Google's newest office, located on the Alphabet unit's Mountain View, California headquarters, has been experiencing Wi-Fi connectivity issues. The "Bay View" building, which houses AI designers and members of the advertising team, has had inoperable or spotty Wi-Fi for months. Workers have had to plug into ethernet cables at their desks or use their phones as hotspots. Google has acknowledged the issue and made improvements to address it. The company hopes to have a fix in the coming weeks. The Wi-Fi problems have been particularly challenging for workers as Google pushes for a three-day per week return-to-office mandate. The 600,000-square-foot building's rooftop design is believed to be a factor in the Wi-Fi issues. Despite the Wi-Fi problems, Google employees in the building are working on rolling out the latest versions of the advanced artificial intelligence software known as Gemini. Google has not publicly disclosed the reasons for the Wi-Fi problems, but workers speculate that the building's wave-like rooftop design affects the Wi-Fi signal. The company has encouraged workers to use the stronger Wi-Fi signal outside or at the adjoining cafe. Some workers have been issued new laptops with more powerful Wi-Fi chips. Google's spokeswoman has stated that it is highly likely that the Bay View campus has Wi-Fi, given that it is the headquarters of a major tech company. [08356bde]
Shares of Google parent company Alphabet are down after Melius Research Analyst Ben Reitzes warned about Google's AI direction, reiterating his Hold rating on the stock. Reitzes highlighted that Alphabet's missteps in AI may fuel the perception that Google is an unreliable source for artificial intelligence. He mentioned that other companies are outflanking Alphabet in margin optimization, growth, and recurring revenues. Reitzes also mentioned the recent release of Alphabet's AI image generator called Text Image AI, which was a debacle and made headlines for the wrong reasons. He suggests alternatives to Google Search, such as Perplexity AI's solution and OpenAI's new search product. The concerns about Alphabet's AI capabilities and its perceived slow progress compared to peers are causing investors and analysts to question the company's position in the AI space. [ef78c9b6]
Alphabet's Gemini AI image generator received backlash for producing historically inaccurate images, leading to CEO Sundar Pichai calling the situation 'completely unacceptable'. The AI tool was taken offline for further testing. Jim Cramer, a Club holding Alphabet, is losing confidence in the stock due to a series of AI missteps, softening core advertising business, lack of transparency, and efficiency. Alphabet's stock has been declining, and the company is facing a $2.3 billion lawsuit from 32 media groups over digital advertising practices. Cramer is frustrated with management's handling of advertising opportunities and lack of transparency regarding YouTube's Sunday Ticket revenue. He also questions the profitability of Alphabet's investment in Waymo self-driving cars. Despite concerns, some analysts believe Google's search dominance will not be significantly impacted by generative AI competitors. Cramer suggests Alphabet could improve its stock performance by instituting a dividend and setting more stringent efficiency goals. [1965fdd4]
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG, NASDAQ: GOOGL) has fallen from the third-largest U.S. company to the fifth-largest due to strong quarters from other tech giants. The success of big tech companies is currently driven by artificial intelligence (AI), an area where Alphabet appears to be behind. Its generative AI engine, Gemini, has faced criticism for inaccurate image generation. This is a concern because 76% of Alphabet's revenue comes from advertising. However, Alphabet is working to improve Gemini and has other internal AI models. The stock is currently trading at a low valuation compared to its peers, making it an attractive buy. The author recommends investing in Alphabet as other tech firms are expensive and not performing significantly better. [29f3ccc9]