🚀 RELEASES & LAUNCHES
- Google opens Gemini and Search to more apps with new developer platform
Google launched a developer platform letting businesses bring their services into Gemini and Search experiences.- Aimed at businesses and developers wanting their services discoverable inside Google's AI experiences.
- The new platform lets third-party apps integrate with Gemini and Google Search as AI agents reshape how consumers find and use apps.
- It could change how consumers discover and use apps, shifting distribution toward AI-mediated surfaces.
Sources 📎 Coverage: techcrunch.com · 👁 via TechCrunch AI
⚠️ INCIDENTS & SAFETY
- Google's AI Mode dodges questions about who won the 2020 US election
Google's AI Mode refuses to directly answer who won the 2020 US presidential election, deflecting users to official sources instead.- Google's AI Mode, when asked "Who won the 2020 presidential election?", tells users to consult FEC reports rather than naming Joe Biden as the winner; similar deflections occurred for 2024 and some other recent elections.
- Ars Technica testing found the behavior is inconsistent: older elections (e.g., 2012, 1992 Senate control) got direct answers, responses varied by user, and asking a second time often produced the correct answer citing Google Civics data.
- Via VPN spot checks from Taiwan, Russia, France, and Canada, AI Mode gave straightforward, accurate answers — the evasiveness appears limited to US users.
- Google's Gemini app and rival chatbots (ChatGPT, Claude) answer the question directly; a Google spokesperson said the Gemini app answers fully but Search's response "isn't the most helpful" and is being addressed.
- The cagey answers echo Google's 2024 policy of restricting Gemini from election-related queries, and come amid renewed 2020 election claims by Trump ahead of the 2026 midterms.