Facing Israeli blockades established in 2007, some Gaza businesses are repurposing discarded materials for manufacturing and construction. Their inventive uses range from bucket-based prayer mats to refrigerator-made doors.

Google has long been a leader in AI innovation. Now, the company is seeing some of its top researchers leave for startups.

Users have been complaining about the new AI model. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, admitted that performance could be worse on some tasks.

Google has expanded Bard to Europe, Brazil, and most of the world, adding support for major languages and features such as spoken responses, tone controls, pinned prompts, and image analysis. The rollout comes as Google intensifies its AI competition with OpenAI, Anthropic, and other chatbot developers.

Since Israel imposed blockades around the Gaza Strip in 2007, some businesses have turned to discarded materials for manufacturing and construction. Their products include prayer mats made from buckets and doors made from refrigerators.

Top Google AI researchers, including those behind key breakthroughs like the Transformer model, have departed for rivals such as OpenAI and new ventures, raising questions about the tech giant’s AI leadership.