Technology

Google’s Gemini assistant is a fantastic and frustrating glimpse of the AI future

Published

2 years ago

February 9, 2024

Google’s Gemini assistant is a fantastic and frustrating glimpse of the AI future

I don’t know how to say this, but sometimes the emotional labor of opening another app on my phone and typing in some text is just too much.

I need to gather details about an Airbnb reservation from two different confirmation emails and send them to my friends. Or I want to figure out when to leave this coffee shop to get home by a certain time via bus. These aren’t hard things to do, but they require enough tapping around different apps or tabbing between screens that I start to think, you know what? I don’t really need to send that email yet. I’ll just wing it and hope for the best with the bus schedule.

These are the jobs I would like AI to take from me. AI, including Google’s new Gemini assistant, isn’t quite up to it yet. But Gemini feels like a preview of what that AI future could look like — provided you’re well entrenched in Google services.

Gemini: the chatbot formerly known as Bard.

Gemini can replace the standard Assistant.

Gemini is Google’s AI chatbot, formerly known as Bard. It’s an app you download from the Google Play Store, but it really it’s a piece of the Google app that’s probably already on your phone if it runs Android. Once it’s up and running, you can replace the standard Google Assistant with Gemini and invoke it in all the same ways you would the old Assistant. But instead of just setting timers and telling you the weather, it can do all the stuff Bard did — answer complex questions, make suggestions, and read your email, if you let it.

That last part is important. Gemini isn’t nearly as good of a conversationalist as ChatGPT, but its ability to hook into Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Docs is what makes it really interesting.

I asked it to summarize the details of that Airbnb reservation, and it did — grabbing info from two different emails and putting it together in a neat little bullet point list. Then I asked it to draft an email to my friends with all of the details. Most of the time when I ask AI to write an email or text, the results are too embarrassing to actually send to anyone. To my great surprise, this one was fine.

It really doesn’t sound like much, but it’s the first time I’ve been really impressed with AI as a tool to help me get things done. Maybe I lack imagination, but I get bored with ChatGPT pretty quickly; there’s only so many times I can brainstorm business plans for a retro arcade or ideas for vacations. What I actually want is help with the pile of digital crap I’m constantly wading through just to live my life.

When Gemini comes up with something for me, like a recipe or a packing list, I have somewhere to put it

Gemini isn’t that thing yet, unfortunately. I think it’s more useful than the regular Assistant by a mile, and there’s a lot I like about it now. There’s the little G icon at the bottom of every answer it gives you, which allows you to search Google and fact-check Gemini’s work. Since AI has a tendency to make stuff up occasionally, that’s kind of important.

I also appreciate that when Gemini comes up with something for me, like a recipe or a packing list, I have somewhere to put it. Gemini can export answers directly to Google Docs or Gmail. When I get the same kinds of things from ChatGPT, they just feel like they’re floating around in space until I copy and paste them somewhere. They’re saved to your history, but you know what I mean.

Gemini isn’t great at picking up on context, though. I told it I was planning to ride my bike to the next neighborhood over and asked it to suggest some things to do once I got there. It spit out a whole wall of text with suggestions that included, I kid you not, scuba diving, seeing live theater, and gambling at the casino. Technically, you can do all of those things in Burien, Washington, but not on a whim in the middle of the day. They’re also not places I would just casually roll up to on my bike.

Gemini includes a feature that cross-checks its answers with Google results.

Gemini doesn’t seem to understand the difference between planning a vacation and taking a casual bike ride.

In situations like this, Gemini feels like a little “let me Google Maps that for you” machine. ChatGPT’s voice chat, on the other hand, suggested I visit a couple of parks or a coffee shop. It also asked me if I had anything else in mind for my visit, and when I said I might want to buy a book, it suggested a specific bookstore. So thoughtful! However, later on, Gemini’s Google Maps integration proved to be more useful: I asked for a bus route home, and Gemini gave me the right route, while ChatGPT would have had me waiting for a bus that only arrives every 30 minutes.

Talking to Gemini feels like talking to a page of Google Search results. If you say, “Hey Google” and ask it a question, it’ll speak the response to you. Otherwise, you’re just reading text. And it’s often a lot of text; this assistant could use an editor. I’m also surprised that Gemini can’t access my calendar, but there’s currently no extension for it like there is for Gmail and Docs. If I want to add something to my calendar, I have to switch back to the regular Assistant. At that point, I’ll just make a damn calendar event myself.

Talking to Gemini feels like talking to a page of Google Search results

A decade ago, smart assistants like Siri and Alexa were pitched as the next big way of interacting with our devices, but across the industry we’ve seen their progress stall out. Right now, Gemini is an entirely optional assistant. But it’s also easy to see how it might eventually replace Google Assistant as the default, especially since Google has been scaling back Assistant features in recent history. Maybe we just reached the limits of what non-AI voice assistants can do reliably.

For me, swapping Gemini for the usual Google Assistant feels like a low-stakes bet. I trained myself long ago not to use voice assistants because they never seem to be able to do the thing I want them to. Gemini can still set my timers and tell me if it’s going to rain, so why not bet on something a little smarter to help me with my day to day? Hopefully it learns a few lessons from ChatGPT along the way. In the meantime, I have to get to my scuba diving lesson.

Technology

Here’s your first look at Kratos in Amazon’s God of War show

Published

4 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Here’s your first look at Kratos in Amazon’s God of War show

Amazon has slowly been teasing out casting details for its live-action adaptation of God of War, and now we have our first look at the show. It’s a single image but a notable one showing protagonist Kratos and his son Atreus. The characters are played by Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson, respectively, and they look relatively close to their video game counterparts.

There aren’t a lot of other details about the show just yet, but this is Amazon’s official description:

The God of War series storyline follows father and son Kratos and Atreus as they embark on a journey to spread the ashes of their wife and mother, Faye. Through their adventures, Kratos tries to teach his son to be a better god, while Atreus tries to teach his father how to be a better human.

That sounds a lot like the recent soft reboot of the franchise, which started with 2018’s God of War and continued through Ragnarök in 2022. For the Amazon series, Ronald D. Moore, best-known for his work on For All Mankind and Battlestar Galactica, will serve as showrunner. The rest of the cast includes: Mandy Patinkin (Odin), Ed Skrein (Baldur), Max Parker (Heimdall), Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Thor), Teresa Palmer (Sif), Alastair Duncan (Mimir), Jeff Gulka (Sindri), and Danny Woodburn (Brok).

While production is underway on the God of War series, there’s no word on when it might start streaming.

Technology

300,000 Chrome users hit by fake AI extensions

Published

5 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

300,000 Chrome users hit by fake AI extensions

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Your web browser may feel like a safe place, especially when you install helpful tools that promise to make your life easier. But security researchers have uncovered a dangerous campaign in which more than 300,000 people installed Chrome extensions pretending to be artificial intelligence (AI) assistants. Instead of helping, these fake tools secretly collect sensitive information like your emails, passwords and browsing activity.

They used familiar names like ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Assistant. If you use Chrome and have installed any AI-related extension, your personal information may already be exposed. Even worse, some of these malicious extensions are still available today, putting more people at risk without their knowing.

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More than 300,000 Chrome users installed fake AI extensions that secretly harvested sensitive data. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

What you need to know about fake AI extensions

Security researchers at browser security company LayerX discovered a large campaign involving 30 malicious Chrome extensions disguised as AI-powered assistants (via BleepingComputer). Together, these extensions were installed more than 300,000 times by unsuspecting users.

Some of the most popular extensions included names like AI Sidebar with 70,000 users, AI Assistant with 60,000 users, ChatGPT Translate with 30,000 users, and Google Gemini with 10,000 users. Another extension called Gemini AI Sidebar had 80,000 users before it was removed.

These extensions were distributed through the official Chrome Web Store, which made them appear legitimate and trustworthy. Even more concerning, researchers found that many of these extensions were connected to the same malicious server, showing they were part of a coordinated effort.

While some extensions have since been removed, others remain available. This means new users could still unknowingly install them and expose their personal data. Here’s the list of the affected extensions:

AI Assistant
Llama
Gemini AI Sidebar
AI Sidebar
ChatGPT Sidebar
Grok
Asking ChatGPT
ChatGBT
Chat Bot GPT
Grok Chatbot
Chat With Gemini
XAI
Google Gemini
Ask Gemini
AI Letter Generator
AI Message Generator
AI Translator
AI For Translation
AI Cover Letter Generator
AI Image Generator ChatGPT
Ai Wallpaper Generator
Ai Picture Generator
DeepSeek Download
AI Email Writer
Email Generator AI
DeepSeek Chat
ChatGPT Picture Generator
ChatGPT Translate
AI GPT
ChatGPT Translation
ChatGPT for Gmail

FAKE AI CHAT RESULTS ARE SPREADING DANGEROUS MAC MALWARE

These malicious tools were listed in the official Chrome Web Store, making them appear legitimate and trustworthy. (LayerX)

How the fake AI Chrome extension attack works

These fake extensions pretend to offer helpful AI features, such as translating text, summarizing emails, or acting as an AI assistant. But behind the scenes, they quietly monitor what you are doing online.

Once installed, the extension gains permission to view and interact with the websites you visit. This allows it to read the contents of web pages, including login screens where you enter your username and password.

In some cases, the extensions specifically targeted Gmail. They could read your email messages directly from your browser, including emails you received and even drafts you were still writing. This means attackers could access private conversations, financial information and sensitive personal details.

The extensions then sent this information to servers controlled by the attackers. Because they loaded content remotely, the attackers could change their behavior at any time without needing to update the extension.

Some versions could also activate voice features through your browser. This could potentially capture spoken conversations near your device and send transcripts back to the attackers.

If you installed one of these extensions, attackers may already have access to extremely sensitive information. This includes your email content, login credentials, browsing habits and possibly even voice recordings.

We reached out to Google for comment, and a spokesperson told CyberGuy that the company “can confirm that the extensions from this report have all been removed from the Google Web Store.”

BROWSER EXTENSION MALWARE INFECTED 8.8M USERS IN DARKSPECTRE ATTACK

Once installed, the extensions could read emails, capture passwords, monitor browsing activity and send the data to attacker-controlled servers. (Bildquelle/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

7 ways you can protect yourself from malicious Chrome extensions

If you have ever installed an AI-related Chrome extension, taking a few simple precautions now can help protect your accounts and prevent further damage.

1) Remove any suspicious or unused browser extensions

On a Windows PC or Mac, open Chrome and type chrome://extensions into the address bar. Review every extension listed. If you see anything unfamiliar, especially AI assistants you don’t remember installing, click “Remove” immediately. Malicious extensions depend on going unnoticed. Removing them stops further data collection and cuts off the attacker’s access to your information.

2) Change your passwords

If you installed any suspicious extension, assume your passwords may be compromised. Start by changing your email password first, since email controls access to most other accounts. Then update passwords for banking, shopping and social media accounts. This prevents attackers from using stolen credentials to break into your accounts.

3) Use a password manager to create and protect strong passwords

A password manager generates unique, complex passwords for each account and stores them securely. This prevents attackers from accessing multiple accounts if one password is stolen. Password managers also alert you if your login credentials appear in known data breaches, helping you respond quickly and protect your identity. Check out the best expert-reviewed password managers of 2026 at Cyberguy.com.

4) Install strong antivirus software and keep it active

Good antivirus software can detect malicious browser extensions, spyware, and other hidden threats. It scans your system for suspicious activity and blocks harmful programs before they can steal your information. This adds an important layer of protection that works continuously in the background to keep your device safe. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices at Cyberguy.com.

5) Use an identity theft protection service

Identity theft protection services monitor your personal data, including email addresses, financial accounts, and Social Security numbers, for signs of misuse. If criminals try to open accounts or commit fraud using your information, you receive alerts quickly. Early detection allows you to act fast and limit financial and personal damage. See my tips and best picks on how to protect yourself from identity theft at Cyberguy.com.

6) Keep your browser and computer fully updated

Software updates fix security vulnerabilities that attackers exploit. Enable automatic updates for Chrome and your operating system so you always have the latest protections. These updates strengthen your defenses against malicious extensions and prevent attackers from taking advantage of known weaknesses.

7) Use a personal data removal service

Personal data removal services scan data broker websites that collect and sell your personal information. They help remove your data from these sites, reducing what attackers can find and use against you. Less exposed information means fewer opportunities for criminals to target you with scams, identity theft or phishing attacks.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com.

Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: Cyberguy.com.

Kurt’s key takeaway

Even tools designed to make your life easier can become tools for cybercriminals. Malicious extensions often hide behind trusted names and convincing features, making them difficult to spot. You can significantly reduce your risk by reviewing your browser extensions regularly, removing anything suspicious and using protective tools like password managers and strong antivirus software.

Have you checked your browser extensions recently? Let us know your thoughts by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.

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Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.

Technology

Anthropic refuses Pentagon’s new terms, standing firm on lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance

Published

17 hours ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Anthropic refuses Pentagon’s new terms, standing firm on lethal autonomous weapons and mass surveillance

Less than 24 hours before the deadline in an ultimatum issued by the Pentagon, Anthropic has refused the Department of Defense’s demands for unrestricted access to its AI.

It’s the culmination of a dramatic exchange of public statements, social media posts, and behind-the-scenes negotiations, coming down to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s desire to renegotiate all AI labs’ current contracts with the military. But Anthropic, so far, has refused to back down from its two current red lines: no mass surveillance of Americans, and no lethal autonomous weapons (or weapons with license to kill targets with no human oversight whatsoever). OpenAI and xAI had reportedly already agreed to the new terms, while Anthropic’s refusal had led to CEO Dario Amodei being summoned to the White House this week for a meeting with Hegseth himself, in which the Secretary reportedly issued an ultimatum to the CEO to back down by the end of business day on Friday or else.

In a statement late Thursday, Amodei wrote, “I believe deeply in the existential importance of using AI to defend the United States and other democracies, and to defeat our autocratic adversaries. Anthropic has therefore worked proactively to deploy our models to the Department of War and the intelligence community.”

He added that the company has “never raised objections to particular military operations nor attempted to limit use of our technology in an ad hoc manner” but that in a “narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values” — going on to specifically mention mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. (Amodei mentioned that “partial autonomous weapons … are vital to the defense of democracy” and that fully autonomous weapons may eventually “prove critical for our national defense,” but that “today, frontier AI systems are simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons.” He did not rule out Anthropic acquiescing to the military’s use of fully autonomous weapons in the future but mentioned that they were not ready now.)

The Pentagon had already reportedly asked major defense contractors to assess their dependence on Anthropic’s Claude, which could be seen as the first step to designating the company a “supply chain risk” – a public threat that the Pentagon had made recently (and a classification usually reserved for threats to national security). The Pentagon was also reportedly considering invoking the Defense Production Act to make Anthropic comply.

Amodei wrote in his statement that the Pentagon’s “threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request.” He also wrote that “should the Department choose to offboard Anthropic, we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider, avoiding any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations, or other critical missions. Our models will be available on the expansive terms we have proposed for as long as required.”