Tech Roundup: Google AlphaGenome, Ring Privacy Backlash & More

[A recurring feature on the latest in Science & Technology.]

• Amazon adds a new security feature to its Ring security camera service to let users verify if footage came from an authentic cam or was altered in any way.
• Google rolls out cross-device queue synchronisation for YouTube Music, allowing users to switch between devices and pick up a playlist right from where they left off on a different device; YouTube launches an app for the Apple Vision Pro, with standard videos, 180° and 360° videos and YouTube Shorts, and support for up to 8K videos for devices with the M5 chip.
• Amazon announces plans to shut down its physical Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores as it focuses on expanding Whole Foods Market; to also discontinue the Amazon One biometrics system used at its retail locations to scan a user's palm to provide to provide payments and authentication effective June 3, 2026.
• A class of individuals who say they were victimised by deepfakes generated by Grok file a lawsuit against parent company xAI in the U.S., calling the tool "a generative artificial intelligence chatbot that humiliates and sexually exploits women and girls by undressing them and posing them in sexual positions in deepfake images publicly posted on X."
• India's Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) releases an updated version of the Aadhaar app with support for biometric liveness, age verification, data minimisation (instead of transmitting full Aadhaar numbers to verifiers) and credential sharing; to also add compatibility with Google Wallet, enabling users to store and share verifiable identity data across platforms.
• Google introduces Agentic Vision in Gemini 3 Flash that "combines visual reasoning with code execution to ground answers in visual evidence" to help with image annotation, parse high-density tables and implicitly zoom to detect fine-grained details; comes as xAI debuts Grok Imagine API for state-of-the-art image and video generation, beating rival models from Runway, KlingAI, Google and OpenAI.
• Google DeepMind publishes its research into AlphaGenome, an AI model that analyses up to 1 million DNA bases to predict "how single variants or mutations in human DNA sequences impact a wide range of biological processes regulating genes."
• OpenAI plans to retire GPT‑4o, GPT‑4.1, GPT‑4.1 mini and o4-mini models by February 13, 2026; comes after GPT‑4o becomes the target of a pile of user welfare lawsuits that accuse the model of sending its users into destructive delusional and suicidal spirals, leading to episodes of mania, psychosis, self-harm and suicidal ideation — and in some cases death.
• India now has 958 million active internet users, with 57% of those coming from rural areas.
• Google announces support for Gemini-powered Audio summaries in Google Docs; tests Quick Share update that limits the "Everyone" setting to just 10 minutes, mirroring a similar operation in Apple AirDrop.
• Oakley and Meta launch the Oakley Meta Vanguard, a new pair of AI-powered performance glasses aimed at serious athletes and fitness enthusiasts, as
• The U.K. announces plans to fast-track legislation requiring age verification for VPN use; comes the government mandates that technology firms remove non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours of being reported, or face fines of up to 10% of global revenue, as part of the Crime and Policing Bill.
• OpenAI says users aged 18 to 24 account for nearly 50% and under-30s represent 80% of ChatGPT messages in India and that India has 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users, its second largest user base after the U.S.; partners with Reliance to add AI search to JioHotstar.
• Anthropic launches Claude Code Security to scan "codebases for security vulnerabilities and suggests targeted software patches."
• India joins Pax Silica, a U.S.-led initiative that aims to build secure supply chains for semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, and critical technologies.
• Indian AI startup Sarvam, which is building AI models for local languages, launches its Indus chat app in beta, powered by its Sarvam 105B model.
• Meta's Threads allows users to share posts directly to their Instagram Story without leaving the app; updates WhatsApp with a a new Group Message History feature that lets new participants to view past conversations that can range anywhere between 25 and 100 messages (in increments of 25) to quickly catch up on what's being discussed and add their input.
• Apple releases iOS 26.4 beta with an AI-powered playlist-generation feature in Apple Music, support for video content in the Podcasts app and end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS messages; also adds support for third-party voice-based conversational apps in CarPlay starting with iOS 26.4, letting CarPlay users access apps like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini.
• Reddit tests an AI search feature that takes community recommendations and shows matching products from its advertisers in the results.
• Los Angeles County sues Roblox, alleging it engaged in deceptive business practices that exposed children to sexual content, exploitation and online predators.
• Google's YouTube pilots Gemini-powered conversational AI on smart TVs, allowing viewers to ask the assistant questions related to the video they're watching on the big screen; updates Chrome with split view for multitasking, PDF annotations and a Save to Google Drive option to save PDFs directly to the cloud storage service.
• The U.S. State Department plans to launch a web portal at freedom.gov, where Europeans and others can see online content banned by their governments.
• Meta announces plans to shut down its standalone Messenger website in April 2026, as it urges users to switch back to Facebook to access the chats.
• The U.S. state of West Virginia sues Apple for allegedly violating consumer protection law by not implementing tools like PhotoDNA to detect CSAM stored and shared on iCloud.
• Google rolls out Gemini 3.1 Pro, which it says is "a step forward in core reasoning," for all users in the Gemini app; debuts Lyria 3, a generative music model that can make 30-second tracks with Nano Banana-made cover art, in beta in the Gemini app in eight languages.
• OpenAI and Paradigm announce EVMbench, a benchmark that measures how well AI agents can detect, exploit and patch high-severity smart contract vulnerabilities; retires GPT-4o, a model known for its overly sycophantic nature, on February 13, 2026.
• Amazon Ring comes under scrutiny and becomes the talking point of a privacy and surveillance debate after internal communications, a controversial Super Bowl ad and its planned business partnership with public safety technology company Flock exposes ambitious plans to extend its AI-powered Search Party feature beyond locating lost pets and other pets to "zero out crime in neighbourhoods" and become a precursor to neighbourhood surveillance. (Ring and Flock have since called off plans to integrate Ring with the latter's investigative tools, potentially streamlining law enforcement access to Ring camera footage during active cases.)
• X rival Mastodon runs "onboarding experiments" to test ways to improve the new user experience, starting with default server recommendations.
• The U.K. proposes new rules requiring tech firms to remove nonconsensual abusive content within 48 hours or risk blocking and fines of up to 10% of global revenue; the development comes as India tightens rules governing social media content and platforms, particularly targeting artificially generated and manipulated material, in a bid to crack down on the rapid spread of misinformation and deepfakes by requiring social media firms to comply with takedown requests from Indian authorities within three hours and prominently label AI-generated content. (The rules also require platforms to put in place measures to prevent users from posting unlawful material.)
• Spotify debuts SeatGeek integration for concert ticket sales; says AI is helping it speed up coding and product velocity and its best developers "have not written a single line of code since December" and reports Premium users up 10% YoY to 290 million and monthly active users up 11% YoY to 751 million.
• Amazon reportedly shuts down Blue Jay, a multi-armed robotic system launched in October 2025 for same-day delivery warehouses, to focus on small modular warehouses.
• A U.S. orders OpenAI to stop using the word "Cameo" for its Sora products and features, in a trademark lawsuit filed by celebrity video app Cameo.
• Google expands its cross-platform file sharing feature to additional Android devices after introducing it on the Pixel 10 in November 2025, allowing users to transfer files to an iPhone using the AirDrop protocol to Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro Fold.
• Anthropic launches Claude Sonnet 4.6 with improvements in coding, computer use and instruction following; features a 1 million token context window.
• Meta patents an AI system that that allows a large language model (LLM) to simulate user's social media activity when "the user is absent from the social networking system, for example, when the user takes a long break or if the user is deceased"; Meta says it has "no plans to move forward."
• E.U. blocks government-issued devices from using baked-in AI tools amid fears that sensitive information could turn up on the U.S. servers of AI companies.
• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushes back against the notion that the social media company made increasing time spent on Instagram a company goal; says underage users are removed as they are identified. (Instagram head Adam Mosseri also stated that a teenager's 16-hour single-day session on the platform was "problematic use" but not an addiction. Likewise, YouTube has argued it is an entertainment service like Netflix rather than a social network.)
• eBay agrees to acquire secondhand clothing app Depop from Etsy (which bought Depop in 2021 for $1.6 billion) for about $1.2 billion in cash.
• Bluesky integrates Germ DM, an E2E encrypted messaging app built on AT Protocol, making it the first private messenger natively available in the Bluesky app.
• Google unveils the $499 Pixel 10a, with a Tensor G4 and 8GB of RAM like the Pixel 9a, Satellite SOS and an 11% brighter screen.
• Warner Brothers Discovery, Disney and Paramount claim infringement on ByteDance's AI video generation tool Seedance 2.0 and demands ByteDance cease training AI on their characters, as the model goes viral in China; ByteDance says it "respects IP rights and we have heard the concerns regarding Seedance" and it plans to "strengthen" safeguards. (The company has also suspended Seedance 2 feature that turns facial photos into personal voices over potential risks.)
• Figma and Anthropic partner to launch Code to Canvas, letting users import code generated in Claude Code directly into Figma as editable designs.
• Automattic adds an AI assistant to WordPress.com, letting users perform site-wide layout and style modifications via natural language commands.
• Snapchat launches creator subscriptions in alpha, available to some creators in the U.S. starting February 23, letting creators set custom monthly pricing; comes as its direct revenue business hits a $1 billion annualised revenue run rate, driven primarily by Snapchat+ surpassing 25 million subscribers since its 2022 launch.
• Perplexity says it has no plans to further pursue ads, which it introduced in 2024, after phasing them out in late 2025 over fears they would erode user trust.
• Amazon's Audible launches an "immersion reading" feature that lets readers switch between ebook and audiobook versions of a title in their Audible and Kindle libraries.
• Google schedules I/O 2026 for May 19 to 20 in Mountain View, teasing the "latest AI breakthroughs and updates" in Gemini and Android, as the company's Android XR design docs and developer tools hint at the upcoming XR glasses, including mandatory physical buttons and "Glimmer" UI design language.
• The European Union opens a formal investigation into Shein after French regulators found listings for "child-like sex dolls" on the retail platform last year; says the investigation will assess whether the systems Shein is using to curb illegal product sales are compliant with the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA).
• Airbnb expands its Reserve Now, Pay Later feature globally after a U.S. pilot for domestic travel saw a 70% adoption rate for eligible bookings; says it's building an "AI-native experience" aimed at helping guests book trips and assisting hosts with their listings.
• Ireland's data protection watchdog says it has opened a "large-scale" inquiry into X over the creation and publication of "potentially harmful" sexualised images by Grok. (The U.K. Information Commissioner's Office has also launched a new investigation into X and xAI over "serious concerns" about Grok's data use and "its potential to produce harmful sexualised" content. Indonesia has since lifted its ban on Grok after receiving a letter from X "outlining concrete steps" to prevent misuse. Indonesia was the first country to ban Grok.)
• Manus launches Manus Agents, allowing users to access Manus directly inside messaging apps, starting with Telegram.
• Uber says it plans to launch Uber Eats in Austria, Norway, Finland and three other European countries in 2026, as it gains market share in the U.K., Germany, France and Spain; rolls out its service in the Chinese gambling hub of Macau, its first new entry to an Asian market for years.
• Anthropic partners with CodePath to help redesign computer coding curricula at hundreds of U.S. community and state colleges, integrating Claude AI tools.
• Apple says 74% of iPhones launched in the last four years and 66% of all iPhones are running iOS 26; In comparison, 68% of iPhones were running iOS 18 as of Jan. 21, 2025.
• Baidu plans to let its search app's 700 million million active users opt-in to message OpenClaw and integrate OpenClaw's capabilities into its e-commerce business and other services.
• Pinterest reports million active users up 12% to 619 million, as the platform's users, especially artists, say it's drowning in AI-generated art.
• Russia confirms it has blocked WhatsApp, citing Meta's "unwillingness to comply with Russian law," and proposes that Russians switch to the state-owned Max app; comes after it removed WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram from a Roskomnadzor-run online directory, essentially blocking them in the country without workarounds. (Russia is also restricting access to Telegram, as the government continues to push everyday Russians toward its own tightly controlled alternatives to foreign tech platforms.)
• Google updates Gemini 3 Deep Think to better solve modern science, research and engineering challenges, and expands it via the Gemini API to some researchers; unveils WAXAL, a new open speech dataset for 21 African languages to ease speech technology development.
• Amazon Pharmacy plans to bring same-day prescription delivery to almost 4,500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of 2026, adding nearly new 2,000 communities.
• Meta launches an AI feature that lets Threads users temporarily personalise their feed by specifying topics in a public post that begins with "Dear Algo"; Facebook rolls out the ability for users to animate their profile picture and to restyle Stories or Memories using preset options or a text-based AI prompt.
• Nvidia launches a native GeForce Now app on select Amazon Fire TV sticks, offering up to 1080p and 60 fps gaming.
• Google tells advertisers it is integrating shopping features into Search's AI Mode and Gemini; adds the ability for users to buy items from Etsy and Wayfair within Gemini.
• Anthropic says it will upgrade power grid infrastructure, generate new power, and cover consumer price increases to minimize the effects of its data centres; lets Claude users on the free plan to create files, connect to external services and use skills.
• OpenAI announces the U.S. military will get access to ChatGPT via GenAI.mil.
• Google releases Android 17 Beta 1 with Handoff for cross-device continuity and performance improvements; requires developers to optimise apps for foldables and large screens.
• Amazon launches a new artificial intelligence-powered "Send to Alexa+" feature for the current generation of Kindle Scribe and Kindle Scribe Colorsoft devices to let users share their notebooks and documents and make their information accessible on other Amazon platforms, including Alexa.com and the Alexa app.
• Walt Disney agrees to pay $2.75 million to settle a 2024 lawsuit filed by the U.S. state of California alleging the company violated the state's privacy law by failing to honour consumers' data opt-out requests.
• TikTok U.S. launches an opt-in Local Feed for content tied to travel, news, events, shopping and dining near the user's current location, after changing its terms of service.
• Nearly one in four active smartphones worldwide are now iPhones, according to new data from Counterpoint Research; global installed base of active smartphones grows 2% in 2025; eight OEMs account for 200 million active devices each.
• Apple acquired Canadian graph database company Kuzu in October 2025 for an undisclosed amount.
• OpenAI updates ChatGPT's deep research tool with GPT-5.2, a full-screen report view, and an option to focus research on specific websites.
• The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approves Amazon's request to launch a second-generation satellite constellation for its Leo system by deploying an additional 4,504 satellites.
• Isomorphic Labs, a Google DeepMind spinoff, unveils IsoDDE, a drug design system it says surpasses AlphaFold 3 in predicting biomolecular structures.
• Google's YouTube rolls out an AI-powered playlist-generation tool that lets Premium and Music Premium subscribers on iOS and Android use text prompts to create playlists.
• The U.K. Competitions and Market Authority (CMA) says Apple and Google committed to making app store changes to ensure fairness to developers and consumers, and asks market players for their views.
• Autodesk sues Google for allegedly infringing its Flow trademark as the name of Google's AI filmmaking tool Flow.
• OpenAI says it has started testing ads in ChatGPT in the US for logged-in adult users on the Free and Go tiers and that the ads do not change ChatGPT answers; says ads in ChatGPT are not eligible to appear near "sensitive or regulated topics like health, mental health or politics."
• Lyft launches teen accounts in the U.S. more than two years after Uber, with safety features such as PIN verification, real-time tracking, and audio recordings.
• Meta, TikTok and Snap agree to undergo independent assessments to rate how effectively they protect teen users based on 24 standards developed by experts.
• The European Commission sends a statement of objections to Meta over WhatsApp blocking rival AI chatbots, warning it will take measures to avoid "serious" harm.
• X unveils a new pay-per-use pricing model for its API, replacing the earlier pricing model that required developers to pay fixed monthly fees of $200 or $5,000.
• Anthropic releases Claude Opus 4.6, which it says can analyse company data, regulatory filings and market information, as it surpasses more than 300,000 business users; rolls out a fast mode for Claude Opus 4.6 in research preview, saying it offers the same model quality 2.5 times faster but costs six times more, introduces "agent teams" in Claude Code as a research preview to launch multiple agents that work in parallel, and a Claude in PowerPoint plugin, and says it found Opus 4.6 "brings more focus to the most challenging parts of a task without being told to" and "thinks more deeply and more carefully."
• Spotify changes Developer Mode to require a Premium subscription and reduces the cap on test users per app from 25 to five so as to curb AI-aided or automated usage; partners with Bookshop.org to let Premium U.S. and U.K. subscribers buy hardcover and paperback books via its app starting in spring.
• OpenAI launches GPT-5.3-Codex, which it says runs 25% faster, enabling longer-running tasks, and "is our first model that was instrumental in creating itself."
• OpenAI launches Frontier, an AI agent management platform that provides shared context, onboarding, and permission boundaries, for "a limited set of customers."
• Microsoft integrates Claude and Codex AI coding agents directly into GitHub, GitHub Mobile and Visual Studio Code for Copilot Pro Plus and Enterprise users.
• Google says the Gemini app has over 750 monthly active users, up from 650 million last quarter, and its first-party models process 10B+ tokens per minute via direct API use by customers.
• Turkey launches a review of how social media platforms handle children's data as it prepares new rules that include identity verification and age restrictions.
• Mistral debuts Voxtral Transcribe 2, a family of speech-to-text models with speaker diarisation and ultra-low latency, under the Apache 2.0 open-weight license.
• Adobe reverses its plans to discontinue Animate on March 1, 2026, after creators expressed frustration, saying it won't get new features but will remain available "indefinitely."
• Grindr tests Edge, a subscription tier with AI-powered personalised matches and insights, no ads and more, with prices ranging from $80 to $220 per week.
• OpenAI launches a Codex app for macOS, designed to serve as a command center for managing AI agents, and says Codex usage has nearly doubled since mid-December.
• Mozilla says Firefox users will be able to disable all AI features in its desktop browser, starting with Firefox 148 rolling out on February 24, 2026.
• Discord says it will roll out age verification globally from March to access some content, and that all accounts will have a "teen-appropriate experience by default; points out that the "vast majority of people can continue using Discord exactly as they do today" without needing to use a face scan or ID to verify their age.
• SpaceX acquires xAI in an all-stock deal that values the combined company at $1.25 trillion.
• Anthropic researchers detail "disempowerment patterns" in AI assistant interactions where AI potentially distorts a user's reality, beliefs or actions; details an experiment on whether AI coding tools shape developer skills where the biggest performance decline for developers occurred in debugging tasks.
• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says discussions about AI's energy usage are "unfair," as it takes "20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time" to train a human.
• Apple reportedly blocks access to accounts in Russia and requires local users to verify their account using a photo of their passport.
• Google confirms it is now blocking YouTube videos from playing in the background via third-party browsers like Vivaldi, Firefox and Samsung Internet; says "background playback is a feature intended to be exclusive for YouTube Premium members."
• Anthropic loosens its core safety principle in response to competition; says it's adopting a non-binding safety framework that it says can and will change instead of self-imposed guardrails constraining its development of AI models.
• Amazon announces a sweeping change to its Wishlist feature that will make users' addresses available to third-party sellers starting March 25, 2026, recommending they get a PO Box to protect their privacy.