Aside from Alphabet’s own forays into AI, they’re also selling pickaxes to most other AI prospectors.

It’s a story deSouza likes to tell in numbers. In a conversation with this editor, he notes several times that nine out of the top 10 AI labs use Google’s infrastructure. He also says that nearly all generative AI unicorns run on Google Cloud, that 60% of all GenAI startups worldwide have chosen Google as their cloud provider, and that the company has lined up $58 billion in new revenue commitments over the next two years, which represents more than double its current annual run rate.

Asked what percentage of Google Cloud’s revenue comes from AI companies, he offers instead that “AI is resetting the cloud market, and Google Cloud is leading the way, especially with startups.”

The strategy extends beyond simple customer acquisition. Google offers AI startups $350,000 in cloud credits, access to its technical teams, and go-to-market support through its marketplace. Google Cloud also provides what deSouza describes as a “no compromise” AI stack — from chips to models to applications — with an “open ethos” that gives customers choice at every layer.

The approach reflects both opportunity and necessity. In a market where companies can go “from being a startup to being a multibillion-dollar company in a very short period of time,” as deSouza puts it, capturing future unicorns before they mature could prove more valuable than fighting over today’s giants.

“Companies love the fact that they can get access to our AI stack, they can get access to our teams to understand where our technologies are going,” deSouza says during our interview. “They also love that they’re getting access to enterprise-grade Google class infrastructure.”

Google’s infrastructure play got even more ambitious recently, with reporting revealing the company’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering to expand its custom AI chip business. According to The Information, Google has struck deals to place its tensor processing units (TPUs) in other cloud providers’ data centers for the first time, including an agreement with London-based Fluidstack that includes up to $3.2 billion in financial backing for a New York facility.

Competing directly with AI companies while simultaneously providing them infrastructure requires … finesse. Google Cloud provides TPU chips to OpenAI and hosts Anthropic’s Claude model through its Vertex AI platform, even as its own Gemini models compete head-to-head with both. (Google Cloud’s parent company, Alphabet, also owns a 14% stake in Anthropic, per New York Times court documents obtained earlier this year, though when asked directly about Google’s financial relationship with Anthropic, deSouza calls the relationship a “multi-layered partnership,” then quickly redirects me to Google Cloud’s model marketplace, noting that customers can access various foundation models.)

It isn't your imagination: Google Cloud is flooding the zone | TechCrunch

While the industry's biggest players cement ever-tighter partnerships, Google is hell-bent on capturing the next generation of AI companies before they become too big to court.

^{Connie Loizos (TechCrunch)}

https://www.techspot.com/news/109626-ai-bubble-only-thing-keeping-us-economy-together.html

The indictment of former FBI Director James Comey on Thursday marked the culmination of President Trump's yearslong desire to see one of his political foes punished after the bureau's investigation into his 2016 presidential campaign and Russian meddling in that election.

But the president's long-held ire toward Comey, coupled with his latest comments cheering the federal charges brought against the former FBI chief, could aid defense lawyers in a potential bid to have the case against Comey tossed.

"In this case, the facts before the indictment and even comments Trump made after the indictment provide strong factual evidence that Mr. Comey is the victim of either selective or vindictive prosecution," Gene Rossi, a former federal prosecutor who worked at the Justice Department for nearly 30 years, told CBS News.

Trump's attacks on Comey and leadership shifts in prosecutors' office could undermine case, legal experts say

A federal grand jury indicted former FBI Director James Comey on two criminal counts. Comey has said he is innocent.

^{Melissa Quinn (CBS News)}

Justice Clarence Thomas is finding increasingly creative ways to justify reshaping long-standing laws.

During a rare appearance at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, the George H.W. Bush–appointed justice said the Supreme Court should take a more critical approach to settled precedent, arguing that decided cases are not “the gospel,” ABC News reported.

Thomas, 77, compared his Supreme Court colleagues to passengers on a train, and said: ”We never go to the front to see who’s driving the train, where is it going. And you could go up there in the engine room, find it’s an orangutan driving the train, but you want to follow that just because it’s a train.”

He reasoned that some precedents were simply “something somebody dreamt up and others went along with.”

Clarence Thomas Gives Bonkers Reason for SCOTUS to Tear Up Settled Laws

The conservative justice is setting the scene for a new SCOTUS term.

^{Laura Esposito (The Daily Beast)}

cross-posted from: hexbear.net/post/6255443

Deadly Israeli attacks continued to target Palestinian civilians on 24 September as Tel Aviv’s forces pushed deeper into Gaza City as part of a new operation to force the resistance into submission.

While many have fled, tens of thousands of others are unwilling to leave their homes. Some have also returned to their homes in Gaza City after being displaced toward the south.

“We affirm that more than 900,000 Palestinians remain steadfast in Gaza City, holding onto their right to stay and firmly rejecting forced displacement and expulsion to the south, despite the horrific bombardment and genocidal crimes carried out by the Israeli occupation,” the Gaza Government Media Office said in a statement on Wednesday.

Those fleeing have been ordered to head south toward Al-Mawasi – a previously declared “safe zone” which has been relentlessly targeted throughout the war.

Al-Mawasi has been hit with over 100 airstrikes since the start of the genocide in 2023, killing a total of 2,000 people, the media office went on to say.

Thousands of Palestinians return to Gaza City amid escalating Israeli offensive

Gaza’s Government Media Office says nearly one million Palestinians are staying put despite brutal bombardment and the advancement of ground troops

^thecradle.co

Context: The Finnish Marticulation Examination is a national examination required to qualify for entry into a university in Finland (not strictly required, but the vast majority will have passed the exam before university). These are basically the final exams of Finnish "high school". The current digital system used for the exams is called "Abitti", which is a Debian-based OS. The students boot into the system with provided USB-sticks.

In the linked article, there is the following statement (in Finnish):

Computer technology advances quickly, and the current Abitti works in fewer and fewer computers. The threat is that computers that can run the current Linux-environment won't be available in the near future.

The new system ("Abitti 2"), which is planned to be used by Autumn 2026, uses locked-down Web-apps written for each supported OS. Support is planned for Windows, Mac, and ChromeOS. Linux support "needs further investigation". As I understand it, the current situation is that the old Linux USB-stick method (now called "Abitti 2 student-stick") is still used as a backup for those without Windows, Mac, or ChromeOS.

I think the main premise of Linux-bootable computers not being available in the near future is extremely dystopian. Thoughts?

Abitti 2 – Ylioppilastutkinnon uusi koejärjestelmä

Koejärjestelmän testiversioon on voinut tutustua syksystä 2024 alkaen, ja lukitun Windows-kokelassovelluksen versio 1.0 julkaistiin elokuussa 2025.

^{Ylioppilastutkintolautakunta}