Google Adds AI to Its Search, Taking Aim at Chatbot Challengers
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What new AI features is Google adding to its search engine?
One of the biggest announcements today out of the conference is that Google is rolling out this AI mode capability, and it's meant to create an experience for users akin to what they might find if they use ChatGPT or one of ChatGPT's competitors or Google competitors. And then other announcements that were made today were previews of what the company hopes to achieve in AI, for example, with a universal AI assistant who could be very helpful in managing different areas of your life and the administrative tasks we all have to do. There was a lot as it related to images and videos and the creative capabilities that can come with more advancements in AI.
What are the implications of immigration-related arrests?
It's Tuesday, May 20th. I'm Alex Ocelev for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. Your Google searches are about to look different. Google is overhauling its iconic search engine. At its developers conference today, the company announced that it has started rolling out what it calls AI mode to its search page. It's being added as a tab within search for users in the U.S. Speaking with me from outside that Google developers conference, WSJ reporter Catherine Blunt said Alphabet is now taking aim at the AI companies challenging its search dominance.
And this is a really interesting moment for Alphabet and for Google specifically. Google has struggled to figure out how exactly to embrace AI, given that it does pose at least some sort of threat to the traditional search model that's really been its largest driver of revenue. And so this is a big announcement today because it's Google finally conceding that the future of search is really going to be very AI driven and it's going to have to adapt.
Elon Musk isn't the only Tesla executive rewriting the compensation playbook. The electric carmaker's finance chief, Vabhav Taneja, received a pay package of $139 million last year. That's more than most CEOs. And according to Equilar, the highest amount paid to a chief financial officer since modern reporting began in 2006. Tao Francis covers executive compensation for the journal. Tao, why is Taneja's pay so high?
The way the company explains it is that he hasn't received a raise since he was made CFO in 2023. They did a review of compensation at the company for top executives, and they adjusted pay where they felt like it was needed for competitive reasons, for geographic reasons, and so on. You also have to take it in the context of the company itself in general. Elon Musk is the highest paid CEO in the S&P 500, bar none, using the method that the SEC requires for reporting CEO compensation. So it's not terribly surprising in that context that the CFO of the same company has a very high pay package.
Tesla and Tenacia didn't respond to requests for comment. But news of this pay package comes during a period of pretty mixed results for Tesla. Its stock is way up, but global vehicle deliveries fell for the first time in more than a decade recently. Does Tenacia's pay reflect this?
The pay number that we have is the value at the time the pay was granted. So most of the pay is in stock and restricted stock and options. The question of how it ties into performance is an interesting one because in this case, it ties in more or less like a shareholder's compensation or performance would tie in.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What new AI features is Google adding to its search engine?
1:46–2:19
2
How is Google addressing competition from ChatGPT?
2:19
3
What are the implications of immigration-related arrests?
1:07–4:53
4
Why is Taneja's compensation so high at Tesla?
4:53–5:13
5
How does Tesla's executive pay relate to performance?
5:13–8:41
6
What are Musk's future plans for political spending?
8:41–13:09
Speakers
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