Google denies AI killing traffic, Jules coding

Today’s tech landscape brings critical developments in AI search, coding assistants, and government partnerships. Google pushes back against claims that AI features are decimating publisher traffic while simultaneously launching its Jules coding agent out of beta. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Alexa+ debuts with promising AI capabilities but stumbles on execution, and OpenAI makes an aggressive play for government contracts with near-free pricing.

Google Denies AI Search Hurting Website Traffic

Google claims organic click volume remains stable year-over-year, directly contradicting third-party reports suggesting AI search features have slashed publisher traffic. The company argues users are shifting toward platforms with forums, videos, and first-hand content, claiming “click quality” has slightly improved, though no supporting data was provided. Despite Google’s reassurances, studies show a sharp rise in zero-click searches, leaving publishers increasingly concerned about declining traffic from traditional search sources. This defensive stance comes as the search giant faces mounting criticism over its AI-powered search summaries potentially cannibalizing publisher content.

Amazon’s Alexa+ Shows Promise Amid Growing Pains

Amazon’s Alexa+ now uses generative AI to handle scheduling, email summaries, online shopping, and smart home tasks, but early tests reveal bugs, missed cues, and occasionally unhelpful responses. While setup was easier and more intuitive than previous versions, the Alexa app remains poorly designed and difficult to navigate, especially for linking services or managing preferences. The assistant shows promise in tasks like summarizing school emails or remembering reminders but struggles with comprehensive calendar management, stock availability confirmation, and accurate price sharing. These mixed results highlight the challenges of retrofitting legacy voice assistants with modern AI capabilities.

OpenAI Offers ChatGPT to Government for $1

OpenAI is offering ChatGPT Enterprise to U.S. federal agencies for just $1 per agency for a year through a GSA agreement, dramatically undercutting rivals like Anthropic and Google. The deal includes unlimited use of advanced models for 60 days, government-specific onboarding resources, and a secure user community for federal employees. This aggressive pricing strategy aligns with the Trump administration’s AI push, which emphasizes security, neutrality, and broader government adoption of AI tools while moving away from Biden-era safeguards. The move positions OpenAI as the de facto AI provider for federal agencies seeking to modernize operations.

Google’s Jules AI Coding Agent Exits Beta

Google has launched Jules, its asynchronous AI coding agent powered by Gemini 2.5 Pro, out of beta with structured pricing plans starting at $0 and scaling up to $124.99/month. Jules helps developers by running tasks in the background via Google Cloud VMs and now integrates more deeply with GitHub, offers snapshot features, and supports mobile usage via web app. Google revised Jules’ privacy policy for clarity, confirmed no training on private repo data, and noted strong adoption among AI enthusiasts and developers globally, especially in India where coding assistants have seen explosive growth.

Microsoft Brings OpenAI Models to Windows 11

Microsoft is integrating OpenAI’s new free, lightweight model gpt-oss-20b into Windows 11 through its AI Foundry platform, allowing local AI agent use on devices with 16GB+ VRAM. The model is optimized for tool-based tasks like code execution and web search but is text-only and has a high hallucination rate (53% on PersonQA benchmark). Microsoft also plans to expand support to macOS and is offering both gpt-oss-20b and gpt-oss-120b via Azure AI Foundry and AWS, marking a significant expansion of local AI capabilities for Windows users.

Nvidia Rejects Chip Backdoor Demands

Nvidia’s chief security officer publicly rejected demands for AI chip backdoors or kill switches, arguing these features would create dangerous vulnerabilities instead of providing any real security benefits. This pushback targets the proposed U.S. Chip Security Act, which would require tracking and could mandate remote kill switches on GPUs to control international sales. The statement also addresses Chinese allegations that backdoors already exist in H20 chips, as the company works to prevent being replaced by competitors like Huawei in the Chinese market.

Apple Plans $100B U.S. Manufacturing Investment

Apple is set to unveil a $100 billion increase in U.S. manufacturing investment, adding to its previously pledged $500 billion over four years. The commitment includes a new server facility in Houston for Apple Intelligence and continued work with U.S.-based suppliers and content production. This move comes amid pressure from the Trump administration, which has threatened tariffs if Apple doesn’t shift more production from Asia to the U.S., highlighting the intersection of technology policy and trade negotiations.

The convergence of defensive positioning on AI search impact, aggressive government pricing strategies, and the rapid deployment of coding assistants signals an industry racing to establish dominance while navigating regulatory pressures and public scrutiny over AI’s transformative effects on traditional business models.