GAFAM NewsMonthly roundup
Big Tech in May 2025: the light and the dark
May 2025: Google's AI Mode and Android XR at I/O, the NYT–Amazon AI deal, plus antitrust pressure, military tech protests and Meta's metaverse losses.
- First published in Japanese
- English edition
The Owl 🦉 here, with a quick roundup of GAFAM news from May 2025.
In May, the GAFAM companies stepped up their push into generative AI and XR (extended reality), Google above all, since it held its developer conference, Google I/O 2025, that month. At the same time, tighter regulation and ethical questions remained very much in view.
The light side
Conversational AI Mode comes to Search
At its developer conference, Google I/O 2025, Google officially launched “AI Mode” in the US, which presents conversational, AI-generated answers in search results. It responds to complex questions much like a chatbot, and in shopping searches it lets you virtually try on clothes using your own photo, or use AR to simulate how furniture would look in your room. [1]
Microsoft has already brought generative AI into its search, and the very nature of search is changing in a big way. If AI search arrives in Japan as well, it is likely to affect both how people gather information and how companies approach SEO.
A new wave of XR smart glasses
In extended reality (XR), the companies are getting serious about smart glasses. At I/O, Google announced a new operating system, Android XR, and is investing huge sums in developing both mixed reality headsets and eyeglass-style smart glasses that work with its own AI, Gemini. [1]
Apple is also speeding up development of an eyeglass-style device that uses Siri, aiming for a 2026 release, and it is expected to include AI features such as real-time translation. [2]
Meta (formerly Facebook) already sells glasses with built-in cameras, and the race for XR smart glasses is now in full swing. These next-generation devices may eventually come to the Japanese market too, and could become the next platform after the smartphone.
The New York Times licenses its articles for AI
The New York Times, the influential US newspaper, signed a deal with Amazon allowing the paper’s news articles and other content to be used in Amazon’s generative AI products. It is the first time the NYT has formally permitted AI use of its own articles. Amazon plans to use this article data to offer news summaries in services such as Alexa, and as training material for its generative AI models. [3]
A media company licensing its own content for AI is a groundbreaking move, and it is drawing attention as one possible solution to the copyright problem. Japanese newspapers and publishers may well follow with similar deals.
The dark side
Antitrust and tighter regulation
In the US, a federal district court ruled that Google illegally monopolized the digital advertising market, and the authorities are considering remedies that could include breaking up its ad business. Several other antitrust cases are under way in areas such as search and app distribution, and the pressure on GAFAM’s market dominance is mounting. [4]
In Europe, too, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), in force since 2024, and the AI Act are taking shape, and the companies are being forced to respond to the rules. In Japan, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) is moving ahead with platform regulation and AI guidelines are being drawn up, so we can expect closer oversight in line with the global trend.
Military use and internal backlash
In May, Big Tech’s involvement in military technology stirred debate. The US military ended its contract with Microsoft, originally hired to develop AR goggles for soldiers; instead, the defense company Anduril has teamed up with Meta to develop next-generation XR headsets. [5]
Meanwhile, at Microsoft’s developer conference in Seattle, an employee protested the company’s provision of AI to the Israeli military, shouting “Free Palestine.” [6] Ethical concerns about military use are growing both inside and outside these companies, and in Japan, too, debate over whether companies should use AI in the defense sector may heat up from here.
Meta’s metaverse business struggles
Reality Labs, the XR division of Meta (formerly Facebook), keeps posting huge losses: it recorded an operating loss of about $4.2 billion (about ¥600 billion) in the January–March 2025 quarter. Its cumulative losses since 2020 have passed $60 billion, sales of the Quest VR headsets are falling, and layoffs in related units keep coming. [7]
Meta is said to be shifting toward more profitable businesses such as generative AI and smart glasses, and its “metaverse” strategy, once the focus of so much hope, has reached a turning point. Japanese companies jumped on the metaverse boom too, but from here on, ties with AI and practical value will matter more.
In May, Google made a flood of announcements. Will Apple strike back at WWDC 2025 in June? Behind the scenes, though, there’s a growing whiff of trouble: lawsuits, the military, layoffs. (By the way, an owl’s sense of smell is nowhere near as sharp as its eyesight.)
References
[3] NYT partners with Amazon on AI use of its content in first licensing deal (Reuters) (in Japanese)
[4] Google seeks to limit reach of US judge’s digital ads ruling (Reuters)
[6] Microsoft Build 2025: news and announcements from the developer conference (The Verge)