A feature called Desktop Intelligence would let the AI pull context from open apps and your desktop. Google is testing a version of its Gemini app for macOS, reports . The app would bring the AI assistant to uncharted territory, and in more direct competition with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude, both of which offer standalone Mac apps. Gemini remains accessible through the web, and it sounds like the macOS app offers the same set of features, with the ability to respond to prompts, search the web and generate text, images and code. The major differentiator of the Mac app could be a feature called Desktop Intelligence, which gives Gemini a new source of information and context for its responses.

The app reads your email inbox and your meeting calendar, then gives you a short audio summary. It can help you spend less time scrolling, but of course, there are privacy drawbacks to consider.

PCWorld reports that Google's Gemini may soon receive conversation branching functionality, a feature currently unique to ChatGPT among major AI chatbots. This capability allows users to explore different conversational paths from any point without losing the original thread, enhancing experimentation and control. Android Authority discovered hints of this upcoming feature in Gemini's code, while competitors like Claude still lack branching functionality. Ever wish you could take an existing AI conversation in an entirely new directory while keeping the original chat thread intact? ChatGPT makes it easy with its "branching" feature, but Claude and Gemini don't offer any branching functionality-or at least, not yet.

Google is integrating its AI assistant Gemini with all personal Google services, allowing the AI to access user data across accounts for enhanced search results. PCWorld reports this opt-in feature enables Gemini to answer complex queries by collating personal information, though it's unavailable for business accounts. While offering improved functionality in Google AI Search and Chrome, this integration raises significant privacy concerns about Google's expanded data access. Google is now offering you the ability to link all of your Google services to the company's AI services for better results, looping in Google Intelligence, Gemini, with Gmail and your other data. It's a classic tactic used from Microsoft to Google and others: Connect your sources of data, and the service will become more adept at predicting what you want.

Graves being prepared for the victims of an airstrike on a school in Minab in southern Iran, 2 March 2026. Graves being prepared for the victims of an airstrike on a school in Minab in southern Iran, 2 March 2026. A photo of Iran's bombed schoolgirl graveyard went around the world. T he graves, freshly dug, lie in neat rows of 20 across. More than 60 have already been carved out of the earth, with a few clusters of people standing gathered around them.

Now I wish every smartphone had a built-in privacy display. Privacy Display is very useful. Some AI features are useless. Did you privately ask ChatGPT how to bring up nonmonogamy with your husband? Your commuting neighbor on the train snuck a glance at your phone, guffawed internally, and blasted it on X with a satisfied smirk.

WIRED spoke with Nick Fox, Google's SVP of knowledge and information, about how AI is changing the company's advertising business. Google executives have insisted for months that the company has no immediate plans to put ads in Gemini. But in an interview with WIRED, Google's senior vice president of knowledge and information, Nick Fox, says the tech giant is "not ruling them out." "I would expect that the learnings that we get from ads in AI Mode would likely carry over to what we might want to do in the Gemini app down the road," says Fox. "It's an odd thing to say, but our research shows that users actually like ads within the context of Search. Over time, we'll figure out what makes sense in the Gemini app." Google has spent the past year racing to catch up with OpenAI in the AI chatbot market.

PCWorld reports Google Maps now integrates Gemini AI through new'Ask Maps' and'Immersive Navigation' features for enhanced user experiences. Ask Maps enables conversational queries for personalized destination planning and complex itineraries based on search history and preferences. Immersive Navigation offers 3D route views with smart zooms, transparent buildings, and detailed destination previews including parking and entrances. We've already seen mapping functionality make its way into the ChatGPT and Gemini apps, but the big mapping apps haven't had much use for AI-until now, anyway. Google has just announced Ask Maps, a new "conversational experience" for Google Maps that puts Gemini front and center, allowing you to chat with the Maps app about where you want to go and what you want to do.

PCWorld reports that Google's Threat Intelligence Group documented state-sponsored hackers from Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran exploiting Gemini AI for cyberattacks. These malicious actors leverage Gemini's capabilities for surveillance, target identification, vulnerability discovery, and debugging exploit code, including developing WinRAR exploits. Google restricts access for identified bad actors, but the report highlights AI's dual-use nature and emerging cybersecurity challenges. "AI" systems aren't just great for raising the price of your electronics, giving you wrong search results, and filling up your social media feed with slop.

AI is already making online swindles easier. It could get much worse. Some cybersecurity researchers say it's too early to worry about AI-orchestrated cyberattacks. Others say it could already be happening. Anton Cherepanov is always on the lookout for something interesting. And in late August last year, he spotted just that.