Googol Become Google, Leadership Changes On Gemini, TikTok Extension and More: Hashtag Trending, Monday, April 8, 2025

Tech Updates: Google Leadership Change, TikTok Extension, and Canada's Clean Energy Move

In this episode of Hashtag Trending, host Jim Love covers several major developments in tech and energy. Google has appointed Josh Woodward to lead the development of its Gemini AI chatbot, following Sissy Chao's departure. President Trump extended the deadline for TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to divest its U.S. operations by 75 days amidst ongoing trade tensions with China. Canada has made a significant advance in clean energy by approving the construction of a small modular nuclear reactor at Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. Lastly, despite increasing adoption of public cloud services, government agencies continue to rely heavily on private cloud infrastructures for security reasons.

00:00 Introduction and Headlines
00:27 Google's AI Leadership Shakeup
02:30 Trump Extends TikTok Deadline Amid Trade Tensions
04:08 Canada's Nuclear Energy Milestone
06:25 Government Cloud Adoption Trends
07:52 The Quirks of Tech Naming Conventions
09:52 Conclusion and Sign-Off

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Google changes Gemini leadership andappoints notebook LLM, creator to lead AI
development governments are maintainingprivate cloud amid public cloud adoption.
According to a Forester study,Canada advances clean energy with the
approval of a small modular reactorand Trump Grants a 75 day extension
for TikTok Amid trade tensions.

(00:22):
Welcome to Hashtag Trending.
I'm your host, Jim Love.
Let's get into it.
Google has appointed Josh Woodward,the lead development of its flagship
generative AI chatbot Gemini.
Following the departure of SissyChao, the leadership change announced
internally this week comes as GoogleRefocus efforts on advancing Gemini's

(00:43):
capabilities amid growing competitionin the artificial intelligence world.
Woodward.
Currently, the head of Google Labswill take on the new role immediately
while retaining his position at Labs.
He's best known within the companyand the world for that matter, for
overseeing the launch of NotebookLM,the AI powered note taking assistant

(01:04):
that allows users to query their owndocuments using large language models.
Notebook.
LM also included the ability to createnarrated audio podcasts from text
with incredibly lifelike narrators.
Previously known as Project TailwindNotebookLM was developed to integrate
tightly with Google Docs and GoogleDrive offering contextualized responses

(01:28):
based on a user's own content.
As Google seemed hindered by embarrassingerrors on new launches and constantly
being upstaged by OpenAI NotebookLM wasone of the rare viral successes in an
internal memo released by the Verge,Demi Hassasis, CEO of Google Deep.
Mind said the change was made to sharpenour focus on the next evolution of

(01:52):
the Gemini app, he praised Woodward'sstrong product leadership at his track
record for turning experimental projectsinto polished user facing products.
Sissy Shao, who has overseen Geminisince its Bard branding days, will
take a short personal break beforereturning to Google in a new role.
Her departure follows structuralchanges made in October, 2024

(02:16):
when Google integrated theGemini app team into DeepMind to
streamline AI product development.
The restructuring also placedHassasis in a more direct supervisory
role over Gemini's direction.
President Donald Trump has signedan executive order, extending the
deadline for TikTok's parent company.
Bite dance to divest itsUS operations by 75 days.

(02:39):
This move delays the enforcement ofthe protecting Americans from foreign
adversary controlled Applications Act, also known by the SMOOTH acronym PAFACA,
which mandated the app sale or shutdown.
Down due to national security concerns.
The extension follows recent escalationsin the US China trade relations, including

(03:01):
new tariffs imposed by both nations, anear complete deal to transfer TikTok's US
operations to a new entity with maturity.
American ownership was stalled afterChina halted the approval process.
In response to the tariffs,President Trump stated that his
administration had been workingdiligently on a deal to save TikTok,

(03:21):
emphasizing the need for additionaltime to secure necessary approvals.
He expressed optimism aboutcollaborating with TikTok and
China to finalize the agreement.
Despite bipartisan concerns over datasecurity and foreign influence, public
opinion on banning TikTok has shiftedwith fewer Americans supporting a ban.

(03:41):
Compared to previous years, contentcreators have been diversifying across
platforms due to the uncertaintysurrounding TikTok's future.
The additional 75 day extension aimsto provide more time to navigate the
complexities of the deal, includingsecuring Chinese regulatory approval
and addressing ongoing trade tensions.

(04:02):
Lawmakers continue to urge Swift actionto enforce the law and resolve the matter.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission,CNSC has authorized the Ontario
Power Generation OPG to constructa small modular reactor, SMR, at
the Darlington Nuclear GeneratingStation in Clarington, Ontario, for

(04:22):
which there is thankfully no acronym.
This marks the first SMRconstruction license granted in
Canada, representing a significantmilestone in the nation's pursuit
of emissions free energy solutions.
The approved reactor, the BWRX 300,designed by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy
is a 300 megawatt electric SMR thatemploys passive safety systems and

(04:47):
natural circulation for cooling.
These features claim to enhancesafety and reduce complexity compared
to traditional reactor designs.
Ken Hartwick, OPG president, and CEOstated, this license is a crucial step
forward in our efforts to provide safe,reliable, and clean energy to Ontario.
The BWRX 300 SMR at Darlington will playa key role in meeting our climate change

(05:12):
goals and supporting economic growth.
The Darlington site is currently theonly location in Canada licensed for new
nuclear construction with a completedand accepted environmental assessment.
The project is expected to create upto 27,000 jobs across Canada during
construction and add billions toCanada's GDP at a time when other

(05:35):
industrial jobs are under threat.
In addition, an additional 2000 full-timejobs will be created on a long-term basis.
Small modular reactors like the BWRX 300are considered a promising advancement
in nuclear technology offering benefitssuch as reduced construction times, lower
costs, and enhanced safety features.

(05:58):
And they offer great promise forclean, safe energy, especially
with the demand increased dueto AI and data center growth.
Now, there've been a lot of newsannouncements of reactors that might
be built or that might be starting,but once a Canadian approval happens,
it's pretty much a done deal.
So the new reactor will be builtby an experienced team from OPG

(06:18):
and will help bring these reactorsfrom a promising development.
To full operation.
Government agencies worldwideare increasingly adopting cloud
services to modernize IT operations.
Yet many are continuing to relyon private cloud infrastructures.
According to Forrester's Researchers2024 Cloud survey, 36% of public sector

(06:42):
organizations primarily operate internal.
Private clouds, while 80%utilize hybrid cloud models.
Security considerations significantlyinfluence cloud deployment decisions.
Notably, 34% of respondents viewsecurity as a primary reason for
adopting public cloud solutions, where28% cited a concern possibly due to

(07:05):
perceived loss of control over data.
Public cloud providers areactively engaging government.
Bodies by offering scalableresources and compliance support.
However, the complexity of managingcloud networks and internal governance
challenges remain obstacles.
Systems integrators and managedservice providers are essential in
addressing these issues by offeringexpertise and managed services.

(07:30):
the trend indicates that whilepublic cloud adoption is on the
rise, private cloud solutionscontinue to play a critical role
in the public sector's IT strategy,
with a renewed interest in digitalsovereignty arising from recent
geopolitical tensions, it will beinteresting to see if there's a
move back towards private cloud,especially in Europe or Canada.

(07:52):
And finally, what's in a name?
I've been critical of thenaming structures of technology
and of AI in particular.
Open AI is not really open.
Claude, well, especially the way it'spronounced, which to me as a Canadian,
where French is one of our officiallanguages, just grates on my ears.
I refuse to pronounce it as Claude.

(08:13):
It's Claude to me, but It gets worse.
Sam Altman just announced thatinstead of version five of OpenAI,
they would be moving ahead bylaunching oh three mini or whatever.
It's impossible to keep trackof their numbering system.
Even Google, they called theirfirst AI Bard, and mercifully, even

(08:37):
for those who love Shakespeare,they moved to Gemini the first.
Probably semi-normal name in ai.
now, if you're in marketing and youfear you're going to be replaced
by large language models, today'stech giants are struggling.
We can only look back with nostalgia atnames like Yahoo and Google and Wonder

(09:00):
how did they create those iconic names?
Well, turns out at leastone of them by accident.
Google's original name wasjust as confusing and geeky
as any of these new AI names.
The original name for Google actuallycomes from a mathematical term Googol,
which is one followed by 100 zeros.

(09:21):
It was meant to reflect the company'smission, to organize an unimaginable
amount of information online.
And the twist.
When co-founder Larry Page and a colleaguetried to register the domain, they
accidentally misspelled it as Google.
The rest is history.
We fuss about AI hallucinations orerrors, but maybe it's those supposed

(09:46):
errors that bring us the real creativity.
Who to thunk it?
And that's our show for today.
I'm your host, Jim Love.
Have a marvelous Monday.