Google’s latest AI system, dubbed “Project Ellmann,” is designed to deeply integrate with users’ personal data across various devices and apps. Silicon Valley has shown it is intent on using every means possible to pry personal data out of its users to in turn sell targeted advertisements.
The Daily Mail reports that Google’s Project Ellmann represents a significant leap in AI technology. This system aims to become the users’ “Life Story Teller.” It plans to achieve this by gaining access to a wide array of personal data, including internet search histories, photo collections, and possibly even information from Google Wallet purchases. Information about the project comes from confidential documents from a recent internal summit.
The project, stemming from the Google Photos team, indicates a move towards a more personalized AI experience. According to the documents, this AI would not only understand text but also process images, videos, and audio. This multimodal approach is a step up from Google’s existing AI endeavors, and it builds on the capabilities of Google’s Gemini, a ChatGPT rival that already demonstrates proficiency in handling different types of data.
Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc., during the Google I/O Developers Conference in Mountain View, California, US, on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Project Ellmann is intended to synthesize personal information to create biographies of users and their loved ones. It could potentially analyze tags and locations in photos to identify significant moments and patterns in a user’s life. This level of personalization raises questions about privacy and data security, echoing concerns from Google’s past project, Nightingale, which involved collecting sensitive medical records.
Google is attempting to catch up after lagging behind ChatGPT for most of 2023. The Masters of the Universe are hoping to catch up with its latest AI, Gemini, but Breitbart News recently reported that the company admitted to faking its demonstration of the new platform:
The Verge reports that Google introduced Gemini, its latest and most powerful AI suite, amidst high expectations and fanfare. However, the tech giant found itself in the center of a controversy when it confessed to editing a demonstration video of the AI system, which it admitted shortly after op-ed published by Bloomberg raised suspicions about the video’s authenticity.
The disputed video, presented as a hands-on demonstration, showcased Gemini’s multimodal capabilities, including spoken conversational prompts and image recognition. It depicted the AI recognizing images and responding to them in real-time, a feat that, if genuine, would have marked a significant advancement in AI technology.
However, upon closer inspection and subsequent admission from Google, it was revealed that the demo did not occur in real-time with spoken prompts. Instead, it used still image frames and pre-written text prompts. This has led to criticism from many, including tech columnists like Bloomberg’s Parmy Olson, who stated: “That’s quite different from what Google seemed to be suggesting: that a person could have a smooth voice conversation with Gemini as it watched and responded in real-time to the world around it.”
Read more at the Daily Mail here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.