Technologies
McAfee Rolls Out New Scam-Detecting Features, Adds Detection to Core Plans
Previously an add-on service, the new and improved scam and deepfake detecting features are also expanding beyond AI-powered devices.
It’s getting increasingly harder for the average person to avoid online scams. New technologies, including those powered by artificial intelligence, are helping cybercriminals boost both the sophistication and quantity of their scams.
And more people are losing more money to them. According to the Federal Trade Commission, American consumers lost a reported $12.5 billion to fraud last year, with much of that fraud starting online, marking a 25% increase from 2023.
And experts say scammers aren’t showing any signs of letting up this year.
«At the highest level, 2025 is shaping up to be the year of the scam,» said Steve Grobman, executive vice president and chief technology officer for McAfee, noting that Americans now face a daily onslaught of scams by email, text, social media and other online sources.
McAfee, long known for its consumer security software, on Wednesday announced a new version of its AI-powered Scam Detector, which is designed to identify scams, then flag them for the users to see and provide advice about what to do.
The company first launched Scam Detector in January as an add-on service to its regular security software. The updated version launched Wednesday includes new, more powerful features and will be included at no extra charge in McAfee’s core plans.
Grobman said the idea is to combine the power of AI tools with the unique and constantly updating threat intelligence being collected and analyzed by McAfee’s security software to identify and stop scams before they can do any damage.
When it comes to messages, emails and videos, the features all work a little differently.
Text messages are automatically scanned as they arrive, while users must manually check messages that come through encrypted apps like iMessage, WhatsApp and Signal by either copying their text or uploading a screenshot into McAfee’s app.
In the cases of those mobile messages, as well as emails, the AI will flag anything potentially scammy. It’s been trained to not just recognize links to scam websites, Grobman says, but also themes frequently used in scams like offers of deals too good to be true, or threats of fines or jail time if a recipient doesn’t act right away.
But where the AI powers really come into play is in the new version of McAfee’s Deepfake Detector. The original version launched last summer, but it was part of a separate paid service that was only available for Lenovo’s Copilot-Plus PCs, which included the hardware needed to do the AI processing on the device.
The new deepfake detection features, like McAfee’s other new scam-detection technologies, won’t cost extra. And while computers with neural processing units designed for AI operations will get better performance, Grobman says devices with less powerful central processing units also will now be able to use the features
The detector works on sites like YouTube, as well as social media platforms like X, TikTok and Instagram. It’s designed to alert consumers to deepfakes as they appear, but it doesn’t pass judgment on them. It will tell the user why it thinks the video is a deepfake and pinpoint the specific parts of the video that triggered its alerts.
Videos aren’t flagged as disinformation or scams, though Grobman says the company’s researchers are hoping to eventually work McAfee’s scam detection capabilities into its Deepfake Detector.
The Scam Detector features work on both Apple and Android mobile devices, while the email scanning features are compatible with Gmail, Microsoft Outlook and Yahoo. Deepfake Detector is currently only available for Windows and Android, but McAFee hopes to add additional platforms soon.
Technologies
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Technologies
Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot
Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.
Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal
Technologies
Waymo recalls 3,800 robotaxis after glitch allowed some vehicles to ‘drive into standing water’
Waymo issued a voluntary recall of about 3,800 of its robotaxis to fix software issues that could allow them to drive into flooded roadways.
Waymo is recalling about 3,800 robotaxis in the U.S. to fix software issues that could allow them to “drive onto a flooded roadway,” according to a letter on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website.
The voluntary recall is for Waymo vehicles that use the company’s fifth and sixth generation automated driving systems (or ADS), the U.S. auto safety regulator said in the letter posted Tuesday.
Waymo autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas, were seen on camera driving onto a flooded street and stalling, requiring other drivers to navigate around them. It’s the latest example of a safety-related issue for the Alphabet-owned AV unit that’s rapidly bolstering its fleet of vehicles and entering new U.S. markets.
Waymo has drawn criticism for its vehicles failing to yield to school buses in Austin, and for the performance of its vehicles during widespread power outages in San Francisco in December, when robotaxis halted in traffic, causing gridlock.
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it’s “identified an area of improvement regarding untraversable flooded lanes specific to higher-speed roadways,” and opted to file a “voluntary software recall” with the NHTSA.
“Waymo provides over half a million trips every week in some of the most challenging driving environments across the U.S., and safety is our primary priority,” the company said.
Waymo added that it’s working on “additional software safeguards” and has put “mitigations” in place, limiting where its robotaxis operate during extreme weather, so that they avoid “areas where flash flooding might occur” in periods of intense rain.
WATCH: Waymo launches new autonomous system in Chinese-made vehicle
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