transitioned from being essentially modern netbooks to some of the best laptops you’ll want to use all day. As such, prices have increased: At this point, you should expect to spend at least $400 if you want a solid daily driver. There are still many Chromebooks out there available at a low price that may be suitable as secondary devices, but a good Chromebook that can be an all-day, every-day laptop will cost more. But, notably, even the best Chromebooks usually cost less than the best Windows laptops, or even the best “regular” laptops out there.
There are a handful of premium Chromebooks that approach or even exceed $1,000 that claim to offer better performance and more processing power, but I don’t recommend spending that much. Generally, that’ll get you a better design with more premium materials, as well as more powerful internals and extra storage space, like a higher-capacity SSD. Of course, you also sometimes pay for the brand name. But, the specs I outlined earlier are usually enough, and there are multiple good premium Chromebooks in the $700 to $800 range at this point.
See Also:
Other Chromebooks we tested
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook Plus
This was our pick for best overall Chromebook for years, and it’s still one of the better options you can find for a basic laptop that doesn’t break the bank. It’s a few years older than our current top pick, so its processor isn’t fresh and it only has 128GB of storage. It also won’t get updates from Google as long as newer models. But it still combines a nice screen and keyboard with solid performance. This laptop typically costs $500, which feels high given its a few years old and Acer’s Chromebook Plus 514 is only $350, but if you can find it on sale and can’t find the Acer it’s worth a look.
ASUS CX15
This Chromebook is extremely affordable – you can currently pick it up for only $159 at Walmart. That price and its large 15.6-inch screen is mainly what it has going for it, as the Intel Celeron N4500 chip and 4GB of RAM powering it does not provide good performance if you’re doing anything more than browsing with a few tabs open. If you’re shopping for someone with extremely basic needs and have a small budget, the CX15 might fit the bill. But just be aware that you get what you pay for.
Samsung Galaxy Chromebook Plus
Samsung’s Galaxy Chromebook Plus, released in late 2024, is one of the more unique Chromebooks out there. It’s extremely thin and light, at 0.46 inches and 2.6 pounds, but it manages to include a 15.6-inch display in that frame. That screen is a 1080p panel that’s sharp and bright, but its 16:9 aspect ratio made things feel a bit cramped when scrolling vertically. Performance is very good, and the keyboard is solid, though I’m not a fan of the number pad as it shifts everything to the left. At $700 it’s not cheap, but that feels fair considering its size and capabilities. If you’re looking for a big screen laptop that is also super light, this Chromebook merits consideration, even if it’s not the best option for everyone.
OpenAI is expanding its budget-friendly ChatGPT subscription plan beyond India. The company launched its sub-$5 ChatGPT Go paid plan for the country’s users last month and now is rolling out the same plan in Indonesia for Rp75,000 ($4.50) per month.
The ChatGPT Go plan is a mid-tier subscription option that sits between OpenAI’s free version and its premium $20-per-month ChatGPT Plus plan. Users get 10 times higher usage limits than the free plan for sending questions or prompts, generating images, and uploading files. The plan also allows ChatGPT to remember previous conversations better, enabling more personalized responses over time, ChatGPT head Nick Turley said on X.
Turley said that since the company launched the ChatGPT Go plan in India, paid subscribers have more than doubled.
This move puts OpenAI in direct competition with Google, which launched its own similarly-priced AI Plus subscription plan in Indonesia earlier this month. Google’s AI Plus plan gives users access to its Gemini 2.5 Pro chatbot, along with creative tools for image and video creation like Flow, Whisk, and Veo 3 Fast. The plan also includes enhanced features for Google’s AI research assistant NotebookLM and integrates AI capabilities into Gmail, Docs, and Sheets, along with 200GB of cloud storage.
Junk mail has a new meaning nowadays. Rather than filling an actual mailbox, people are getting bombarded with texts and emails they never asked for.
The messages press you to send money for an unpaid bill or invite you out for a round of golf. The phone number sending the message might have an area code you don’t know or might only be five digits long. No matter where it came from, junk texts steadily interrupt our day, often with nefarious intentions.
“I had one that was like the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and said something along the lines of an outstanding toll that you need to pay, and had a link there, and it just was very sketchy,” one woman told WCCO. “I automatically report junk. I delete it and block the sender right away.”
Andy Roehrs, a solutions architect with Rymark IT Navigation in Minneapolis, said reporting the texts as junk is really your only option.
What happens when you report a text or email as junk?
“When you report a text or email as junk, typically, it’s going to go to whatever service provider you’re using,” said Roehrs.
That means Apple, Google or Android fields your report.
Will reporting messages as junk lead to fewer of them?
“Yes. It helps to train their models on detection of those messages coming through,” said Roehrs.
When a messaging app suggests reporting a text as junk, it’s likely because someone else already reported it, giving the app data to better detect spam.
“It’s looking for patterns. It’s looking for source information about the number that it was sent from and it’s going to report that back to Google or Apple to train their models,” said Roehrs.
Email services like Outlook have similar reporting functions, even thanking people for helping train their system after reporting a message as junk.
Should we also block the phone number sending the text?
Roehrs said yes, adding, “A lot of times, the procedure when you report something as junk, the next step will be to ask you if you want to block that sender. You do want to block that sender.”
Doing so can prevent that specific sender from reaching out to you again.
Roehrs said there’s not much we can do beyond reporting text and emails as junk to prevent getting them in the first place.
“There really is no way to prevent messages from coming to you,” he said.
Just like anyone can send a letter to your mailbox at your home, anyone can send a text or email to your phone number or email address. That’s why reporting and blocking numbers is helpful. It’s a never-ending battle fought one finger tap of the phone screen at a time.
“It’s the maintenance of having any service that you are able to be contacted at,” said Roehrs.
In addition to reporting junk messages, experts say never respond. Otherwise, the sender will know your number is active and find other ways to contact you.
If you rely on an older Android device, whether it’s a phone, tablet or car infotainment unit, you may soon lose access to all the new Waze features. Waze’s latest beta, version 5.9.90 and higher, now requires Android 10 as a minimum, up from the previous requirement of Android 8.
This change means that while your device may still run Waze, it will no longer receive updates. That applies to all the navigational improvements, bug fixes and new tools Waze typically rolls out every few months.
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Older Android devices may not be able to download the latest Waze updates.(Waze)
Why Waze dropping Android 8 and 9 support matters
First, it’s important to note that Google Maps continues to support Android 8 and Android 9, offering a lifeline if you’re stuck on older software.
Still, Waze is a community-driven navigation leader. Its strength comes from real-time, crowdsourced reporting of incidents, police traps, road hazards and even gas prices, features that many drivers value above Google Maps.
Who loses Waze features on older Android devices
Drivers using older smartphones or tablets: If you haven’t updated your device to Android 10, you’ll lose access to new Waze features.
Users of aftermarket in-car infotainment systems: Many of these budget units still run Android 8 (Oreo) or Android 9 (Pie), meaning they’ll soon fall behind.
Devices that have not been updated to at least Android 10 will not be able to access Waze’s newest features.(Waze)
What Waze’s Android 10 requirement means for you
If Waze is your go-to navigation app, here’s what to keep in mind:
You can keep using Waze on older Android versions, but you won’t get new features or updates.
App reliability may decline over time as backend changes or server protocols evolve.
Map updates and basic reporting may still work for a while, but support isn’t guaranteed indefinitely.
Google Maps remains a fallback option, as it still supports older Android systems.
As a version of the app gets older, it may become less reliable over time.(Waze)
Tips to keep Waze working on your Android device
If you rely on Waze daily, here are some quick ways to stay ahead of the update cutoff:
Check your Android version: Go to Settings > About Phone > Software Information to confirm if you’re running Android 10 or higher.
Update your device: If your phone or tablet supports it, install the latest Android update to keep Waze fully functional.
Consider a budget upgrade: If your hardware is stuck on Android 9 or older, affordable Android 10+ phones and tablets are widely available.
Update car infotainment systems: Many aftermarket head units allow software updates. Check the manufacturer’s site to see if Android 10 is available.
Keep Google Maps as backup: If updating isn’t possible, Google Maps still works on Android 8 and 9, ensuring you’re never left without navigation.
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The shift to Android 10 reflects a common pattern in app development: focus on newer OS versions enables advanced features and stronger security. For most Android users, especially those on modern devices, this is a non-issue. But if you’re using older hardware, especially in your vehicle, you must plan ahead. To keep enjoying the full Waze experience, consider whether upgrading your device or switching to supported apps like Google Maps is the smarter move.
Will you upgrade your device to stay updated with Waze, or will this change push you to switch to Google Maps? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.
Gemini is officially available on Google TVs, now that the TCL QM9K series TVs are out in stores. At the moment, they’re the only television models that feature Google’s AI assistant, but Gemini will be available on more devices later this year. Google says it will make its way to the Google TV Streamer, Walmart’s onn 4K Pro streaming device, certain Hisense TV models and more TCL TVs. The company also intends to add more Gemini capabilities for televisions in the future.
Google introduced Gemini integration for TVs when it presented an early look at new software and hardware upgrades coming to the product category at CES in January. If you’ve ever used a Google-powered streaming device or television, you’d know that they already have Google Assistant that you can use for search. But Gemini on TV, like its counterpart everywhere else, enables free-flowing conversations using natural language. You can activate it with a “Hey, Google” or by pressing the mic button on the remote.
The company says you can ask Gemini to find you something to watch based on your preferences. For example, you can say: “Find me something to watch with my wife. I like dramas, but she likes lighthearted comedies.” You can also ask it to summarize the events in the previous season of a show you’re watching if you need a refresher before you start the next one. You can also ask Gemini to show you reviews for a particular show, or even ask it vague questions, such as “What’s the new hospital drama everyone’s talking about?”
You’re not just limited to asking questions about TV shows and movies, either. When Google demonstrated the AI assistant at CES, a company rep asked Gemini on TV to “explain the solar system to a third grader.” The AI assistant did, and it also suggested relevant YouTube videos. You can ask it questions if you’re learning a new skill, as well as recipes, to get answers with video suggestions you can follow. And after it’s done answering your first query, you can make follow-up questions for clarity and more information.
Historically, most clinical trials and scientific studies have primarily focused on white men as subjects, leading to a significant underrepresentation of women and people of color in medical research. You’ll never guess what has happened as a result of feeding all of that data into AI models. It turns out, as the Financial Times calls out in a recent report, that AI tools used by doctors and medical professionals are producing worse health outcomes for the people who have historically been underrepresented and ignored.
The report points to a recent paper from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which found that large language models including OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Meta’s Llama 3 were “more likely to erroneously reduce care for female patients,” and that women were told more often than men “self-manage at home,” ultimately receiving less care in a clinical setting. That’s bad, obviously, but one could argue that those models are more general purpose and not designed to be use in a medical setting. Unfortunately, a healthcare-centric LLM called Palmyra-Med was also studied and suffered from some of the same biases, per the paper. A look at Google’s LLM Gemma (not its flagship Gemini) conducted by the London School of Economics similarly found the model would produce outcomes with “women’s needs downplayed” compared to men.
A previous study found that models similarly had issues with offering the same levels of compassion to people of color dealing with mental health matters as they would to their white counterparts. A paper published last year in The Lancet found that OpenAI’s GPT-4 model would regularly “stereotype certain races, ethnicities, and genders,” making diagnoses and recommendations that were more driven by demographic identifiers than by symptoms or conditions. “Assessment and plans created by the model showed significant association between demographic attributes and recommendations for more expensive procedures as well as differences in patient perception,” the paper concluded.
That creates a pretty obvious problem, especially as companies like Google, Meta, and OpenAI all race to get their tools into hospitals and medical facilities. It represents a huge and profitable market—but also one that has pretty serious consequences for misinformation. Earlier this year, Google’s healthcare AI model Med-Gemini made headlines for making up a body part. That should be pretty easy for a healthcare worker to identify as being wrong. But biases are more discreet and often unconscious. Will a doctor know enough to question if an AI model is perpetuating a longstanding medical stereotype about a person? No one should have to find that out the hard way.
Large tech companies have responded to President Donald Trump’s dramatic changes to H-1B visa applications by telling employees with those visas to remain in the United States, according to multiple media reports.
The White House announced Friday that Trump had signed a proclamation requiring employers to pay a $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications. In response, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft reportedly emailed their employees telling those with H-1B visas to stay in the United States and avoid foreign travel for now — and if they’re already traveling, to try to return before the proclamation takes effect at 12:01am Eastern on Sunday.
According to government data, Amazon employees have received the most H-1B visas so far this fiscal year, followed by Tata Consultancy Services, then Microsoft, Meta, and Apple, with Google ranked sixth.
Meanwhile, a White House official told Axios that the fee will only apply to new applicants, not existing H-1B holders or renewals. And White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X that “H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would; whatever ability they have to do that is not impacted by yesterday’s proclamation.”
This post has been updated with a quote from Karoline Leavitt.
Large tech companies have responded to President Donald Trump’s dramatic changes to H-1B visa applications by telling employees with those visas to remain in the United States, according to multiple media reports.
The White House announced Friday that Trump had signed a proclamation requiring employers to pay a $100,000 fee for H-1B visa applications. In response, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft reportedly emailed their employees telling those with H-1B visas to stay in the United States and avoid foreign travel for now — and if they’re already traveling, to try to return before the proclamation takes effect at 12:01am Eastern on Sunday.
According to government data, Amazon employees have received the most H-1B visas so far this fiscal year, followed by Tata Consultancy Services, then Microsoft, Meta, and Apple, with Google ranked sixth.
Meanwhile, a White House official told Axios that the fee will only apply to new applicants, not existing H-1B holders or renewals.
At its annual Made on YouTube event this week, YouTube unveiled tons of new updates, features, and tools geared toward creators, including updates to YouTube Live, new ways to monetize, and more.
Studio updates include “likeness” detection and lip-synced dubs, and the company is offering new AI tools for podcasters to help promote their shows.
Here’s everything announced at Made on YouTube.
A new Studio
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan at Made on YouTube 2025Image Credits:YouTube
The company showed off new and updated tools to Studio, which creators use to manage their channels and track analytics. Updates include an inspiration tab, title A/B testing features, auto dubbing, and more.
What caught our attention is the “likeness”-detection feature, which was announced last year and made available to a few creators; it’s now in open beta. People will be able to detect, manage, and flag for removal any unauthorized videos using their facial likeness.
An AI-powered Ask Studio can guide users and answer questions about their account, and creators will be able to collaborate with up to five other people on one video, which is available to the audiences of all the participating video makers.
YouTube Live
Image Credits:YouTube
YouTube gave Live, its livestreaming platform, some updates as well, like letting creators play minigames to entertain viewers, broadcasting simultaneously in both horizontal and vertical formats, providing AI-powered highlights, reacting to live events, using a new ad format, and more.
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The AI-powered highlights automatically select the best moments from a livestream to turn them into shareable Shorts, and a new ad format — called “side-by-side” — runs adjacent to the main content, similar to a split-screen display, rather than interrupting the stream.
YouTube is bringing a custom version of Veo 3, Google’s text-to-video generative AI model, to Shorts, as well as a new remixing tool, an “Edit with AI” feature, and more.
With Veo 3 Fast, as the custom version is called, creators can apply motion from a video to an image, add different styles to their videos, and insert objects into the video with a simple text prompt. Creators can also transform the dialogue from eligible videos into catchy soundtracks for other Shorts using Google’s AI music model, Lyria 2.
These include a countdown timer for new releases and a chance to offer fans “thank you” videos, and the company is testing a pilot program for U.S. listeners that will allow them to access exclusive merchandise drops from artists.
Image Credits:YouTube Music
AI for podcasters
Video podcast creators in the U.S. will be able to create clips more easily with AI suggestions, according to YouTube. And a new feature rolling out next year will offer a way to turn audio podcasts into video podcasts
New monetization features
YouTube is giving creators new ways to monetize, with brand deals and through the YouTube Shopping program, which lets creators earn money by featuring and tagging products in their content. YouTube will also now allow creators to swap out brand sponsorships in long-form videos.
Creators can also take advantage of auto timestamps for product tags, auto tagging for eligible items mentioned in videos, and a new brand link feature for Shorts. An AI-powered system will help identify the optimal moment a product is mentioned and automatically display the product tag at that time.
Shorts creators will soon be able to add a link to a brand’s site specifically for brand deals, and YouTube will proactively suggest creators who may be a good fit for brands in its creator partnerships hub.
What began as a decentralized dream is being remade into a corporate infrastructure with gatekeepers and tolls. Observer Labs
When blockchain first emerged, it was treated as a “great leveler”—a system where anyone could build, trade and innovate without a green light from banks or tech giants. Exactly that vision powered the first crypto wave in the early 2010s and inspired hopes that a more democratic financial internet was within reach.
But today, the reality looks very different. What began as an open playground for developers has become an arena where the world’s largest corporations compete for dominance. Google is building its own blockchain-based payment network, while Samsunghas launched Cello Trust, a logistics platform built on the technology.
Are these just signs of healthy adoption? Not exactly. A tool designed for decentralization is gradually turning into a profit center, with rules increasingly shaped from the top rather than the edges.
Why big tech moved in
Before diving deeper, it’s important to look at the movement’s origin. The story started quietly enough. When blockchain first appeared, little more than a few Fortune 500 companies launched pilot programs, treating it as just another novelty in the innovation lab. It didn’t seem to be a full-scale shift, just prototypes and proof of concept. But then money started flowing.
Stablecoins, once an oddity, began to take center stage. They nowsettle transactions in the tens of trillions each year—numbers that confront, or sometimes even surpass, Visa’s throughput. Suddenly, those “pilots” stopped appearing as side projects. They turned into early positions for the next phase of financial infrastructure.
Regulators then signaled legitimacy. U.S. courts clarified custody and payment rules while Europe introduced the legal framework MiCA, offering a single standard across member states. Meanwhile, Asia, the Gulf and others began openly courting digital-asset firms. As a result, big corporations got the message: It’s finally safe to commit capital and play for keeps.
By the time all three pieces lined up, the picture became clear. Blockchain had transformed into a stage where the largest players could step in with full confidence and enough power to shape the market to their advantage.
The subtle mechanics of enclosure
Once the giants moved in, the technology started to bend. Simply put, blockchain, which earned its reputation by being borderless and permissionless, is now being reshaped into controlled environments. Take Google’s Universal Ledger, whichis labelled as “neutral” but in fact functions as a permissioned system. Access, upgrades and participation are dictated by the operator, not the global network. Thus, the promise of openness is replaced by the comfort of compliance.
That shift goes on. A blockchain tied to the corporate stack—a cloud that hosts your data, a wallet that holds your funds or a system that processes your transactions—is a lock-in mechanism. Once you’re inside this mechanism, switching to a different one becomes costly. So, as in the case of Google, convenience often means less control, and moving away becomes harder over time.
Even the meaning of “trust” is changing. Back in the day, trust came from code and consensus, rules that no single person could rewrite. However, in a corporate-led world, trust is a service-level agreement or a compliance guarantee, which, perhaps, feels safer, but is not the same thing. Naturally, once a public good, trust has now become a “private contract.” That’s the irony.
And so, adoption accelerates, though it comes at the expense of openness. The infrastructure is being built quickly, but the more it resembles traditional corporate infrastructure, the less it looks like the financial internet blockchain was meant to be.
The real cost of corporate rails
What’s happening these days is no longer just an abstract fight over competition. It’s about who captures values, who gets to set the rules and what kind of market will be handed over to the next generation. When the core layer is privately controlled, the obvious outcomes, such as higher user costs, fewer independent innovators and a fragile stack that can be rewritten by boardroom decisions, are predictable.
And there’s a close precedent. In the U.S., Apple’s App Store has shown how quickly a platform can turn into a toll road. Epic Gamesmade clear how a single operator could impose steep fees on every transaction and block competing payment options. This is about higher costs both for developers and consumers, who pay more and get fewer choices. So, blockchain, if enclosure hardens, risks following the same path.
If we’re aiming for a different outcome, then it’s high time to appeal to practical guardrails that keep the benefits of scale while preventing enclosure. Start with interoperability. That means corporations that operate ledgers for payments or logistics should support open messaging and data-portability standards. In that case, users and services can leave without losing history or liquidity.
Then, stop self-preferencing on platforms that work both in the cloud and as ledgers, because pricing, listing and priority should be transparent and disputable. Finally, demand clarity around validator and token custody concentration so regulators, customers and markets can spot every failure long before they break.
Here, Ethereumoffers an interesting case. One staking service provider’s dominance had grown so large over the last year that researchers warned it had almost started to outsize its influence over the entire network. Eventually, that share has fallen as new competitors entered, but the fear was enough to prove the key point: too much power in one provider’s hands is a risk no system can afford.
Keeping the promise alive
Blockchain’s future will be shaped less by code and more by control. If it becomes another corporate toll road, innovation will slow and profits will concentrate at the top. Again, that’s not the future this technology was meant to deliver.
It’s still early enough to swing the axe. Guardrails like interoperability, transparency and limits on self-preferencing—already basic lessons from telecom, payments and antitrust—can maintain the benefits of scale while preventing enclosure. Applied now, these rules could mean the difference between an open financial internet and a corporatized one that simply replicates the old order.
Google figured out early on that video would be a great addition to its search business, so in 2005 it launched Google Video. Focused on making deals with the entertainment industry for second-rate content, and overly cautious on what users could upload, it flopped. Meanwhile, a tiny startup run by a handful of employees working above a San Mateo, California, pizzeria was exploding, simply by letting anyone upload their goofy videos and not worrying too much about who held copyrights to the clips. In 2006, Google snapped up that year-old company, figuring it would sort out the IP stuff later. (It did.) Though the $1.65 billion purchase price for YouTube was about a billion dollars more than its valuation, it was one of the greatest bargains ever. YouTube is now arguably the most successful video property in the world. It’s an industry leader in music and podcasting, and more than half of its viewing time is now on living room screens. It has paid out over $100 billion to creators since 2021. One estimate from MoffettNathanson analysts cited by Variety is that if it were a separate company, it might be worth $550 billion.
Now the service is taking what might be its biggest leap yet, embracing a new paradigm that could change its essence. I’m talking, of course, about AI. Since YouTube is still a wholly owned subsidiary of AI-obsessed Google, it’s not surprising that its anniversary product announcements this week touted AI features that will let creators use AI to enhance or produce videos. After all, Google Deepmind’s Veo 3 technology was YouTube’s for the taking. Ready or not, the video camera ultimately will be replaced by the prompt. This means a rethinking of YouTube’s superpower: authenticity.
YouTube’s Big Bang
I had that shift in mind when I recently interviewed YouTube CEO Neal Mohan at his office at YouTube’s San Bruno, California, headquarters. Mohan took over as CEO in 2023 when his boss, Susan Wojcicki, left her post due to a fatal cancer. But first we chat a bit about the company’s history. Mohan reminds me that his own connection with the service began even before he joined Google in 2008, after his ad company DoubleClick merged with the search giant. He was struck by how the YouTube founders were first with a revelation that, he says, remains the core of the service. “It was not just that people were interested in sharing short clips about themselves and that it was done without a gatekeeper,” he says, “but that people were interested in watching them. That was the big bang inflection point. Our mission is to give everyone a voice and show them the world.”
Critics of Google’s power often argue that not only the public but also YouTube itself might benefit from a split from the mother company. Just think what the world’s biggest video company could do if it were truly independent. Mohan, a self-admitted Google loyalist, disagrees. “I don’t believe YouTube would be where it is if it weren’t part of Google,” he says. He says that being part of a giant company allowed YouTube to make long-term bets on things like streaming and podcasting. When I ask whether YouTube might be even more innovative on its own, he reminds me that YouTube has been sufficiently innovative to challenge legacy media in things like live sports while fending off challenges from competitors focusing on the creator economy.
YouTube has an advantage in breadth that Tiktok and Reels can’t dream of … “everything from a 15-second short to a 15-minute traditional long-form YouTube video to a 15-hour livestream and everything in between,” Mohan crows.
It’s currently pressing another advantage: Google’s AI technology. The announcements this week range from fun features like putting you or your friends’ bodies into videos showing astonishing acrobatic feats or allowing podcasters to make instant television shows from their audio conversations by having AI create visuals that resonate with the content of the chatter. Mohan says that, in a sense, AI is just the latest enhancement of the service. “When YouTube was born 20 years ago it was about using technology for more people to have their voice heard,” he says. “With AI, it’s the same core principle—how do we use technology to democratize creation?”
OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor has held many notable titles in tech. Katelyn Tucker/ Slava Blazer Photography
A.I. agents are the next big platform shift in tech, on par with the dawn of the internet 30 years ago and the rise of mobile apps a decade ago, according to OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor, who also runs his own A.I. startup, Sierra. Speaking at the Skift Global Forum in New York City yesterday (Sept. 18), the tech executive argued that enterprises are now racing to adopt A.I. agents much like they once scrambled to build websites or launch mobile apps.
“I think this is an opportunity that, probably, the closest catalog would be the birth of the internet,” Taylor said during an onstage interview.
Taylor has seen several waves of disruption firsthand. At Google in the early 2000s, he helped launch Google Maps. He went on to serve as chief technology officer at Facebook (now Meta), co-CEO of Salesforce, and chair of Twitter’s board during Elon Musk’s tumultuous takeover. In 2023, he was tapped as chairman of OpenAI’s board after the ChatGPT-maker briefly ousted and reinstated CEO Sam Altman.
Now, his focus is on Sierra, the conversational A.I. startup he co-founded two years ago with former Google colleague Clay Bavor. The company has quickly become a “decacorn,” hitting a $10 billion valuation earlier this month after raising $350 million from Greenoaks Capital. Sierra already counts hundreds of enterprise customers across financial services, health care and retail. A fifth of Sierra’s customers have annual revenue over $10 billion.
Taylor insists that A.I. agents are more than just cost-cutting tools. Increasingly, they’re revenue drivers. Sierra’s platform is helping companies sell mortgages, make outbound sales calls and even manage payroll for small businesses. “These agents are not only doing services, but also doing sales,” he said.
And the form factor is evolving. While chatbots dominate today’s landscape, Taylor believes voice-enabled A.I. is “as, or more important, of a channel than chat.” Multi-modal agents are also emerging. For instance, retailers are beginning to process warranty claims by analyzing photos of damaged products.
Just as the internet gave rise to search engines and aggregation platforms, Taylor expects agentic A.I. to spawn entirely new business categories. The challenge will be ensuring that they meet consumer expectations as their desires inevitably evolve with the technology’s development. “Consumers are moving faster than most companies can make decisions,” Taylor warned, noting that ChatGPT became the fastest-growing consumer app in history. “It’s on all of us leaders to push decisively towards this new world.”
Google is adding multiple new AI features to Chrome, the most popular browser in the world. The most visible change is a new button in Chrome that launches the Gemini chatbot, but there are also new tools for searching, researching, and answering questions with AI. Google has additional cursor-controlling “agentic” tools in the pipeline for Chrome as well.
The Gemini in Chrome mode for the web browser uses generative AI to answer questions about content on a page and synthesize information across multiple open tabs. Gemini in Chrome first rolled out to Google’s paying subscribers in May. The AI-focused features are now available to all desktop users in the US browsing in English; they’ll show up in a browser update.
On mobile devices, Android users can already use aspects of Gemini within the Chrome app, and Google is expected to launch an update for iOS users of Chrome in the near future.
When I wrote about web browsers starting to add more generative AI tools back in 2023, it was primarily something that served as an alternative to the norm. The software was built by misfits and change-makers who were experimenting with new tools, or hunting for a break-out feature to grow their small user bases. All of this activity was dwarfed by the commanding number of users who preferred Chrome.
Two years later, while Google’s browser remains the market leader, the internet overall is completely seeped in AI tools, many of them also made by Google. Still, today marks the moment when the concept of an “AI browser” truly went mainstream with the weaving of Gemini so closely into the Chrome browser.
The Gemini strategy at Google has already been to leverage as many of its in-house integrations as possible, from Gmail to Google Docs. So, the decision to AI-ify the Chrome browser for a wider set of users does not come as a shock.
Even so, the larger roll out will likely be met with ire by some users who are either exhausted by the onslaught of AI-focused features in 2025 or want to abstain from using generative AI, whether for environmental reasons or because they don’t want their activity to be used to train an algorithm. Users who don’t want to see the Gemini option will be able to click on the Gemini sparkle icon and unpin it from the top right corner of the Chrome browser.
The new button at the top of the browser will launch Gemini. Users in the US will see these changes first.
Back at I/O 2025, Google began integrating Gemini into Chrome. At the time, you needed an AI Pro or AI Ultra subscription to access the AI assistant in the browser. That’s changing today. Google has begun rolling out the tool to all Chrome desktop users on both Windows and Mac. Provided you have Chrome’s language set to English and live in the US, you’ll see a new sparkle icon at the top of the interface. Tapping it will allow you to start making requests of Gemini.
You can also use the tool on a smartphone. On Android, you can do so by holding your phone’s power button. On iOS, meanwhile, Google is working on bringing the assistant to the Chrome app.
Since its introduction at I/O, Google has made some enhancements to how Gemini works inside of Chrome. To start, the tool can now work across multiple tabs, allowing it to compare and summarize information from different websites. At the same time, Gemini can access your browsing history thanks to a new recall feature. Google suggests this can be helpful in situations where you can’t quite remember where you saw something online. Instead of manually sifting through your browser history, you can write a prompt like “what was that blog I read on back to school shopping?” and Gemini will take care of the rest.
The new version of Gemini for Chrome also offers deeper integrations with other Google services, including Calendar, YouTube and Maps. For instance, you can ask the assistant to schedule meetings for you, and if you’re working through a long YouTube video, Gemini can generate timestamps you can use to jump around the video.
At the start of May, Google began using Gemini Nano to upgrade Chrome’s Enhanced Protection suite. On Thursday, the company said Gemini Nano would also soon work to protect users against websites that use fake viruses or giveaways to trick them. Google has also added an algorithm that will learn your preferences for granting permissions. When it determines you’re unlikely to grant a website permission to access your computer’s camera or location, it will present those requests in a less intrusive way. Similarly, Google will add an AI designed to make it easier to update compromised credentials through Chrome’s built-in password manager. Starting with a handful of supported websites — including Coursera, Duolingo and Spotify — you’ll be able to change your passwords with a single click.
In the coming months, Google plans to bring agentic capabilities to Chrome, meaning Gemini will be able to complete tasks for you. For example, the company envisions people using this feature to do their weekly grocery shopping through Instacart. The company first previewed this capability with Project Mariner at the end of 2024. Over the last year, a few different companies have released their own takes on web-surfing agents with mixed results. For example, people have complained of OpenAI’s Operator failing to complete some tasks.
“Our hope is that by the time this gets to users, we’ve done away with many of the potential snafus,” said Mike Torres, vice president of product for Chrome, during a media briefing Google held ahead of today’s announcement. “This is an experimental experience we’re continuing to improve. We’re not going to do something that compromises the user experience.”
Last but not least, Google is adding an AI Mode mode shortcut directly to Chrome’s address bar. If you need a refresher, AI Mode is Google’s dedicated search chatbot. At I/O 2025, the company made it available to every Search user in the US. Now you can access it without navigating to Google first. When I asked Torres about the button, he was quick to note users don’t have to use the shortcut. “What we’re trying to do is maintain users’ existing behavior,” he added.
As with any major update from Google, it may take a few days for the new features to roll out to your installation of Chrome.
China is ending its antitrust probe into Google, which had centered around Android’s ubiquity in the mobile world and what impact, if any, it was having on Chinese phone makers like Oppo and Xiaomi that use the software. As reported by the , this move comes amid ongoing discussions between the US and Chinese governments over , , tariffs and the broader trading relationship between the world’s two largest economies.
Google’s search engine remains blocked in China, along with many of its other core products like Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps. Despite this, the tech giant still generates substantial revenue in the country through cloud services and ad sales to Chinese companies targeting overseas audiences.
According to the Financial Times, the decision by Beijing to ease up on Google is a tactical move, as China increasingly flexes its regulatory scrutiny on NVIDIA as a negotiating tool during trade talks with the US.
Earlier this summer NVIDIA with the Trump administration to sell its pared-back H20 GPUs in China on the condition that it gives the US government 15 percent of the sales. Shortly thereafter, however, China began local companies from buying the H20 chips. Recently, the government Chinese tech companies from buying NVIDIA’s newest AI chip made specifically for the region, the RTX Pro 6000D.
In yet another move to exert control and flex power, Chinese regulators have accused NVIDIA of with its acquisition of chipmaker Mellanox. Were the chipmaker to be found in violation of China’s anti-monopoly law, the company could owe fines between 1 percent and 10 percent of its 2024 sales.
US and Chinese officials just wrapped three days of trade talks in Madrid, with President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping set to speak on Friday. The leaders are expected to discuss a supposed framework for a that would cede control of the company’s US business to American companies, resulting in a roughly 80 percent stake in the entity domestically.
Google’s Nano Banana image-generation model, officially known as Gemini 2.5 Flash Image, has fueled global momentum for the Gemini app since launching last month. But in India, it has taken on a creative life of its own, with retro portraits and local trends going viral — even as privacy and safety concerns begin to emerge.
India has emerged as the No. 1 country in terms of Nano Banana usage, according to David Sharon, multimodal generation lead for Gemini Apps at Google DeepMind, who spoke at a media session this week. The model’s popularity has also propelled the Gemini app to the top of the free app charts on both the App Store and Google Play in India. The app has also climbed to the top of global app stores’ charts, according to Appfigures.
Given India’s scale — the world’s second-largest smartphone market and second-biggest online population after China — it is no surprise the country is leading in adoption. But what is catching Google’s attention is not just how many people are using Nano Banana, it is how: Millions of Indians are engaging with the AI model in ways that are uniquely local, highly creative, and in some cases, completely unexpected.
One of the standout trends is Indians using Nano Banana to re-create retro looks inspired by 1990s Bollywood, imagining how they might have appeared during that era, complete with period-specific fashion, hairstyles, and makeup. This trend is local to India, Sharon told reporters.
A variation of the retro trend is what some are calling the “AI saree,” where users generate vintage-style portraits of themselves wearing traditional Indian attire.
Another trend local to India is people generating their selfies in front of cityscapes and iconic landmarks, such as Big Ben and the U.K.’s retro telephone booths.
“We saw a lot of that in the beginning,” Sharon said.
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Indian users are also experimenting with Nano Banana to transform objects, create time-travel effects, and even reimagine themselves as retro postage stamps. Others are generating black-and-white portraits or using the model to visualize encounters with their younger selves.
Some of these trends did not originate in India, but the country played a key role in helping them gain global attention. One example is the figurine trend, where people generate miniature versions of themselves, often placing them in front of a computer screen. The trend first emerged in Thailand, spread to Indonesia, and became global after gaining traction in India, Sharon said.
In addition to Nano Banana, Google has observed a trend where Indian users are utilizing its Veo 3 AI video-generation model on the Gemini app to create short videos from old photos of their grandparents and great-grandparents.
All of this has helped drive Gemini’s popularity on both the App Store and Google Play in India. Between January and August, the app saw an average of 1.9 million monthly downloads in the country — about 55% higher than in the U.S. — accounting for 16.6% of global monthly downloads, per Appfigures data shared exclusively with TechCrunch.
India downloads have totaled 15.2 million this year until August; the U.S., on the other hand, has had 9.8 million downloads so far this year, per Appfigures data.
Daily downloads of the Gemini app in India significantly surged following the release of the Nano Banana update, beginning on September 1 with 55,000 installs across both app stores. Downloads peaked at 414,000 on September 13 — a 667% increase — with Gemini holding the top overall spot on the iOS App Store since September 10 and on Google Play since September 12, including across all categories, Appfigures data shows.
Image Credits:Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch
Despite India leading in downloads, the country does not top in-app purchases on the Gemini app, which has generated an estimated $6.4 million in global consumer spending on iOS since launch, per Appfigures. The U.S. accounts for the largest share at $2.3 million (35%), while India contributes $95,000 (1.5%). However, India posted a record 18% month-over-month growth in spending, reaching $13,000 between September 1 and 16 — compared to an 11% global increase during the same period. That puts India seven percentage points above the global rate and more than 17 points ahead of the U.S., where growth was under 1%.
That said, as with other AI apps, there are concerns about users uploading personal photos to Gemini to transform their appearance.
“When a user asks us to fulfill their query, we do our best to fulfill that query. We don’t try to assume what the user’s intent is,” Sharon said while addressing questions on how Google is dealing with data misuse and privacy concerns among users in India and other top markets. “We’ve really tried to improve that, and we have improved that to be bold and fulfil your request.”
Google places a visible, diamond-shaped watermark on images generated by the Nano Banana model and also embeds a hidden marker using its SynthID tool to identify AI-generated content. SynthID allows Google to detect and flag whether an image was created using its models.
Sharon told reporters that Google is testing a detection platform with trusted testers, researchers, and other experts. The company also plans to launch a consumer-facing version that would allow anyone to check whether an image is AI-generated.
“This is still day one, and we’re still learning, and we’re learning together. There are things that we might need to improve on in the future, and it’s really your feedback from users, press, academia, and experts that helps us improve,” Sharon said.
On Tuesday, Google announced the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), which it described as an “open protocol developed with leading payments and technology companies.”
The protocol is designed to enable AI agents to send and receive payments to each other, supporting different payment types such as credit and debit cards, stablecoins, and real-time bank transfers.
“We’re collaborating with a diverse group of more than 60 organizations to help shape the future of agentic payments,” Google executives said.
Some of those partners are big names in crypto, such as Coinbase and the Ethereum Foundation, while others are global payments platforms such as American Express, Mastercard, PayPal, Revolut, and UnionPay.
x402 + @Google just unlocked a new level for AI agents.
Agents can actually pay each other now, with x402 powering the stablecoin rail inside Google’s new Agentic Payments Protocol (AP2). Really cool. pic.twitter.com/R3gj16g3hY
Coinbase has been developing its own AI and crypto payment solutions, specifically including support for dollar-pegged stablecoins. Google’s protocol builds on the firm’s Agent2Agent framework from April 2025, anticipating a future where AI agents communicate and transact directly without human intervention.
“The way we built it is from the ground up to factor in both heritage and existing payment rail capabilities as well as forthcoming capabilities such as stablecoins,” head of Web3 at Google Cloud, James Tromans, told Fortune.
AP2 is designed as a universal protocol, “providing security and trust for a variety of payments like stablecoins and cryptocurrencies,” the firm stated. It aims to accelerate support for the Web3 ecosystem through a production-ready solution for agent-based crypto payments.
“Extensions like these will help shape the evolution of cryptocurrency integrations within the core AP2 protocol.”
The system builds trust by using “Mandates,” which are tamper-proof, cryptographically-signed smart contracts that serve as verifiable proof of a user’s instructions.
These Mandates address the two primary ways a user will shop with an agent: real-time purchases with the human present, and delegated tasks which the agent will handle.
The Future of Shopping
AP2 also enables sophisticated autonomous commerce such as “smart shopping,” where AI agents monitor availability and execute purchases when conditions are met.
It can also seek out personalized offers with agents contacting merchants with specific details and time frames for the item wanted.
AI agents can also carry out coordinated tasks such as booking flights and hotels with multi-vendor transactions simultaneously.
This week, the Ethereum Foundation also announced the formation of a new team to work on agentic AI payments for the Ethereum network.
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