From April 2024, the technology giant will offer employees four rounds of IVF for them and their partners, additional support for fertility help, adoption and surrogacy and the option to undertake elective egg freezing.

According to the company, supporting employees to build families was “core to our employee-centric culture”.

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Currently, Google’s benefits include a minimum of 18 weeks of paid leave for all new parents and a minimum of 24 weeks for birthing parents.

It also offers flexible working arrangements, onsite lactation rooms and back-up childcare.

Meanwhile, medical insurance will also now cover pregnancy-related conditions such as ectopic pregnancy, retained placenta, postpartum haemorrhage and miscarriage requiring immediate surgical treatment, it added.

Google UK and Ireland VP and Managing Director, Debbie Weinstein, said: “We’re delighted to announce the expansion of our family-building benefits for UK Googlers.

“These benefits will enable us to offer invaluable support to our employees during each stage of growing their families – from preconception through to returning to work.”

She added: “As both a mother and a business leader, I understand both how challenging and rewarding parenthood can be and I’m proud that we’ll soon be able to offer all of our UK-based employees this industry-leading support during these moments that matter.”

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As a result, advertisers using the tech giant Performance Max tool will gain access to better ad placements, via AI, within its Search Partner Network websites.

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The update, effective from 4 March 2024, offers advertisers more control over where their ads appear and allows them to exclude certain websites from showing their ads across the search giant’s platforms.

Some of Google’s search partners include platforms such as YouTube and Google Discover, alongside engines like Ask.com and Excite.com.

Alongside the placement of adverts, the tech giant will also allow advertisers to bring in creative assets from sources such as Canva.

It will help to auto-generate performance-enhancing videos, the company revealed.

The move follows a report from Adalytics last year which found Google had placed several adverts on blacklisted sites, which included adverts for alcohol brands such as Smirnoff ads appearing on websites designed for children.

The news comes as Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis unveiled plans to relaunch its artificial intelligence image generator as soon as the next “couple of weeks”.

This follows the technology giant facing backlash after generating historically inaccurate and racially biased images.

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This follows the technology giant facing backlash after generating historically inaccurate and racially biased images.

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Speaking at the Mobile World Conference (MWC) in Barcelona, Hassabis said the company intended for Gemini to show a “universal range of possibilities” in the images it produces.

He said: “That, which is a well-intended feature, was applied, it turns out, too bluntly. We care of course about historical accuracy and so we’ve taken that feature offline while we fix that, and we hope to have that back online in very short order, the next couple of weeks, a few weeks.”

The comments follow comments from Google’s Search Lead, Prabhakar Raghavan, who said the Gemini maker “missed the mark”.

In a blog post, Raghavan said: “Some of the images generated are inaccurate or even offensive. We’re grateful for users’ feedback and are sorry the feature didn’t work well.”

However, he added that the company can’t promise that Gemini won’t occasionally generate embarrassing, inaccurate or offensive results — but it can promise that it will continue to take action whenever we identify an issue.

“AI is an emerging technology which is helpful in so many ways, with huge potential, and we’re doing our best to roll it out safely and responsibly,” he concluded.

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The deal reportedly worth $60 million per year, comes after reports last week that the social media giant signed a new deal with an “unnamed large AI company”.

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The partnership will also allow Reddit to integrate new AI-powered capabilities using Google’s Vertex AI, in a bid to to enhance search and other capabilities on its platform.

In a statement, Google VP, Rajan Patel said: “Over the years, we’ve seen that people increasingly use Google to search for helpful content on Reddit to find product recommendations, travel advice and much more. We know people find this information useful, so we’re developing ways to make it even easier to access across Google products.

“This partnership will facilitate more content-forward displays of Reddit information that will make our products more helpful for our users and make it easier to participate in Reddit communities and conversations.”

Patel added: “Google now has access to Reddit’s Data API, which delivers real-time, structured, unique content from their large and dynamic platform.

“With the Reddit Data API, Google will now have efficient and structured access to fresher information, as well as enhanced signals that will help us better understand Reddit content and display, train on, and otherwise use it in the most accurate and relevant ways.”

However, the partnership does not change Google’s use of publicly available, crawlable content for indexing, training, or display in Google products, the search engine revealed.

READ MORE: Interview: Reddit’s VP of International Growth on becoming more ‘accessible and culturally relevant’

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Pinterest has announced a new ad partnership with Google in a bid to boost its ad revenue.

As a result, the technology giant becomes the second third-party ad partner after Amazon signed a multi-year deal with the social media platform last year.

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In an earnings call for Q4 2023, where Pinterest posted a 12% rise in revenues to $981 million and saw an 11% rise in users to 498 million, CEO Bill Ready announced the new deal.

The integration will enable ads to be served on Pinterest via Google’s Ad Manager. As a result, when Pinterest users see a Google Ad, they will be directed to the advertiser’s website to complete their purchase.

According to Ready, the partnership has already seen positive results after going live a few weeks ago.

He said: “This partnership will focus on monetizing several of our currently unmonetized international markets by enabling ads to be served on Pinterest via Google’s Ad Manager.

“We went live a couple of weeks ago, and this is starting to ramp up. Third-party ad demand is scaling as we anticipated.”

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Google UK&I Vice President and Managing Director, Debbie Weinstein, has admitted the rise of AI has generated “both excitement and fear about jobs”.

Speaking at the 2024 LEAD conference in London yesterday [8 February 2024], Weinsten said: “Yes, it is true that some jobs will disappear, many jobs will be changed and more jobs will be created that we can’t even imagine today.”

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“We want every business and sector to benefit from the potential of AI.”

She added: “The key to this will come from up-skilling people, equipping everyone with the skills to benefit in this AI driven world.

The news comes as the tech giant just announced its AI chatbot, Bard, has now rebranded to Gemini, launching a new app and subscription.

The rebrand follows on from Googles Chief Business Officer, Philipp Schindler revealed the advanced use of AI has not directly contributed to recent layoffs.

Last month, the search giant recently announced it was laying off hundreds of employees in its advertising sales team, following on from layoffs made in Google’s hardware, voice-assistance and engineering teams.

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The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said that Google “cannot proceed with third-party cookie deprecation”, until its concerns are resolved.

As a result, the comments could potentially delaying the search giant’s timeline of phasing out third-party cookies, which was due to be finalised by the end of the year, following multiple postponements.

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According a new report by the CMA, Google’s Privacy Sandbox, the trade body claimed despite the tech giant complying with its demands, there are still several areas of concerns before it finalises the removal of third-party cookies.

Instead, the CMA has asked Google to ensure it does not “design, develop or use the Privacy Sandbox proposals in ways that reinforce the existing market position of its advertising products and services, including Google Ad Manager”.

It also requested the search engine to “address specific design issues with other Privacy Sandbox tools”, to “clarify the long-term governance arrangements for Privacy Sandbox” and “to give its assurances for the future development of the Privacy Sandbox tools”.

In a statement, a CMA spokesperson said: “In Q1 2024, we will focus on working with Google to resolve the competition concerns we have identified in this report. We are particularly keen on resolving any remaining concerns relating to the design of the Privacy Sandbox tools and to ensure that Google does not use the tools in a way that self-preferences its own advertising services.

“As part of this, we are also looking to clarify the longer-term governance arrangements for the Privacy Sandbox. We would welcome comments from interested parties on our analysis of the concerns so that we can take these into account in our discussions with Google between now and the standstill period.”

Responding to the concerns, Google added: “We continue to move forward with our plans to phase out third-party cookies in H2 2024, subject to addressing any remaining competition concerns from the UK CMA. We are confident the industry can make the transition in 2024 based on all the tremendous progress we’ve seen from leading companies.”

The news comes as three-quarters (76%) of marketers have predicted that Google’s phaseout of third-party cookies will pose additional challenges in marketing efforts, new data has revealed.

According to HubSpot’s ‘A Guide to Accelerating Business Efficiency in 2024’, 84% acknowledge that their strategy when it comes to data, privacy was significantly impacted by the changes witnessed in 2023, in particular the increased use of AI.

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Google Chief Business Officer, Philipp Schindler, has said the advanced use of AI has not directly contributed to recent layoffs.

In a conference call today [31 January 2034], Schindler said: “I also want to be clear, when we restructure, there’s always an opportunity to be more efficient and smarter in how we service and grow our customers.

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“We’re not restructuring because AI is taking away roles that are important here, but we see significant opportunities here with our AI-powered solution to actually deliver incredible ROI at scale, and that’s why we’re doing some of those adjustments.”

The news comes as the search giant recently announced it was laying off hundreds of employees in its advertising sales team.

However, these layoffs followed job cuts made in Google’s hardware, voice-assistance and engineering teams.

In a statement, Google said the cost-cutting measure comes as it responsibly invests in the company’s “biggest priorities” and “significant opportunities ahead”.

It said: “Some teams are continuing to make these kinds of organisational changes, which include some role eliminations globally.”

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Google has integrated its AI model, Gemini, into its Google Ads platform in a bid to enhance advertising performance.

The tech giant announced its generative AI tools are now available for beta access to advertisers in the UK and USA.

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Global access will arrive for English-language advertisers in the coming weeks, the company revealed.

According to Google Ads VP and GM, Shashi Thakur the move is to make it simpler to create ad campaigns and help connect better with online search trends.

He said: “We’ve been actively testing Gemini to further enhance our ads solutions. And, we’re pleased to share that Gemini is now powering the conversational experience. It’s the first of many Gemini integrations to come.

The new tool was first announced last year and allows advertisers to give Google the URL for a website landing page, creating AI-generated search campaigns with relevant ad content, including copy, keywords and images.

Thakur added: “We share the industry’s enthusiasm for AI’s potential to unlock value for consumers and advertisers alike. New use cases — and opportunities — are emerging on a regular basis as AI continues to evolve quickly. And that’s why we think AI will continue to make our products even more useful.

“As we continue to explore what’s possible with AI, we remain committed to developing and applying this new technology responsibly.”

The news comes as the tech giant unveiled plans to invest $1 billion (£790 million) to build a new data centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, supporting AI innovation.

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Google has unveiled plans to invest $1 billion (£790 million) to build a new data centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, supporting AI innovation.

The 33-acre site will bring crucial compute capacity to businesses across the UK and help to ensure reliable digital services to Google Cloud customers and Google users in the UK and abroad.

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Google President and Chief Investment Officer, Ruth Porat, said: “This new data centre will help meet growing demand for our AI and cloud services and bring crucial compute capacity to businesses across the UK while creating construction and technical jobs for the local community.”

Google has also claimed to have some of the most efficient data centres in the world, with the technology giant planning to run all of its data centres and campuses on renewable energy.

It also confirmed the new Hertfordshire site will feature off-site heat recovery and an air-based cooling system, which will reduce its reliance on water as a natural resource.

Commenting on the announcement, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: “Google’s $1 billion investment is a testament to the fact that the UK is a centre of excellence in technology and has huge potential for growth.”

The news comes as Google recently announced it was laying off hundreds of employees in its advertising sales, hardware, voice-assistance and engineering teams.

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