Google Shifts Services Toward AI and Ends Assistant App

In September 2026, Google moved several of its products further toward artificial intelligence. The company pays about 100 digital publishers for content used in AI Overviews and is retiring a widely used operating system. Users of the Google Assistant are being moved to Gemini with no option to return. Google and Microsoft also joined an industry group to standardize enterprise data for AI. Separately, a Google co-founder is spending $100 million to oppose California's wealth tax.