After months of anticipation, Google’s gambit to gain an edge on upstart rival OpenAI has garnered mixed reactions.

While Google claims its long-awaited Gemini system outperforms OpenAI’s GPT-4 across dozens of benchmarks, it only does so by slim margins, and much of the multimodal functionality that differentiates it won’t be available for months due to a gradual rollout.

But details of the initial rollout—like an impressive demonstration video that turned out to be pretty much faked—have left some doubts over the capabilities of an AI system that has been buzzed about as Google’s hope for beating OpenAI for much of the last year.

Ramayya Krishnan, a professor of management science and information systems at Carnegie Mellon University, told Tech Brew he found the capabilities of the models available now a bit underwhelming. While Krishnan is excited about the possibilities around multimodality—or the ability for a model to interchange between voice, text, imagery, and other media—many of those features are not yet widely available.

“Gemini wasn’t a huge leap over GPT-4; it was a little better, but not by a large amount,” Krishnan said, adding that it would have been “ideal for them to release a Bard that could have done the multimodal…because that would have shown something like a big step forward.”

Keep reading here.—PK

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Teamwork makes the dream work—at least, that’s the hope for Boston Consulting Group’s new green-tech partnership with Climeworks.

BCG will purchase the firm’s carbon-capture services over a 15-year period, the companies announced last week, while BCG will provide consulting services for the Swiss business. The agreement covers 80,000 metric tons of CO2 and is the largest corporate deal in Climeworks’ history.

The transaction is a major bet on the future of carbon-capture technology, Climeworks Chief Commercial Officer Jan Huckfeldt said in a statement.

“Long-term commitments defined the success of the solar energy transition and will undoubtedly become more frequent in our industry. It sets a precedent for other climate leaders understanding that carbon removal is a necessity and securing their share of supply early in this future trillion-dollar market,” he said.

The companies did not put a price tag on the deal, but Reuters estimated it could be worth $64 million, if it follows the contours of Climeworks’ recent sale of credits to JPMorgan Chase for about $800 per ton.

As Tech Brew previously reported, BCG joins other companies making blockbuster investments in the nascent industry surrounding carbon removal and capture, even though the tech behind it remains somewhat experimental.

Keep reading here.—KG

The Federal Communications Commission is cracking down on robocallers and texters that have been asking forgiveness instead of permission.

The agency voted last week to adopt stricter rules on how so-called lead generators must obtain consent to reach consumers. The rules are aimed at closing a “loophole” that FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said is “a significant source of a growing number of robocalls and robotexts.”

Lead-generation companies and comparison-shopping sites are not allowed to obtain bulk consent from consumers to contact them about a variety of products, services, and providers, the rules clarify.

This means that when you check a box to receive marketing communications from one company, you’ll hear only from them—not hundreds or even thousands of other entities they may be linked to through a marketing network, Rosenworcel said.

“We make clear that any company that wants to use robocalls and robotexts in their businesses obtain consent one to one. That means consumers get back the power to pick who they want to communicate with and when,” she said.

Keep reading here.—KG