Google is rolling out a handful of new AI-powered search features with a focus on some of the things that matter most to consumers during the summertime: planning vacations, shopping for seasonal trends, and identifying skin conditions.

At a summer-themed event in Manhattan last week, the company announced a new capability within Google’s computer vision-powered Lens tool geared toward helping to identify skin issues based on an image of an affected area.

Google also said it will expand a Google Maps feature that uses AI to fuse different images of a location into an immersive experience, add an AI-powered conversational integration for shopping and travel, and introduce a new tool that will let users preview garments on a range of different models using generative AI.

The new features are a continuation of Google’s efforts to weave the latest advances in AI across its search experiences as it fends off a challenge from Microsoft’s OpenAI-powered Bing chatbot.

Keep reading here.—PK

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While the European Union made headlines as it moved toward implementing AI guardrails, President Joe Biden went to bat over an emissions-cutting rule, rideshare giants got mail from Capitol Hill, and the Senate heard testimony on AI and human rights.

Here’s our roundup of news at the intersection of tech and politics.

Artificial intelligence: Europe took a step toward AI regulations last week with a European Parliament vote on the AI Act, a proposed law that would establish requirements for AI makers and users based on risk levels.

The draft law bans AI systems considered an “unacceptable risk,” including “real-time and remote biometric identification systems, such as facial recognition.” It also outlines “high-risk” AI, defined as “AI systems that negatively affect safety or fundamental rights,” in toys, cars, and medical devices, as well as in law enforcement and border control.

“All high-risk AI systems will be assessed before being put on the market and also throughout their lifecycle,” the draft noted.

Keep reading here.—MA

Facial-recognition technology has spurred controversy in state and local governments, and in the halls of Congress, members are looking to ban the tech’s use in public housing.

Representatives Maxine Waters of California and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts wrote to Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Marcia L. Fudge in late May, asking her to prohibit “the use of facial-recognition technology in public and HUD-assisted housing for surveillance purposes.”

Waters and Pressley’s letter said that government funds should not be used on facial-recognition tech, arguing that it “​​causes harm to the very residents it is meant to protect.”

“The technology increases the ease and incidence of harassment of residents for committing minor community rules violations,” the letter said. “Even more disturbingly, we know that these technologies have a significant discriminatory impact that arises from identification errors related to individuals’ skin color, gender, and age and other forms of bias built into these systems.”

Keep reading here.—JM

Stat: 106.3%. How much US venture capital investments into defense startups surged from 2019 to 2022, according to PitchBook data reported by the Financial Times.

Quote: “This is like the oldest of the old guard…The trusted team, the old guard, is back in control.”—Duncan Clark, the chairman of the investment advisory firm BDA China, to the New York Times about Alibaba’s two co-founders resuming control of the Chinese tech giant

Read: How Christopher Nolan learned to stop worrying and love AI (Wired)

A year from now: That’s where finance pros need to focus their attention. See why a return to growth is the new priority in our latest CFO Brew article, sponsored by Brex.*

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