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Google wanted to remove Assistant from most Android phones by the end of 2025 and replace it with Gemini. But now the company has announced that it needs a bit more time to make its AI assistant the new default digital helper for most of its users. Google said that it's adjusting its previously announced timeline to "make sure [it delivers] a seamless transition" and that updates to convert Assistant to Gemini on Android devices will continue into the next year. The company also said that it's sharing more details in the "coming months," so it's possible that the transition will go past early 2026.Assistant's retirement was pretty much expected the moment Google launched Gemini and started giving it Assistant's capabilities, such as the ability to control smart devices connected to your phone. It launched the Pixel 9 Series with Gemini as the default assistant back in 2024. The company has also been putting Gemini in all of its products and previously said that it plans to upgrade all "tablets, cars and devices that connect to your phone, such as headphones and watches" with the AI-powered chatbot. Devices do have to meet a few minimum requirements to get the upgrade, however, and must be running Android 10 and come with 2GB of RAM at the very least.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-assistant-will-stick-around-a-bit-longer-than-expected-for-some-android-users-130000178.html?src=rss
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Anthropic is finally letting more people use Claude in Google Chrome. The company's AI browser plugin is expanding beyond $200-per-month Max subscribers and is now available to anyone who pays for a Claude subscription. The Claude Chrome plugin allows for easy access to Anthropic's AI regardless of where you are on the web, but its real draw is how it lets Claude navigate and use websites on your behalf. Anthropic says that Claude can fill out forms, manage your calendar and email and complete multi-step workflows based on a prompt. The latest version of the plugin also features integration with Claude Code, Anthropic's AI coding tool, and allows users to record a workflow and "teach" Claude how to do what they want it to do.Claude in Chrome is now available to all paid plans.Weve also shipped an integration with Claude Code. pic.twitter.com/VLpB1qCntT Claude (@claudeai) December 18, 2025 Before agents were the buzzword du jour, "computer use," the ability for AI models to understand and interact with computer interfaces, was a major focus at Anthropic and other AI companies. Now computer use is just one tool in the larger tool bag for agents, but that understanding of what digital buttons to click and how to click them is what makes Claude's Chrome plugin possible.OpenAI and Perplexity offer similar agentic capabilities in their respective ChatGPT Atlas and Comet browsers. At this point the only AI company not fully setting its AI models loose on a browser is Google. You can access Gemini in Google Chrome and ask questions about a webpage, but Google hasn't yet let its AI model navigate or use the web on a user's behalf. Those features, first demoed in Project Mariner, are presumably on the way.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/claudes-chrome-plugin-is-now-available-to-all-paid-users-221024295.html?src=rss
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Netflix is acquiring Estonian startup Ready Player Me, a company creating "cross-game avatar tech" that allows players to bring their digital personas with them to different games, the company's CEO Timmu Tke shared in a LinkedIn post. The acquisition is part of Netflix's new games strategy, which puts an emphasis on approachable multiplayer titles and adaptations of the streaming service's IP.Ready Player Me's team of around 20 employees will be incorporated into Netflix's staff, TechCrunch writes, though Tke is the only one of the startup's four founders who will continue on after the acquisition. Neither company has shared when the avatar tech will be incorporated into Netflix's games or what games will support the feature when they do. Besides designing its avatar system to be easy for developers to implement in their games, Ready Player Me's big pitch for their system is using AI to automatically redesign avatars for different games' art styles and "automatically fit assets to any avatar rig or topology without manual work."Netflix has taken multiple different approaches to games in the last few years, but lately, the company has actively retreated from AAA development and its more ambitious projects. Other than the premiere of its take on HQ Trivia, Netflix's last few game announcements of 2025 were focused on a collection of streamable party games, and a partnership with FIFA to release a new soccer sim in 2026. All of those projects could support avatars in one form or another, now Netflix just needs to decide how.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/netflix-is-acquiring-game-avatar-maker-ready-player-me-204443001.html?src=rss
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