If you have a question, you can always ask Jarvis.
Marvel fans are undoubtedly acquainted with Jarvis, the natural-language user interface computer system created by Tony Stark, alias Iron Man.
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J.A.R.V.I.S. , or Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, was named after Edwin Jarvis, the butler who worked for Howard Stark, Tony's father,
Alphabet (GOOGL) is reportedly taking a page from that comic book as the company works on an AI agent that can operate a web browser to help users automate everyday tasks.
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Codenamed “Project Jarvis,” the agent would carry tasks out for users, including “gathering research, purchasing a product, or booking a flight,” according to The Information, which cited three people with direct knowledge of the project.
Jarvis, The Information said, “responds to a person’s commands by capturing frequent screenshots of what’s on their computer screen, and interpreting the shots before taking actions like clicking on a button or typing into a text field.”
Alphabet is accelerating AI efforts, but competition is fierce
What Google says about its AI efforts in its quarterly earnings report may offer insight into whether it can outmaneuver threats from Meta Platforms (Facebook, Instagram, et al) and others, such as Microsoft. Alphabet is scheduled to report third-quarter results on Oct. 29.
Google is continuing to expand the capabilities of its Gemini AI, the next-gen model of which is expected to be revealed next month, The Verge reported.
Related: Analysts update Alphabet stock price target after AI event
The search engine giant is forecast to post revenue of $86.41 billion, up more than 12% year-over-year. Alphabet's earnings are expected to total $23.03 billion or $1.85 per share, up from $19.69 billion or $1.55 per share a year earlier.
Alphabet's stock price is off nearly 20% year-to-date, but it is up 36.3% from a year ago.
This promises to be a big week for tech, as four other so-called Magnificent Seven companies are also slated to report earnings this week: Microsoft (MSFT) , Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) , Amazon (AMZN) , and Apple (AAPL) .
The tech sector has been on fire with the rise of artificial intelligence, spearheaded by AI kingpin Nvidia (NVDA) .
"In less than two years, generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) has become a mainstream tool with applications across almost every area of the economy," the consulting firm McKinsey said in Oct. 23 study.
A year ago, early adopters were experimenting with pilot projects based on “minimum viable product” Gen AI tools, the firm said, but "now a significant minority have deployed Gen AI use cases across their organizations."
Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft are all looking to get a piece of Nvidia's AI action,
Alphabet's Cloud TPU v5p can train large language models almost three times faster than its predecessor, Google’s TPU v4, Google said in April.
“We are uniquely well-positioned for the AI opportunity ahead,” CEO Sundar Pichai told analysts in July. “Our research and infrastructure leadership means we can pursue an in-house strategy that enables our product teams to move quickly.”
Meta is working on an AI-based search engine to reduce dependence on Google and Microsoft’s Bing, The Information said.
Meta's web crawler will provide conversational answers to users about current events on Meta AI, the company's chatbot on WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, according to the report, which cited a person involved with the strategy.
The social media giant currently relies on Google and Bing search engines to provide users with answers to questions about news, stocks, and sports.
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Google's advertising segment, which includes Google search and YouTube ads, remains the largest contributor to total revenue.
This segment brought in $64.6 billion in the second quarter, representing 76% of total revenue and showing 11% year-over-year growth.
DOJ says Google stifles competition
Google is also battling the U.S. Department of Justice's claims that the company's exclusive agreements with smartphone manufacturers — which made it the default search engine on billions of devices — have stifled competition.
If the courts side with the government, the company may be forced to change its business model, as the DOJ is considering breaking up Google.
Analysts expect Google Search and other related revenue to grow 11.6% in the third quarter, slower than the 13.8% increase in the second quarter, according to Visible Alpha.
"New entrants like Perplexity and ChatGPT are raising billions of dollars on the premise that search can now be disrupted; Google has been seen as slow, unprepared ... to the development of GenAI," MoffettNathanson analysts said, according to Reuters.
"Some of this negative narrative will be hard to disprove in the coming year," the firm added.
The analysts said that they expect significant changes in Google's ability to maintain its exclusive search advantage on Apple and Android phones in the United States.
“Regardless of the outcome, the trial's examination of Google's interactions with big tech companies and the consequences of the court's ruling simultaneously highlight and expose the complexity of the digital ad ecosystem,” the law firm Holland & Knight said in a Sept. 23 blogpost.
“The trial's outcome serves as a critical inflection point in the debate over the balance between market dominance and competitive fairness in the rapidly evolving digital economy," the firm added.
Related: Veteran fund manager sees world of pain coming for stocks
