Google Expands $8 AI Plus Plan Globally
Google’s lower-cost AI Plus subscription, priced at $7.99 in the U.S., is now available in all markets offering Google AI plans, providing access to Gemini 3 Pro, AI filmmaking tools, and more.
A KV cache, or key-value cache, speeds up autoregressive transformer inference by storing attention information calculated for tokens that have already been processed. Without the cache, the model would recompute those keys and values each time it generates another token. Reusing them reduces repeated work and improves response latency, especially for long prompts and outputs. The tradeoff is memory: cache size grows with sequence length, batch size, layer count, and model dimensions. Production systems manage this cost with paging, quantization, eviction, prompt caching, and request scheduling. KV caching changes inference efficiency, not the model’s learned knowledge, and cached data must be protected when prompts contain sensitive information.
Google’s lower-cost AI Plus subscription, priced at $7.99 in the U.S., is now available in all markets offering Google AI plans, providing access to Gemini 3 Pro, AI filmmaking tools, and more.
A new assessment by Common Sense Media finds xAI’s Grok chatbot exposes minors to sexual, violent, and unsafe content, with weak age verification and ineffective safety controls.
Climate tech startup Rainbow Weather has raised $5.5 million in seed funding to scale its AI-driven platform for hyper-local, real-time weather forecasting and environmental intelligence.
Microsoft has introduced Maia 200, a new AI chip built with TSMC and designed to power GPT-5.2 and Microsoft 365 Copilot, promising faster, more efficient AI performance.
Apple plans to debut a Gemini-based Siri in February, offering more natural conversations, complex tasks, and integration across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
Utah launches an AI pilot for prescription renewals, letting algorithms handle routine medication management without physicians, highlighting regulatory and safety challenges.
OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT model has cited Elon Musk-backed Grokipedia across multiple topics, prompting concerns among researchers about how low-credibility sources can influence AI-generated answers.
Language learning app Praktika is using OpenAI models to power a multi-agent tutoring system designed to improve real-world speaking fluency through adaptive, conversational lessons.
Analysts warn 2026 could be a pivotal year for OpenAI and other private AI companies as investors focus on profitability amid rising compute costs and IPO speculation.
Apple is reportedly working on a pin-shaped AI wearable with cameras and microphones, potentially launching in 2027, signaling increased competition in the AI hardware space.