Google came late to the AI Party, with a bang

You know that the AI race is officially on when Google (aka, "AI-first" company) throws all its weight on the technology.

This week, the search behemoth held its annual developer event Google I/O, which showed just how it aggressively wants to adopt the technology and integrate it into most if not all its products.

For example, Gmail will soon write emails for you. Google Maps will be AI-powered and immersive. Google's core product: Search, will soon produce AI results. If you're a Google Workspace client, expect generative AI features coming to Docs, Slides, Sheets, and other products too.

But perhaps the biggest AI-related announcement was that Bard, its ChatGPT rival is rolling out in 180 countries eliminating the previous waitlist requirement and becoming widely available in English, Japanese, Korean, and eventually more than 40 languages.

If you work in the creative industry or are a professional in the technology sector, you should now have embraced these AI tools to stay relevant. This guest article written by Alistair Errington, a Snapchat Partner Director at Ad Dynamo by Aleph, explores how AI is changing the rules of digital marketing and how to take advantage of it.

What else is happening across emerging markets and the rest of the world in technology? Well, Twitter was in the news (again) for its new encrypted DM feature, and has just shopped for a new CEO. Meanwhile, Vietnam is verifying user identity on social media and WhatsApp's payment service for businesses made its way into Singapore. In Africa, MTN is selling off some West African assets and Airtel's API for businesses debuted in Uganda.

Until, next week 🧐

- Loy