Google flexes its AI muscles

On 20 May 2026, Google held its I/O 2026 conference and Meta began cutting 8,000 jobs. Google announced an overhaul of its search engine with AI, the Gemini 3.5 Flash model, AI agents and smart glasses, including a pair developed with Samsung; the glasses can order an Uber ride. Google's AI search will include more ads, and Android 17 is getting its own version of Apple's Handoff.

Meta began laying off 8,000 employees worldwide, with emails sent at 4 am. The cuts included more than 100 jobs in Singapore, up to 350 jobs at risk in Ireland and cuts in Israel. Meta had told employees to work from home first. Bloomberg described the layoffs as an efficiency push spurred by AI.